On the heels
of fame
Young Stephanie Uechi
By Cynthia Oi
is wowing the ballroom dance
circuit with all the
right movesStar-Bulletin
AT 20 years old, Stephanie Uechi has the world at her feet and, boy, can those feet dance. Uechi has twice won one of the highest titles in the ballroom-dancing world, the U.S. Pro-Am Latin championship.
She, along with her partner and teacher, Peta Siddall, won their second title earlier this month in a competition in Miami, adding to the first they won in 1996.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Uechi is thrilling Hawaii's ballroom dancing circles. After an exhibition performance two weekends ago at the Ala Wai Clubhouse, Roger Izumigawa, a representative of the National Organization of the U.S. Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association, could hardly contain his praise for the 1995 Iolani School grad.
When Uechi takes to the floor, he said, "you can feel the mood of the dance through her actions and that's what makes her great. She's fast, speedy, vivacious, sensual.
"Stephanie's winning makes her the top Latin female dancer ever from Hawaii," he said.Told of his praise, Uechi's eyes sparkled. "I feel so special to be from Hawaii where so many people genuinely support me."
That support goes back to her days at Iolani School, where teacher Cyrenne Okimura, she said, "took me under her wing and inspired me."
Uechi's love affair with dance began when she took ballet lessons at age 6. At 8, she began jazz dancing and continued through high school under Okimura's tutelage. Her parents, Trudy and Michael Uechi, suggested she also learn ballroom.
"They told me to try it and I fell in love with it," she said.
Then one night, just before she left the islands for college at the University of California-Irvine, she watched the Ohio Star Ball competition on television and saw Siddall dance.
"I saw him spinning and dancing -- this dramatic, flashy stuff. So I thought, 'That's who I want for my teacher.' "
It was serendipitous because Siddall, originally from England, was living in Irvine.
The two have been dancer and teacher, and competition partners for three years. When they dance, they seem to sense each other's movements without thinking about them. They know their choreography so well that when Siddall says "let's do the thing where ..." Uechi immediately understands him.
They are as comfortable together as bread and butter, finishing each other's sentences, nodding in agreement, joking and teasing.
When asked what kind of student Uechi is, Siddall said gravely, "She's the worst student anybody could ever have."
She laughed heartily. He chuckled with her, then became serious.
"To me, it's not what kind of student Stephanie is but what kind of person she is. Stephanie has a teachable spirit. The thing that will help her get to the top is having a teachable spirit," he said.
Siddall has been competing professionally for eight years. He has won so many awards in ballroom dancing that they roll off his tongue: British champion, British junior, British youth, European champion, West European champion, world junior champion.
He does all their choreography.
"Sometimes we just put on the music and we start dancing and I'll say 'I like this' and 'I like that.'" Uechi said. "Peta knows what my strengths and weaknesses are so he builds the routine that shows off my assets."
"It has taken years for us to get to that point," Siddall added. "And we know straightaway what does and doesn't suit us."
Choreography is the "fun part," he said. "The hard work is the technical side -- working on the posture, working on the foot action and the leg action. You can have great choreography and never win a competition. It's how you dance it."
So they work on technique and work on performance, but for Uechi, dancing isn't the only thing that occupies her time.
She started her senior year today at UC-Irvine, where she's majoring in international studies and sociology. She sings and likes music -- Celine Dion's a favorite.
Although the local girl loves Kozo sushi and chicken katsu, she "tries to eat healthy."
She also works out with a personal trainer, lifts weights, runs and jumps rope to keep in shape.
"Your body is the instrument in dance. If you want to project the best, you have to have a quality package," she said. Uechi sees dance as a sport. "I want to be an Olympian!" she shouted. "I want to represent my country!"
She may get to do that. In 1997, the International Olympic Com-mittee has recognized the International DanceSport Federa-tion and may allow dance competition as early as 2004.
Dance is "a very serious hobby," she said. "Dancing lifts my spirits. Sometimes if I have a problem, once I get on the dance floor it vanishes."
"I'm a very expressive person. I love to go on stage and perform for people. I want to touch people, to share through my dancing."
The sharing extends to her parents, who still dance competitively. And her boyfriend, Victor Fung, is the U.S. amateur champion in standard dancing.
Uechi believes that, as evidenced by the revival of swing, young people will soon take to the ballrooms.
"It will be the new wave of dancing. Ballroom dancing, especially the Latin dances, is exciting."
She said many people may view ballroom as old fashioned.
"I thought it was for old fogies. That's the kind of image I had at first. But it's great for young people, especially young people who can still move and still have flexible bodies."
Besides, she said, "dancing keeps people young."
Izumigawa, still dancing at age 60, agreed."No matter how old you are, if you can hold each other and look each other in the eye and hear the music and feel the rhythm and feel the atmosphere, you're dancing."
Hawaii Star Ball
Stephanie Uechi and Peta Siddall won the Latin Championship at this weekend's Hawaii Star Ball, the biggest ballroom dance competition in Hawaii.
The types of ballroom dance competition: Divisions of dance
Latin division: Rumba, cha-cha, samba, jive, paso doble
