EVERYBODY DANCE NOW feat. SAEA BANYANA

Over the weekend I made the trek down to Melbourne town for the weekend with my family to support our baby sister, sister in-law and girlfriends from ALL GIRL AFRICAN DANCE GROUP  SAEA BANYANA who are appearing on the new reality series on Network 10 called "EVERYBODY DANCE NOW".

TEAM SB - BROTHER MARV, TRACY, TT, MEECIE, LEXUS & ANGEL

When I heard the girls made it onto EVERYBODY DANCE NOW I was ecstatic for more reasons than one. The main reason obviously being because I am a HUGE fan of SAEA BANYANA and I know how hard they work and now they finally get the chance to showcase cultural dance to Australia representing various parts of Africa.  They are also representing strong independent WOMAN.

LISA (BIZNIZ BANYANA) EDEN (BOUNCY BANYANA) TIANA (BOSSY BANYANA)
RITA (BOLD BANYANA) MAXINE  (BABY BANYANA)

The other reasons being that other talented dancers like Beat The Streets for example get their time to shine on national television and the dance mentors on the show are actually of African American descent.

BEAT THE STREETS

I am so happy an Australian production company chose people of colour to mentor on EVERYBODY DANCE NOW. For years I have been preaching that we need to embrace coloured people on TV in Australia as we live in such a multi-cultural country, and it is not represented in mainstream media, so props to Freemantle Media.

DANCE MASTERS JASON DERULO & KELLY ROWLAND

SARAH MURDOCH & JAZZ (TEAM SB)

At first I did not understand why they chose Sarah Murdoch to host a dance show, but after seeing her work and seeing her passion for dance on some of the promo videos I now understand why.  Sarah Murdoch is one of the nicest people, I have met. She is so pretty and just a really lovely woman and I got the chance to tell her that.

EVERYBODY DANCE NOW is great for showcasing the many talented Australian dancers & it is a way to let everyone see the many different styles of dance out there.

The format however, has been debatable.

From my understanding (insiders info) there are 24 teams that need to compete in the televised heats to get into the quarter finals.

JASON & KELLY ON SET

Dance Masters Kelly Rowland and Jason Derulo have already chosen who they would like on their teams, so on the night of the show 
they simply choose a team to compete.

It is meant to be a game of strategy.

Each week 8 teams / dancers with various styles compete in Dance Duels and at the end four teams battle it out in a final Duel to move forward into the Quarter final, two of which are chosen to go through.

The audience holds all the power and they vote on which team wins each Duel including the final 30 sec duel which is the decider.

The Dance Masters have to plead their case and reason why the audience should vote for their team.

The heats are pre-recorded and the finals are live.  It is filmed in Melbourne.

Once it goes LIVE Australia gets to cast their VOTE.

The are a few issues I have with EVERYBODY DANCE NOW, the first one being the really bad camera angles and editing.

After watching it LIVE in the studio, what I expected to see on Television and what they actually aired was very different.

Also the tallying of the votes comes across too quick on TV, alot of people are confused.

My other gripe was the waiting time.

On arrival we were escorted as VIP'S into a warehouse and were lead to a section where there chairs in a semi-circle, we thought cool VIP treatment, but then the waiting began.

We sat for 9 hours the first day of filming and 6 hours the second day! Phew I had back ache! It was way too long to keep an audience waiting.  

I felt bad for the people who did not have a seat.

BUT it was absolutely worth it to see our girls do their thing on stage and also the other acts 

On the first day of filming, we were also treated to a live performance by "Jason Derulo", who also proceeded to sing his name for us.

That was cool.

TEAM SB WAITING WAITING

"THE WARM UP GUY" Dave Eastgate deserves an honourable mention here for his tireless efforts at keeping the crowd entertained and amped to cheer and scream on cue.

Dave Eastgate is the funniest guy ever. He had us in stitches with his jokes and funny antics which included throwing himself around the stage and exposing his beer belly. Dave deserves some kind of award.

He is at almost every recording of shows of this type. He gets the jobs.

"THE WARM UP GUY" DAVE EASTGATE

Check out our SAEA BANYANAS in their heat, they nailed their performance and the audience voted in their favour.  Not only are they $10,000 richer, they are on their way to winning the grand prize of $250,000.00 and Australia gets to see their talent and beauty.

I am looking forward to catching the girls in their quarter final performance, in a couple of weeks.  As Kelly Rowland said they are "full of surprises" and you can guarantee they will be "bringing the heat".

You can follow them on twitter & facebook  & instagram and use the hashtags #BANYANAFIDE #TEAMSB #SAEABANYANA #TEAMKELLY

Feel free to VOTE for our SAEA BANYANA girls & get BANYANAFIDE Australia! :)

DANCING SETS THE SPIRIT FREE! :)

REMEMBER THE TIME - A tribute to WHITNEY & MJ

On Saturday 28th July I hosted one of the best events of my life!

