After months of preparation and endless rehearsals, students will finally be able to showcase their dancing ability and choreography skill as the El Camino dance department presents the “Choreography Showcase.”
“It’s kind of a unique event in that it is exclusively for the students to showcase their choreography. We have no other performance event like that,” Daniel Berney dance instructor said.“This is the only one that is specific to the students and 100 percent choreography by the students.”
The showcase is a biannual event that includes students enrolled in the Beginning Choreography A (Dance 171 A) and Beginning Choreography B (Dance 171 B) classes as well as other students in the ensemble dance classes.
“The ‘Choreographer Showcase’ is a really good opportunity for the students in the choreography class to experience everything that comes with choreographing a dance,” LA Kingman, 29, dance major said. “Which is creating the movement, finding the music, but also all of the technical stuff that most people don’t really associate like tech rehearsals, and working with the crew that’s in the theater.”
The showcase consists of 20 pieces that range from modern, jazz, hip-hop,and ballet. Students enrolled in the choreography classes came up with dances, concepts for the show, lighting, costumes and other concepts that go into a dance performance.
“[The ‘Showcase’] is crucially important just because it gives exposure to those people who have never seen a dance performance in their life before and for those students who are currently dancing and want to take it to the next level. It’s just a great and inspirational show,” Jeffrie Gonzalez, 21, dance major said.
Kingsman said that, as a dancer, nobody can really see the hard work they put in the studio unless they come to the studio themselves.
“The showcase really shows off everything that the dance students who are in the class have put in – all of that hard work, all of that energy and time they put in.”
Some of the pieces include fantasy elements, props and one based off Super Mario Kingman said.
“A lot of training, a lot of hours go into making these pieces – not just from the dancers or the instructors but also from costume designers to the backstage crew in the auditorium,” Gonzalez said. “There is just a lot of work that go into it to make it the great show that it is.”
The Choreography Showcase will open May 7 with a show 1 p.m and 7 p.m in the Campus theater. Tickets are $10 at the door.
