El Camino College hosted a dance event where dancers from all choreography classes and dance workshops collaborated to put on a performance of many different genres in Marsee Auditorium on Nov. 6.
The event was a culmination of all the work that the dancers and staff have committed to during the semester. This event was dedicated to showcasing the choreography dancers created.
This showcase featured a mix of different skill and experience levels. The genres that were demonstrated at the performance included ballet, modern, contemporary, world, jazz and hip-hop.
Elizabeth Hoefner Adamis and Jonathan Bryant were the directors of the show and are the teachers of the choreography classes at ECC.
Adamis said she enjoyed seeing the range of experience levels come together for this event to showcase their hard work and dedication to dance.
“Some people are beginning choreographers, they’ve never choreographed before,” Adamis said. “Some people are a little more advanced, and you can see probably in the pieces that you are seeing, which ones are a little more advanced.”
Adamis said that this choreography showcase event has been a longstanding tradition hosted at El Camino long before she started working at ECC in 2013. There are three shows each semester.
Adamis writes the curriculum for all her classes, directs two shows a semester and choreographs one event. She said her responsibility as a director and professor is to make sure classes are functioning efficiently and that she’s getting the students to a place where they are viable at future dance programs and auditions.
Chris Fauria, a 21-year-old fashion major at ECC, was a performer at the event. He hopes viewers not only enjoyed what they saw, but also gained inspiration for their life goals.
Fauria said he doesn’t feel nervous on stage anymore, but instead feels excitement.
“It’s fun, it’s great. It has its ups and downs, but like, that’s life,” Fauria said.
Saya Nakaniwa is a 22-year-old dance and cosmetology major who also performed for the choreographed event. She said she hoped the viewers enjoyed the show and felt the passion of the dancers.
“It’s something we need right now – we need to have a space to feel open, and feel emotions. I know that there was some very deep pieces in this show that meant a lot to the dancers themselves. So I hope that everyone got a chance to have a safe space,” Nakaniwa said.
Mia Vargas is a 21-year-old dance major who danced and choreographed for the showcase. Vargas wanted the viewers to forget about their distractions in life and drift off into a world of fantasy.
“I had a dance in this concert, and for me, I wanted was just people to be entertained,” Vargas said. “I just want people to forget about all of their other stuff, like problems, for three minutes and just fall into this world.”