Our show "REMEMBER THE TIME" A tribute to WHITNEY HOUSTON & MICHAEL JACKSON will definitely go down as the TRIBUTE SHOW of the YEAR in Sydney.

As the venue Notes Live located in Sydney's funky new place to be Newtown, started to fill with die hard MJ & WHITNEY fans you could already feel the buzz in the air.

I created the SOLD OUT SHOW which was promoted through Champion Marketing Solutions to honour the music and lives of 2 of the worlds great artists. 

MICHAEL JACKSON wrote the SOUND TRACK to our LIVES and was the GREATEST ENTERTAINER ON EARTH and WHITNEY HOUSTON had the GREATEST VOICE on EARTH.

Together their music and songs formed an electrifying set list which was impeccably delivered to a full house by ACE AWARD WINNERS - BEST COVER BAND and musical family THE KAMI's  feat. Sydney's No.1 R & B artist, the young boy with an old soul MIKE CHAMPION and former Australian Idol Contestant MADAM PARKER.  Together on one stage these musicians had everyone in the venue up out of their seat dancing, singing along and cheering after each song.

Here is a video of Mike Champion performing his version of "THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL" featuring the very beautiful "TRACY".

Sticking with theme of old skool music, DJ's NASSER T & SAM BOUTROS kept everyone grooving in between sets.

This is undoubtedly the BEST TRIBUTE SHOW I have ever done and it could not have been possible without the MUSIC of WHITNEY & MJ! So I want say THANK YOU to WHITNEY & MJ for the music and may you both R.I.P eternally.

Because we had such raving reviews:-

"Angel, a HUGE thankyou for organising this epic event. All expectations of the night were blown away and I don't think there was one person who came that didn't enjoy themselves immensely! My mind was blown by all the old memories, What a night" Anthony Boros 

"This is the best tribute show I have ever been too" Carol Stanley

"Awesome night,great music and a vibey crowd !! Please make it an annual event" Vincent Motshabi


"Its Monday and I still cannot get over saturday nights show with The Kamis and MIKE CHAMPION - YOUNG BOY OLD SOUL, such a beautiful energy and such a great crowd.. love, love, loved it & can I just say The Champion Family are such a humble and beautiful family.. would totally work with yall again in a heartbeat!!!

HUge love & thanx to everyone who came to support, massive thankz to my tongan family The Kamis loads of love and many thankz to Angel Champion, and big upz to Mike Champion.. keep doin yo thang & doing it well yo!!" #Blessed!"  Madam Parker

I came to your MJ and Whitney tribute show at Notes newtown on Saturday night! All I can say is OMG we had the best night ever, we had a table of 15 women ranging all ages and everyone had a fabulous time! It was the BEST tribute show I have ever been to! The Kamis and Mike Champion were outstanding! Please please organise another show, we will be there!  Thanks for an awesome evening!" Nat Warner

"What I witnessed the evening of the “Remember the Time” MJ & Whitney Houston Tribute put on by Angel Champion far exceeded your expectations for a typical ‘night out’ in Sydney. It was a night where people had come together to support Angel for creating a special tribute, to honour the cherished two who have made an integral mark in music history, & most importantly – to dance the night away to the music which has moved us throughout the years (which everybody ended up doing in all areas of the venue, including the stage!) The vibe I felt in that venue when everyone was on their feet dancing was unlike any other. We were all moved that night. Moved by the amazingly talented band (not to mention that saxophone soloist that had everyone melt to the floor) with the gifted voices of Mike Champion and Madam Parker soulfully gracing us on the mic, & the dj’s incredible selection of nostalgic old skool beats. The show coming to an end with the beautiful Champion family together up on stage touched all of our hearts. Such warmth & love emanated throughout the place. I can honestly say this was one of the best nights out I have ever had in Sydney, & it will definitely be a night to remember!! Keep these nights coming Angel, Sydney needs more of them! We are proud of your passion for bringing people together to experience events as memorable as this & blessed for the hard work you put in to make it all happen for us. Thank you for an incredibly amazing night!! xxx" Tracy Gonzales

STAY TUNED for my NEXT SHOW it will be on NOVEMBER 3rd venue TBA.

For details head to www.championmarketing.com.au or follow my new ANGEL CHAMPION page for updates.

THE KAMI'S FEAT. MIKE CHAMPION & MADAM PARKER
"REMEMBER THE TIME" A TRIBUTE TO MJ & WHITNEY

THE KAMI'S FEAT. MIKE CHAMPION & MADAM PARKER
"REMEMBER THE TIME" A TRIBUTE TO MJ & WHITNEY

"THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL" BY MIKE CHAMPION FEAT. TRACY
"REMEMBER THE TIME" A TRIBUTE TO MJ & WHITNEY

DJ NASSER T & ANGEL
"REMEMBER THE TIME" A TRIBUTE TO MJ & WHITNEY

CLICK THIS LINK TO CHECK OUT MORE OF THE PICS 

THE SECRET LIFE OF ANGEL