Joy of Motion Performance Class Showcase March 18, 2006
It's 7:36am on Sunday as I type these words. Yeah, I'm really up that early.
Last night I attended the performance class showcase at Joy of Motion--thanks to Karina for my ticket! It's a simple concept: the students enroll for the performance class knowing full well they will be performing at some point during the semester. As you can imagine, this may require quite a few extra late night rehearsals in addition to the regular class. It's a lot of hard work to expect of a student dancer, but the payoff is worth it emotionally, intellectually and artistically.
March 18, 2006 8:33pm
The showcase featured belly dance, jazz dance, hip hop, salsa, Bollywood, step dancing and flamenco. The palo was alegrias performed to a CD track titled, "Un Respiro." And there were 16 dancers onstage! I only know a few of the names so help me out with the rest.
Front row third from left is Dana. March 18, 2006 8:34pm
From left is Karina and Aida. March 18, 2006 8:34pm
The guy is Aref. March 18, 2006 8:34pm
March 18, 2006 8:35pm
That's Dana again on the right. March 18, 2006 8:35pm
Karina is on the right. March 18, 2006 8:36pm
From the left (in the purpe dress) is Ramona, Dana and Aida. March 18, 2006 8:37pm
On the far right is Karina. March 18, 2006 8:37pm
Second from the left is Dana. On far right is Aida. March 18, 2006 8:37pm
Congrats to the students of Estela Velez! They'll be performing at Joy of Motion again tonight (Sunday) at 7:00pm and it's already sold out, but if you get in line (I recommend getting there at least 1 hour early) you might be lucky to get a standing room only ticket.
Karina Valverde and Miguelito. March 18, 2006 (photo courtesy of Estela Velez)
After the concert, a number of Estela's dance students and I went down the street to Bambule to get some dinner and squeeze in even more dancing (and yeah, I practiced my salsa).
Salsa. March 18, 2006 (photo courtesy of Estela Velez)
« Cabanas March 17, 2006 | Main | Sunday with Miguelito March 19, 2006 »
Comments
Miguelito, thank you for posting the pictures from the show! The performance was sold out both nights with over 50 people each night waiting for standing room only tickets!!!!! It was a great success! I have to say that I am unbelievably proud of this group of students who performed this past weekend. I cannot tell you how nervous I always am before the shows as I want all of them to look their best and have fun. You always worry that something may go wrong. On Sunday, it did (or did it?). We had technical problems and the music skipped!!! Yikes!!! But I was so proud to see that each and everyone of them just continued on dancing and improvised their way through while I made a mad- dash through an overpacked theatre climbing over people and chairs to get to the tech people to ask them to fade out the music and restart. None of them stopped and all improvised! The audience was so impressed they went crazy applauding. As a teacher, you always try to prepare students for any eventuality, I had been telling them, "If something goes wrong, just continue smiling and keep on moving, the audience does not know what it's supposed to look like, and just find your place in the choreography again. Just never ever stop moving!" And they did, each one improvising in their own way, truly exemplifying what flamenco is all about. Their replay was nothing less than spectacular and everyone in the audience rewarded them with loud cheers and applause. I could not have been more proud of this amazing group of stundents and now performers!!!! To each and everyone one of them THANK YOU for making this Winter 2006 Performance class at Joy of Motion a memorable one. I will miss the extra long classes, the late evenings, the extra rehearsals and, your never-ending perseverance, hard work, and dedication. And lets get ready for the next performance class this summer!
Posted by: Estela | March 20, 2006 2:36 PM