LIHUE — The Kauai Gymnastics Academy will stage its 10th annual Christmas Show on Sunday at the food court of the Kukui Grove Shopping Center. It will feature 42 performers — 36 gymnasts and six parkour athletes — from ages 6-16. “This year,
LIHUE — The Kauai Gymnastics Academy will stage its 10th annual Christmas Show on Sunday at the food court of the Kukui Grove Shopping Center.
It will feature 42 performers — 36 gymnasts and six parkour athletes — from ages 6-16.
“This year, unlike the past, what we’ve done is we’ve incorporated some holiday songs with actual gymnastics themes,” said Jack Leonard, Kauai Gymnastics Academy program director and coach. “Every year, the kids have evolved and gotten stronger, gone higher and (have become) more daring. So, you’ll see a lot of that show up in the performances. It will be exciting and unique.
“This gym has grown from the very beginning. That process, when you look back, is so satisfying because you just want to see it continue,” he added.
Kaisa Ishikawa, 16, has performed in every Christmas show with the academy. In addition to being a gymnast, she is also a cheerleader and wrestler at Kauai High School.
“Every year, we do our our routines and our routines change every year. We put harder tricks in every year,” Ishikawa said. “Gymnastics helps me do my tumbling passes for cheer, and it helps my jumps get higher.”
She added she’s been working on a new tumbling pass — an Arabian round off back handspring back tuck — and looks forward to pulling off the move during the show.
“It’s really cool. I’m the only one out of all my teammates to be here this long,” she said about performing in her 10th show.
For Ashlynn Questin, 7, this will be her first time participating in the event.
She’s been doing gymnastics for three years and said her favorite thing about it is jumping in the air. She added she’s looking forward to performing for her family and friends.
The show begins at 1 p.m.
Information: Kay Leonard, gym@kauaigymnastics.com, 245-8863.
