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Our Miss Hawaii on Her Way to Miss America
by KAWENA CHUN
Sun Correspondent
Archived November 2007 article
The reigning Miss Hawaii, Ashley Layfield, is continuing to make a huge positive impact here in Hawaii. As a former Miss Kahala, she won the prestigious Miss Hawaii pageant this past June at the young age of 21. She was encouraged to join the Miss America scholarship organization while she was a 24-7 Dance Force dancer for the pageant. This Dance Force has been linked with the organization for several years and they always seem to top themselves each year with new and innovative entertainment. As a UH Rainbow dancer and a 24-7 dancer she lives dance. The troupe name is quite fitting because these dancers seem to be dancing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To concentrate on the Miss America pageant she has taken a break from being a UH Rainbow dancer; so look for her next year at the UH football games.
A native to Kailua she now resides in Kaneohe. Both of here parents moved here when they were in 6th grade; they even went to high school together. When asked who her greatest role model is, she replied, "My mother is my greatest influence. She did a great job raising my sister and me as a single parent. She instilled in me the necessity for a good education and that's exactly what the Miss America organization is: a scholarship program. She has always been incredibly supportive, in everything and anything I wanted to do." As a Castle High School graduate Ashley is currently a senior at the University of Hawaii at Manoa double majoring in American Studies and Graphic Design. Another person that has inspired her greatly is her past pageant director, Ann Mata, who is also a resident of the East side, living in Kamiloiki Valley. "Ann has been there for me always, especially in terms of my pageant training. I started off as a dancer for the pageant. Running for Miss Hawaii was a new experience for me. Ann was there to show me exactly what I needed to do. Everything I needed she had and she was always there to offer herself through support and training. She's an incredibly sweet lady."
One of Ashley's favorite activities that she has accomplished as Miss Hawaii so far was her travel to Japan. "It was a real adventure for me considering that it was my first trip out of the country." She journeyed there with Hawaii Tourism Japan for six days, which according to her was way too short. While in Japan, she danced hula for the World Trade Fair. "It was a whole bunch of different countries that came together to promote their own country. It was really cool to walk from one end of the room to the other and pass through 15 different countries."
Lately she has been staying busy spreading her platform and beauty with Hawaii. According to Ashley, "I've recently helped promote the Hawaii Performing Arts Foundation. They had a concert about 3 weeks ago at Hawaii Theatre. That was pretty exciting because that's my platform: Enriching Lives through the Performing Arts. The HPAF is great. They provide opportunities for Hawaii youth to pursue their goals through the performing arts."
Ashley has a lot of experience in the performing arts field. Besides dancing a huge portion of her life, she has starred in the Broadway musical, A Chorus Line, she was a featured dancer in Cats, and she even choreographed Oklahoma. Miss Hawaii has also shared her love for the performing arts with children she teaches at 24-7 Dance Force, located in Windward Mall. Ashley is heavily involved with a wonderful program called Heartbeat. "Our program, Heartbeat, is a dance class for the intellectually and physically challenged youth." One can't help but smile from her expression of joy and compassion as she talks about her students. It is clearly evident through her eloquence that she loves her "job" and students dearly. The 24-7 dance team is putting on a concert at Paliku theatre, located on the Windward Community College campus on November 16th and 17th. The matinee, Feel the Pulse, features the younger and beginning students. Ashley has helped coordinate and encourage the younger kids with their eagerly awaited upcoming performance. The later show is called Ink, which features the more advanced dancers. Usually Ashley would be dancing in this part of the concert but she will be just coming back from her TV show the day before.
Our Miss Hawaii is leaving November 4th to go to L.A. to film a reality TV show for the Miss America pageant. "Filming is for 10 days. I've never been in a reality show before so that's going to be very exciting. We're all going to be in one compound. They are going to split us up into groups. I speculate there are going to be some competitions between each group. It airs the week before Miss America, which will be on January 26th on the TLC channel. I can't wait! Miss America is a big deal for me. Every single day I'm doing something to prepare. Everything I do is leading up to this moment, it's a little stressful but I'm incredibly excited."
In seeing Ashley's passion and determination for the Miss America title, there is no doubt in my mind that she can accomplish her ultimate goal. Will our new Miss America be from Hawaii? I hope so. Ashley definitely matches the ideal look and personality for the crown. The last Miss America from Hawaii was Angela Baraquio in the year 2000. In the history of the pageant there have only been two Miss Hawaii's crowned Miss America. The first was Carolyn Sapp in 1991.
Our Miss Hawaii is looking forward to performing her talent, which will be a lyrical jazz dance to "Listen" from the movie Dream Girls. "Once December rolls around everything is all about Miss America. It's a push for me because I feel it's so important that my talent touches people emotionally. When you hit their emotions, they are able to connect to you whether they can dance or not, that's what I'm pushing for in this piece. One of the 24-7 dancers, Mark Kanemura, choreographed it."
Please support Ashley Layfield as she vies for the Miss America title in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood.
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