By Jesus Figueroa
A sold out crowd was in attendance for East Los Angeles College’s “Dance Discipline Spring Showcase” in the S2 Recital Hall Thursday evening. The music got the audience into each performance and brought enthusiasm to audience members through the varying styles of dance.
The dance showcased a variety of styles of dance throughout the 11 performances of the evening.
The most soothing performance was that of the Hawaiian hula entitled “Haole Hula” choreographed by Annie Yee.
Twenty seven Dance Specialties Hula Students performed the calming hula dance which filled the stage. It was the first Hula performed by ELAC which Yee choreographed.
The audience cheered as “Fall Out,” a hip-hop dance battle performance, ended. The performance was choreographed by Kristen Chew Reutimann and performed by 23 of the Hip Hop Dance students.
“Fall Out” had groups of dancers battling against each other performing move after move in unison. Some dancers battled fiercely on stage as the crowd cheered on and others would join in coming from off stage.
The dancers were energetic as they moved across the floor utilizing the entire stage. The flow of the dance steps had some of the dancers go from dancing upright to moving down and doing some moves parallel to the floor.
With a mix of Latin-American flair, with three performances danced to Spanish music, dancers entertained the audience complementing each others moves.
The first performance, “El Gallito” comes from the region of Sinaloa, Mexico and “No te Rajes Tijuana/Calabaceados,” both choreographed by Cindy Padilla as well, from the region of Baja, CA/Calabaceados.
The crowd had a blast watching the lively performers dancing in pairs or trios at a time taking center stage. The crowd erupted in applause after every performance.
“Waltz for Perry,” performed ELAC Ballet students and choreographed by Kristin Chew Reutimann, brought a classic aspect to the nights performance. It contained a very elegant style of dance moves that were slower than most performed that night.
A belly dance entitled “Farasha Awakens,” performed by ELAC Belly Dance students and choreographed by Kristina Karmiryan, charmed the audience with smooth moves. The nine performers all danced in a row on stage to grab the audience’s attention.
The dancers sat on the floor as one-by-one the dancers jumped up to do individual belly dances before returning to their spot on the floor.
The many different styles gave audiences a small tase of all ELAC dance department has to offer.
The crowd once again erupted with applause and cheers as all the performers took the stage for their groups for their final bow.
