If you’ve attended a Santa Clarita event, you’ve most likely got Donna Avila to thank for the fun you’ve had. Avila is a full-time event coordinator for the City and says she is grateful for being able to use her gifts to make life better for others.
One of her favorites, the Daddy Daughter Dance, is very near and dear to her heart.
“I don’t remember dancing with my Dad until I got married,” says Avila, who orchestrates the spring event where 200 Dads and daughters take to the dance floor.
The event is a usual sell-out and is attended by girls, 5 to 10-years-old, and their fathers, who as families make heartfelt memories that last a lifetime.
The world of dance has been a strong role in her life since she was a child. Sent off to study hula dancing with her aunties in Hawaii every summer, Avila loved visiting the state where both of her parents grew up. It was there that she learned the hospitality so familiar to the native Hawaiian culture, a way of life inherent and invaluable as she teaches hula dancing to hundreds of children in a program also offered through the City.
Like mother, like daughter, her 8-year-old daughter, Leilani, loves to hula dance and is naturally good at it.
Leilani and the entire Avila family, including her three sons and husband, enjoy attending events that she plans for the City.
“My husband is there to hook up PA’s or do whatever is needed and my children are usually enlisted to put things together in preparation for an event. They love the arts and each one of them either plays an instrument or dances,” says Avila.
“Share the Word,” a musical experience produced by the City and in cooperation with the California School of Arts, is yet another of her responsibilities.
“It exposes children to other cultures and their forms of dance and music, like Jazz and Latin or African. In some courses the students can be very hands-on touching the musical instruments or learning a dance,” says Avila.
The list of events she produces with the City event staff also includes the Street Art Festival dance stage festivities and art contest, the KidK Marathon, the Holiday Parade, Youth Poetry and Concerts in the Park.
It must be the 25 years of teaching the soothing and gentle moves of the ancient dance of hula that gives her the poise to keep calm when juggling the ever-changing and challenging responsibilities of ensuring the happiness of City residents looking for a slice of fun in Santa Clarita. Mahalo, Donna.