RUSSELL TANOUE
Pageant World
Interview MIDWEEK MAGAZINE
Susan's Page
THE SECRET OF WINNING A CROWN
Two women seem equal in intelligence, talent, poise and beauty. Each is passionate about her "platform" and articulates eloquently. Each glides gracefully onstage in a beautiful gown, looks lean and fit in a swimsuit, is likable and well-educated.
All things being equal, why does one get the coveted crown and the other a dark shadow at the back of the stage? This is the age-old conundrum that often leaves members of pageant audiences scratching their heads because, well, they were just positive so-and-so would win.
What do the judges know that we don't? What is the mystery ingredient that we can't see? "The winning element is not what you see, it's what you feel, " believes professional photographer, makeup artist and successful pageant trainer, Russell Tanoue, whose clients were both the newly crowned Miss Hawaii, Denby Dung and the new Miss Hawaii USA, Juliet Lighter. "People pay too much attention on the surface. Of course, it's a package, but it's the unseen that sways the judges." The Miss Hawaii Scholarship Program is part of the Miss America system and has had two national title holders in the last decade, Caroly Sapp in 1991 and Angela Perez Baraquio the current Miss America. (Miss Hawaii USA, Brooke Lee, became Miss USA, then Miss Universe within a different pageant system.) "They're never equal. They're always unique, " feels judges Chair, attorney Larry Nakano who has judged the Miss Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho pageants. "One is always stronger. Someone who has that special something to connect with others.: "We brief the judges once before the judges' interview and then before the actual show to find that real girl, one that doesn't have a facade," says Thom McGarvey, Miss Hawaii executive director since the mid 70's. "We remind them to think back to the interview and see that real person." McGarvey says Denby was stiff in the judges interview and that it was during the on stage question that the judges saw Denby as "real and genuine." But how do you train someone to be genuine? McGarvey also a frequent stage judge believes "you can train in a gym, practice your musical talents, but you can't train being yourself." But Tanoue feels every girl has a potential to project herself honestly, but he sometimes recommends a girl wait a couple of years to enter. "to find her passion, her compassion, and to learn more." part therapist, part parent, he believes he can help the inner spirit emerge by really getting to know the girl on a deep level, learning her insecurities. "I try to help a girl open up her baggage and leave it behind so she can think, absorb and be all there, " he says. "she only has one time with the judges and one time on stage, and if she doesn't get rid of the baggage, it will show up." After a pageant, Tanoue actually feels drained because he's put so much of his own energy into his contestant. "He gives his whole being, but doesn't force," McGarvey says of Tanoue.
Miss Hawaii is actually given a choice to either train under the pageant committee for September's Miss America Pageant or her own trainer. McGarvey is quick to point out the danger of coming across as to rehearsed. "I believe in the Socratic method of training," he explains. The executive committee encourages Miss Hawaii to educate herself and research her platform, from which many of the judges' questions will come, then they (the committee) discuss it with her. (Angela's platform promotes character in the classroom and Denby, a musician with the Royal Hawaiian Band, promotes music education in schools.)
"Socrates believed we have the knowledge within us, but he posed questions that lead students to find the answers," says McGarvey. So what is the winning element? Nakano simply calls it "indefinable charisma." Socrates couldn't do much better.
