Entertainment

The fun club located adjacent to the Eagle Bowling Palace is now open. Aruba’s First Couple of Salsa Sabine van Leuken and Regie Bermudez orchestrated a glitzy official opening ceremony for the club followed by a dance party with Robert Jeandor Y Su Solo Banda Show. The Minister of Health & Sport, Dr. Richard Visser officiated over the ribbon cutting – dance is a form of very healthy sport — followed by the inauguration of the dance floor by salsa experts Regie & Sabine.

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Gloria Estefan is about to release a new album and gave fans a preview of the exciting musical collection with the issue of the catchy single “Wepa!” (a shout out in Spanish –Hey! Let’s Party!) a short while ago. The hard-hitting beat captured the imagination of Aruban composer, arranger and performer, note keyboardist Hildward Croes, who decided to upload to Youtube a remix with a decidedly Aruba flavor that he called Dushi Wepa Remix (Hildward Croes.)

Though now based solely in Aruba, Hildward has toured internationally with such musical luminaries as Juan Luis Guerra and Chi Chi Peralta during the 90’s, spen­ding five years on the road as Guerra’s keyboardist during all his concerts from 1990-95. “I remember filling Madison Square Garden three nights in a row; it was a wonderful, exci­ting time.” When Guerra became ill, Hildward began touring with Chi Chi, who had also been a member of the band. He also provided keyboard and arran­ging for a number of this po­pular performer’s albums, and the band won a Latin Grammy in 2001 for “El Vuelte al Barrio”; another collaboration, “Mas que Suficiente”, was also nominated for a Grammy.

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On September 3rd 2011, the grand progressive bingo jackpot was called by Mr. Boekhoudt at the Stellaris Casino, winning the amount of 243,904.35 florin.

Boekhoudt, a local regular bingo player normally plays bingo together with his wife. On Saturday he came alone and bought the last two available bingo cards. At the forty seventh call, Boekhoudt jumped up and called bingo with lucky ball number 48. He was excited to receive the cheque of 243,904.35 florin and the first progressive bingo winner in two years.

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One of Aruba’s truly simple pleasures requires nothing more than hanging out at Divi Mega Resort, right by beach bar to listen to the Divi Jazz Quartet, on any given Sunday afternoon.

The quartet plays music which could easily be described as feet in Aruba, head in the sky! While resort patrons sip on their long, cool umbrella drinks, the music springing from the small stage is clearly anchored in the Caribbean region, popular and easily recognizable classic compositions imported from traditional American Jazz into Brazilian, Caribbean, Latin and local groove. The tunes sound deliciously laid back and ear-pleasingly melodic, in perfect sync with the resort’s famous beach, which serves as a breathtaking musical backdrop.

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Cas di Cultura, Aruba’s cultural center and theater, was the location for Step by Step’s Dance Studio’s annual recital this past weekend. It was a special milestone with the school celebrating its 19th year. “Dance with Distinction” was just that – a fabulously well-done show, with spectacular costumes, talented performers, and fabulous music. Each dance flowed into the next and was thoroughly enjoyable to watch as it was very professionally done.

The classical Ballet was beautiful; the Jazz and Tap were fun to watch; the Flamenco and Tango were stunning and the modern and street dance were amazing. Each year the show is better and better – with a vast array of dances to watch. They even included a modern number from Club di Movimiento with two of their best dancers.

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The Aruba Music School, better known as Scol to Musica Rufo Wever, held a ceremony to unveil the bust of its mentor/composer in the school offices. The bust was designed and made by well-known local sculptor Maritza Erasmus, who has designed the busts of two other Aruban composers, all three of which will soon be displayed at Cas di Cultura now that the third one of Rufo has been completed.

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Saturday and Sunday of the Aruba International Film Festival featured multiple screenings of five films entered in their Caribbean Spotlight Series; native-born documentary filmmaker Aaron Hose was director of the competition. He now resides in Florida and works in the UCF Film Department. Aaron made a splash in the inaugural competition last year with his very popular “Voices in the Clouds.”

This year’s competition included five films:“100,000” (Puerto Rico); “Children of God” (Baha mas); “Voices of Mariel” (Cuba); “Fire Burn Babylon” (Montserrat); and “Curacao” from Aruba’s neighboring island.

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