Kapiolani Community College
Diamond Journal 2004

30 Seconds of Fame
Yvonne Antone-Rivera

“Now let’s see, do I have everything I need? Outfits, check. Make-up kit, check. Garlands, check. Bobby pins, check. Hairspray, check. Wallet, check. Money, check. Okay, I guess I’m ready to go.” I walked out the door with all my stuff.

That morning was unlike any other morning. After being in school for thirteen years, it should have been no different. Normally on a weekday, I would get up at seven thirty in the morning and get ready for school. That day I had to get up at four thirty in the morning, not to go to school, but to go to the news station to perform on T.V. The Channel Two News Station invited our hula halau to perform for their Christmas morning news. Out of our class, only ten girls were chosen to perform, including me. Finally all the hours of practice, sweat, and not to mention all of the money needed, were going to pay off.

I walked to the car with all my stuff dragging on the ground. My body and mind were still sleeping, but my eyes were open just enough to walk to the car. As I lifted my garment bag into the car, I wondered what this morning would be like. Although I had danced hula since I was two years old, I had never been on T.V. before. So today was going to be my first chance at fame.

The drive to the news station was physically a short ride, but emotionally it was the longest car ride of my life. Sitting in the passenger seat of the car, I thought about all the things that would be inside the news station, the camera, the cameramen, and the personal dressing rooms. I thought about what Joe Moore really looks like since the camera does add ten pounds you know. I wondered how long I would be dancing on the stage. Is there even a stage? “Someone give me some answers to my questions,” I thought. I looked at my grandma driving. She was so busy concentrating, she couldn’t possibly answer any of my questions.

I had never been inside the news studio before. I barely even watched the news. So the first opportunity I got to be on T.V. I took it. Getting my garment bag out of the trunk of the car, I thought to myself, “This can’t be that bad. It’s only T.V. And who watches the morning news at five o’clock in the morning anyway?” Little did I know. After I took my things out of the car, I waited for my hula sisters to meet me in front of the building so we could all go in together. It was the first time to be on T.V. for all of us so we decided it’s better to be nervous together then nervous alone.

“Hey girl, you’re here early. Did you bring all your stuff or did you forget something as usual?” I asked Ashley while walking towards her.
Ashley is the kind of person who forgets things, misplaces things, and half of the time doesn’t know what’s going on. Ashley stood by the coconut tree with a red t-shirt woven between her hands, leaning on one leg, staring into space.

“ No. For your information, I brought everything I need. My mom made me this checklist thing so I wouldn’t forget anything this time,” Ashley said to me as she brought out her checklist. “See I have everything I need.”

“ You’re so funny.”

Standing outside the Channel 2 News Station I wondered if I had forgotten anything. It was a very important day for me, and it would be ruined if I had forgotten something. I looked through my garment bag and my plastic containers of accessories to see if I had everything. “Good. I thought I forgot something. But of course, I didn’t.”
Ashley looked at me with one hand on her hip, “God forbid what would happen if you ever forgot something.”

Finally, all the girls arrived. We picked up our things off the ground and headed towards the front door of the news station and walked in.
Tess, a very tita-like person wearing a baggy shirt with short shorts looked at all of us.

“ Where the hell do we go?” Tess said as she dropped her things.

“ Try this way,” I said as I struggled to hold my things and open the door. Inside the door was a room of screens, joysticks, lights, buttons and more buttons, but no one was to be seen. I walked in a little further to see if I could find someone that would help us, but no one was there. “Um, wrong way.” We continued on down the hallway trying to find our way to the dressing room, or someone who could help us find the dressing room. None of us knew where to go so we opened every door along the hallway.

“ Nope. Closet,” Tess said.

“ Ugh, janitor room,” Crystal added trying to walk ahead of the rest of us. Crystal is Daddy’s-little-rich-girl, so we don’t mind her sassiness anymore.

“ Um, I don’t know but it’s not a dressing room,” I closed the last door down the hallway.

