Houston’s Own Dancing With the Stars Sees a Repeat Champion — and Plenty of Costume Fun

A Lively Night for the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association

By Shelby Hodge // May 28, 2022

Photography Quy Tran

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Asian Pacific American Heritage Association Dancing with the All-Stars competition winners Paul Richardson and Dr. Cindy Berthelot Ly. (Photo by Quy Tran)

APAHA president Nelvin Joseph Adriatico, Mayor Sylvester Turner at the APAHA 30th anniversary gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

Dr. Neil Badlani & Rekha Muddaraj at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

Betty & Dr. Kim Gee at the APAHA 30th anniversary gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

Competing dancers at the APAHA 30th anniversary gala Stephan Golubovic and Christine Ho (Photo by Quy Tran)

Shern-Min Chow & Bob Hardy at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

Dr. Peter Chang & Theresa Chang at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

APAHA dance competition judges John Newinn, Dr. Monica Patel, Mahesh Mahbubani (Photo by Quy Tran)

Mitzi Shen, Janie Yao at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

Nathan Robertson, Vy Le at the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association gala (Photo by Quy Tran)

What: The 30th Anniversary Gala of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association

Where: Royal Sonesta Hotel

PC Moment: With the theme “Dancing with the APAHA All-Stars” this was guaranteed to be a lively evening and so it was when a handful of Asian Pacific American Hetitage Association members donned glittering competition costumes and whirled and twirled to the delight of the 500 guests who filled the ballroom.

Once the high-stepping, the waltzing and the shimmying was complete, reigning champion Dr. Cindy Berthelot-Ly and dance partner Paul Richardson won the top prize of $1,000 for their impressive cha-cha. Judges John Newinn, Dr. Monica Patel and Mahesh Mahbubani rated the various competitors.

Additional entertainment included a song from award-winning Houston Filipino American artist Vincent “Enteng” Evangelista.

Competing dancers at the APAHA 30th anniversary gala Stephan Golubovic and Christine Ho (Photo by Quy Trang) — Competing dancers at the APAHA 30th anniversary gala Stephan Golubovic and Christine Ho (Photo by Quy Tran)

Nine honorees were recognized: Corporate — Cadence Bank; George HW Bush Award — Chef Justin Yu; Community Service — The Alliance Texas; Health & Medicine — Dr. Asim Shah; Journalism — Shern-Min Chow; Education — Sarah Sutar; Entertainment & Sports — Dance of Asian America; Public Service — David Nguyen; and Lifetime Achievement — Betty Gee.

Baobab Classique Scented Candles

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PC Seen: Emcees KPRC Channel 2 reporter/anchor Rose-Ann Aragon, Christopher Kelso and Rob Cook; plus Nabil Shike, Lilu Cheng, Rekha Muddaraj, Mariah Escobedo, Terika and Antoine Lee, Mitzi Shen, Christine Ho, Stephan Golubovic, Judge Juli Mathew, Naushad Kermally, Jacquie Baly, Janie Yao, and Theresa and Peter Chang.