About Me

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Maikalani means Sent from Heaven in Hawaiian.

Born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii and now living, working and dancing in San Francisco.

Due to musical and theatrical parents, dance, music, theater and art were a big part of my upbringing. Even as a child, I was creative and often designed my own gift cards for my family. In college, I fell in love with Photography and the magic of the dark room. The combination of technical knowledge and artistic creativity needed to be a photographer, inspired me. A study Abroad trip in Mexico, led to a minor in Spanish Language as well as a great appreciation for Hispanic Culture. Upon completion of a Bachelors degree in Art, I enjoyed a short stint of painting murals on gates and building sand mermaids at the beach until being hired on as a photographer and graphic designer for a photo studio in Honolulu. In this position I learned how to make stunning portraits in the studio with both film and digital cameras. I also became adept at "disappearing" imperfections in Photoshop with a quick and delicate hand.

A desire to improve my skills and marketability led me to a Master's degree in Communications of which I completed in December 2005. My experience and skills are now comprised of marketing, corporate communications, graphic design, web site design, studio photography and photo retouching. I am presently doing freelance graphic design with a focus on print media. Photoshop and InDesign are my two strongest applications. Book layout, multi-page documents and advertisements are my specialty. I am also competent with Dreamweaver and edit web sites with HTML and CSS.

About Dancing

My love of dance began as a child when at the age of 9 was enrolled in Ballet classes. Throughout the years I continued to learn a variety of dances such as Modern, Jazz, African, Ballroom and West Coast Swing. In 1994 I signed up for my first Salsa class and was hooked since then. Salsa and Argentine Tango quickly became my two favorites. I was invited to join my first salsa dance group, Son D'Hawaii in 2001 and that year we represented Hawaii at the West Coast Salsa Congress in Los Angeles. Soon after I became the co-director of the Salsa performance group, Aloha Rumberos Dance Company. My partner and I taught Salsa classes to adults and children as well as performed around Hawaii and in California.

Due to a shoulder injury I decided to take a break from Salsa and further pursue Argentine Tango. in 2007 and 2008 I traveled to Buenos Aires to continue my Tango training. While there I studied with top Tango instructors such as Rodolfo Dinzel, Lucianna Valle and Gustavo Naviera. In San Francisco, I have studied with Felipe Martinez, Andrea Fuchilieri, Homer& Christina and David & Mariana. I enjoy dancing both close embrace and open styles of Tango.

Recently I have been the assistant Tango instructor for George Garcia from Honolulu, Hawaii. George Garcia and I performed at Cafe Cocomo in San Francisco in March 2009: View Performance Here. This second clip is a class demo at City College in SF on Colgadas and Volcadas: View Class Demo Here.

About TangoTees.com

I love dancing Tango so much that I decided to design my own Tango T-Shirts. These are fun, witty and unique prints designed with the Tango addict in mind.

Tango Tees will hold up well to hours of dancing and multiple washings. Men's and Women's styles are available and each shirt is printed to order.