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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2015 5 By Cindy Graves The Fashion Show and Tea was extraordinary this year with make-up, choreography, costuming, stage props, and delicious food… and that doesn't even include the fashions being showcased by Chicos or the tea! There were 10 awesome female resident models, 10 fashion accessory vendors, five hilariously fantastic male dancer-actors (all residents as well) a guest singer, a sound, lighting and stage crew, the entire Social Committee and their helper volunteers (thank you African American Cultural Club members for really pitching in with your extra hands and talents) and myself. This was the biggest fashion production we've had here at Four Seasons and we knew this was going to be something off the charts when the tickets were miraculously all sold in three hours! That was a first! Bernadette Chance, a very creative and talented Writer and Producer spent months clarifying her vision for the show, writing scripts, mapping music and technical spread sheets and then conveying her vision to her right- hand Choreographer and Directing Assistant Deana Cortez. Three months before the show began, Bernadette recruited resident models of all body types and ethnicities, most of which had never modeled or even been on stage before. Thus began the transformation of shyer demure ladies into larger than life dancer-actress-models! What a great job they all did after weeks of logistic challenges and practice. Our model Wanda Valentine who generally uses a walking stick to get around, not only found herself fully dancing to the background music, but also floating across the stage in her outfits with the grace of a butterfly. The guys in this show, Dan Hagens, Johnny Ramirez, Pete Antoine, Don Fant and Ray Geiser, were not only eye candy but were amazingly funny… I can hardly keep the giggles down as I write this. They also practiced tirelessly for weeks — and talk about getting pushed out of your comfort zone! Holy cow, these guys were so far out of their comfort zone there was no zone left! Bernadette had Johnny Ramirez dressed up in a cupid's outfit with bow and arrows. Dan Fant was so encouraged to let loose from his conservative self, that at one point he said he felt like a go-go girl without the cage! During one part of the show where all the guys were lined up in a skit to "Prove their manhood," the women in attendance, out of the blue, began coming up to the stage and handing the guys money for their dancing! The laughter was gut-splitting! Yes, this was a fashion show! Every one of the fabulous models, Janet McAdamis, Jeanette Pacheco, Lian Lee, Lydia Santos, Lynn Rae Dupree, Marion Herron, Sandy Buelna, Shairon Nevills, Tina Soeten and Wanda Valentine "Rocked it off the charts" with their dancing, lip synching and modeling! Of course it couldn't have been done without the technical support of Stan Sweeny, who was being broken in to our sound system by total immersion and the rest of the crew, especially the Ad hoc Technical Committee for stage set up and Andy Shipper and Michael Rothberg for tech and lighting. This whole production really brought together a great team of great people willing to put intense effort into a great show! Our wonderful Nelly Alcocer did tape the show and we got it uploaded onto YouTube so we could provide a link for you on our Fourseasonsatbeaumont.com website. We didn't realize however, that we needed to put the credits for all of the music we used in the show, up on the link-site as well, so YouTube shut us down for copyright infringement. We are hoping to be able to straighten that out, so we can offer you the opportunity to see the show on the web. We are also hoping to be able to show it in the movie theater for a special showing. Good job Melody and Social Committee for an event well done, this one will be remembered for a long time! 50 Shades of Glam The audience enjoyed the fashion show almost as much as the performers. The guys in the show - and some others - show off.

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