Straight ahead of us was an entrance to a big room with no doors. As we all walked towards the big room we knew it had to be the place. We had tried everywhere else. We walked in and before us were cameras all facing one stage. There were lots of lights on the ceiling and on the walls. There were also big blue T.V. screens facing the stage. On the stage was a table with two chairs. There were two coffee mugs set on top of the table along with two piles of papers. The background of the stage was a white screen, and there were plants all around.

“ Oh my God, this is cool,” Crystal said as she walked onto the stage.

“ Ah, excuse me, miss. You’re not supposed to be up there,” a man said as he walked towards us. “You must be our hula dancers this morning. Thank you for coming and being on time.”
“No problem,” I answered.

“Well, let me show you around. This is where the newscasters will sit. This is the camera crew and their set up of cameras, head sets and all the good stuff. And this is the stage here where you guys will dance. It’s not that big, but there aren’t that many of you so you’ll be fine, I guess. And down here is your dressing room.”
We walked towards a big empty room. Inside there were mirrors, counters, chairs and a big T.V. in the corner. There was also a jug of water, some coffee, and little snacks. Too bad we didn’t see Joe or Paula or any of the other news anchors.

“ This T.V. shows the live news. It’ll help you know when you’re about to go on. I’ll knock and let you know when you’re about to go on, as well. As for your make-up, you might want to make it darker so it shows in the light and on the T.V. screen. Other than that, you can go ahead and get ready. You’ll be on in about half an hour or so.” The man left, closing the door to our huge dressing room behind him.

“ This is so cool!” Tess said excitedly. “You guys, we’re going to be on T.V.”

“ I know. So we better start getting ready so we can go over our dances one more time.” Crystal wanted to assure that no mistakes were made.

Putting on my first outfit for the first song, I started thinking, “How long are we going to dance?” I knew the song and I knew we were going to be dancing for the commercials, but did that mean we danced the whole song, or a certain part of the song, or did we dance for a specific amount of time. Who knew? I just continued getting ready, not worrying about much of what we were supposed to be doing. I was sure that guy would tell us what to do when the time came.

“ Are you guys almost ready to practice?” Crystal rushed us.

Were we ready to practice? We’d been practicing for weeks! I was ready. Everyone else was ready. The dance wasn’t that hard. Yeah, maybe there were a lot of steps, but it wasn’t hard at all. But if it made Crystal happy, I didn’t mind refreshing my memory.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“ Ladies, you’re on in five minutes. Right outside your door to the right is the entrance. I’ll wait there. Just come on by and I’ll get you positioned. Your musicians are there ready. Five minutes, ladies, okay?” The man closed the door.

“ Well, I guess we can’t practice then, huh?” Crystal said with a frown on her face.
Walking to the stage my body started feeling more tense as the seconds went by. I was so nervous that I had to go to the bathroom, but it was too late to go. So I held it in and walked onto the stage. We stood there for a few seconds waiting for our cue. I looked back at our four musicians, the bass player, the guitar player, the singer, and another guy that no one knew, then I faced forward again. The lights on our stage turned on and we couldn’t see any further then the light right in front of us. As the musicians started playing the beginning of our song, all I saw were little red lights.

I put on a smile and started dancing to Mele Kalikimaka, trying my hardest not to forget the next move and trying even more not to step on the other girls dresses. After thirty seconds, not even an entire verse of the song, the lights turned off. The camera was no longer facing us and we were done.

“ Okay ladies, back to your dressing room. Get dressed for your next song. I’ll come and let you know when it’s time again. “

“ That’s it?” I asked.

“ Yes. Thirty seconds.”

Walking back to the dressing room, I realized that it was not as scary as it seemed. It was actually fun and easy. All that nervousness was for nothing. I couldn’t believe I was ever afraid to go on T.V. I mean, thirty seconds total and the camera was on me for like five seconds, maybe even less. The next couple of songs were a cinch. I wasn’t worried at all.

Gathering all my accessories and my garment bag, I hoped they would let us come back. Dancing for the morning news was a great experience for me.