Gospel music echoes through the room.
The dancers’ straightened toes and backs highlight their dynamic movements.
“Everybody, close your eyes and bow your head,” Kanisha Bennett, the owner and founder of the Anointed Feet Dance Company, says to her students.
Standing in position, the performers begin to pray before rehearsing the second half of their show.
The Anointed Feet Dance Company, located in Hawthorne, has offered dance classes including ballet and contemporary dance to all ages since 2014.
The dancers, most of them youth, will perform “The Waiting Room” at the El Camino College Marsee Auditorium on May 10 and 11 at 8 p.m.
The show is inspired by the Broadway musical “The Wiz,” a spin-off of “The Wizard of Oz,” and takes the audience through a journey of four main characters–Destiny, Lion, Platinum Emp-T and Fearful–to find Jesus.
“We are telling the story of finding faith, finding hope and redemption,” Bennett said.
While teaching students from 3 to 22 years old at the Hawthorne dance studio, Bennett has also worked at El Camino College as a part-time dance instructor since 2015, and has choreographed pieces performed in the annual Advanced Dance Concert.
“We tell the Bible through our bodies,” Bennett said. “And so that’s where the choreography comes from….we are the instruments of the song.”
Bennett wrote and choreographed “The Waiting Room” with Johnetta McDowell, a dance instructor at Anointed Feet Dance Company who will also play the role of Destiny.
“What’s crazy is ‘The Waiting Room’ is my story. It embodies every part of me,” McDowell said. “I’ve been the one that has vision and dreams that didn’t know how to start. The challenge is telling my testimony in front of a million people in the audience.”
Mia Hilliard, who will play the Lion, said she has always wanted to play this role.
“This is my first time being the main character,” Hilliard, 14, said. “Our director Dr. Kanisha…worked her butt off to get me where I need to be today.”
Hilliard said she kept putting in the work because she wants to be “a great dancer.”
“I love being with my band sisters. I like being in this community,” she said.
This is the third year the dance company will perform “The Waiting Room.”
Due to the Marsee Auditorium’s new flooring, one of the main characters from a previous version of the show, who performed tap dance, was changed to a character named Fearful, who lacks faith.
Despite the change, the dancers have been rehearsing for the show since January and Bennett believes they are now ready to perform.
“I really want the audience to come with open hearts and open minds to receive all that we have,” she said.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 with a valid student ID, available for purchase at the Center of Arts website or by calling 310-660-3406.
