Vol. 30. No. 1 A Publication of UMA, Inc January - March 2007 Editor: Daniel Gomes, 4394 N. Sweetbriar Ct, Concord, Ca 94521 E-Mail: [email protected] The Organizers in Macau have confirmed the dates for the 2007 Encontro das Comunidades —Monday, November 26 through Sunday, December 2, 2007. UMA has selected Bonnie Braga of Braga Travel Consultants to handle travel arrangements for our members. At press time, Ms. Braga is still awaiting quotes from the hotels in Macau. For those interested, optional pre- Encontro trips will be offered to Beijing/Xian/Shanghai; Shanghai; or Vietnam. Full details of the travel package to Macau via Hong Kong, as well as the optional tours, will be published in the next issue of the News Bulletin. In the meantime, to give us an estimate of the number of UMA members who plan to attend the 2007 Encontro, we ask that you kindly complete the survey form on page 33 of this Bulletin and return it to the Travel Committee at the address shown. You are under no obligation to attend the Encontro by simply completing and returning the form; it is just an indication of your interest at this time. If you wish, you may make your own travel arrangements to Macau. Should you decide to travel on your own, we ask only that you register with the Travel Committee. This is so that you will be included in the functions in Macau. This year for the first time, we are planning a joint event with Casa de Macau USA and Lusitano Club of California for Dia de São João on Sunday June 24, 2007. This traditional feast day of the Macanese celebrates their victory over the Dutch in the Battle of Cacilhas Bay on June 24, 1622. (A stone cross at the location in Macau commemorates that historic event.). The day will begin with Mass at 11:00 AM at the Macau Cultural Center Building, 37695 Niles Boulevard, Fremont with Fr. Alexander Lewis officiating. Fr. Lewis will bless the MCC Building at the end of Mass. This will be followed by a Chá Gordo also at the MCC Building (cost: $12.00 per person). All UMA members are invited. Should you wish to participate in this event, please fill out the slip on page 33 of this Bulletin and return it with your check to Marie Guterres at the address shown. I’m pleased to report that the general plan for the MCC Building has been approved by the City of Fremont. Architect James Chao is currently consulting with the structural and electrical engineers who will draw up working plans for submission to the Fremont Building Department. From mid-March, Mr. Chao estimates that the engineers will take approximately 11 weeks to complete their drawings, and another 11 weeks for the City to approve the plans and issue the building permit when we can begin to look at contractor bids and renovation construction commence thereafter. Elsewhere in this issue of the Bulletin is a summary giving arguments for and against the consolidation of the three Northern California Chapters. The summary includes the input of several past and present Officers and Directors. I wish you all A Very Happy Easter! Raquel Remedios President UMA NEWS BULLETIN – Spring Issue 2007 Page 1 of 36 Budding Macanese Dancer/Actor Diego Hyndman, son of Steve & Elise Hyndman and grandson of Fred & Therese Hyndman, was a principal performer in the San Francisco Ballet performance of the Nutcracker during this past Christmas Season. Diego’s favorite activity outside of school is ice hockey. He is the captain of the San Francisco Sabercats – Squirts Division (10 and under). From time to time Diego is called to model for print advertisements, including well-known brands such as Pizza Hut, Golden Grain, Palm Pilot, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Morgan Stanley, MacAfee, and Bayer. Here is Diego’s story: This Christmas season, I got to be in the San Francisco Ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s famous holiday classic “The Nutcracker.” I was playing the role of Fritz Stahlbaum, the principal child’s role in Act 1. It all started in 3 rd grade when two guys named Mr.B and Mr.Fraiser came to give us a movement class at my school. I did it for six weeks, and at the end of the last class, another guy named Mr. McNeil approached me. He asked me, while I was going out of the room, “Hi, my name is Mr. McNeil, what is your name?” “My name is Diego,” I said. “Would you like to do ballet at the San Francisco Ballet School?” he asked. “Um, I guess,” I answered in hesitation. Then I went back to my classroom and did my work… A few weeks later, we had our graduation party and the teacher gave my parents a letter from the ballet. We read it, and it said that I was invited to go to the ballet school on a full scholarship if I wanted to, starting September 2005. It took me a couple of minutes to decide, as I was afraid people at school would laugh at me and that I wouldn’t like it. I then had my answer, it was “yes.” I started ballet when I entered 4 th grade at Clarendon Elementary School. One day, in October of 2005, my mom tells me, “Hey Diego, I found this ad at Acrosports (my sister’s gymnastics place). Do you want to audition with ODC Dance for the Velveteen Rabbit?” “Sure. That’s probably going to be so much fun!” “Oh?! You really want to?” “Yes!!!” “Oh! I was just joking.” “No, I want to do it.” “But you have a soccer game the day of the auditions.” “So? I’ll skip it.” I went to the auditions and KT Nelson (the choreographer) said that we will get an answer in two days. We went back home and there was a message from KT. It had only been two hours since the end of the auditions! I was in. UMA NEWS BULLETIN – Spring Issue 2007 Page 2 of 36 Budding Macanese Dancer/Actor We had rehearsals every weekend for 2 months and we had 11 shows to perform at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts. I was on stage at 5 different times during the show, but one of the big parts was being the swimmer, where I had to run and jump up so that an adult dancer could catch me and lift me up in the air. I always was a bit nervous to fall and mess up. I had a lot of fun doing the Velveteen Rabbit, a very cute story. You should check it out if you have a chance. Lots of friends and family came to see me. I remember the last show, Grandpa and Grandma were there so I wanted to do even better, but I came down with a fever (101 degrees, we found out later) and so KT did not want me to perform. I had to rest for the swimmer part, since I was the only kid that could do it. The show started 20 minutes late because of me. During that time, they had to rehearse things so that other kids could cover my part. But then my Mom came backstage to see what was going on. She got so mad at me even though it was not my fault, gave me some Motrin, and screamed at me. “Diego, come on, you can do it! Get up,” she said pointing a mean finger at me. So I did. I got up and told the choreographer that I was fine. Everything went back to normal. I did all my parts, and the last show was wonderful, plenty of good memories. In March 2006, we had our evaluation at the SF ballet to talk about our dancing progress and expectations. It went very well but when my teacher asked me how I felt about ballet, I said that I liked it but I did not love it. My mom was really upset at me for the rest of the year. My one year at the Ballet School was ending and I wasn’t sure I was going to be re-invited on the scholarship because of what I told them. The last class arrived, and I felt very sad. I really loved my teacher and I realized then that I really loved dancing. As my Mom was driving me home, I started to cry like HECK!!!. I was so sad, I cried for an hour. Then, a week later, my mom came to pick me up from school and she said, “You have a letter from the San Francisco Ballet School!” “Did I make it?” “Yep. The application is ready to go if you want it.” “Really?!” “Yes! Stamp and all, we can mail it right now.” I was so happy. So when I started 5 th grade this year, I also went back to the ballet for another year with a different teacher, Mr.Lyons. Again, I auditioned for ODC’s Velveteen Rabbit and got in even though they only allowed kids that are signed up in their program. A new rule that they made this year, so we had to keep it low-key since I was not registered in their school and was not supposed to be dancing with them. But I liked it, and they liked me too, so … We were to start rehearsals at the end of October for 2 months. Later on, Mr. Lyons tells us about an audition for the Nutcracker, but my parents did not get the invitation letter to audition in the mail.