Gavin Pydyn, 22, a business communications major from Ann Arbor, performs a solo dance during rehearsals.
THE SHOWS
Dance Choreographer’s Showcase
WHEN: April 13, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Towsley Auditorium
WHO: WCC dance students
COST: Free
Spring Swing Dance Show
WHEN: April 20, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Towsley Auditorium
WHO: Dance students from WCC and local schools
COST: Free
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Phone (734) 973-3378
Megan Holt points to the surgical scar on her leg, a result of someone in a Jeep Cherokee driving over her last year. And she talks about her unusual — and entertaining — rehab routine.
Seven months after the accident, Holt is practicing her stage routine.
“I dance with a hula hoop containing flashing lights,” said Holt, 27, a dance and pre-nursing student from Brighton. “WCC’s dance program helps with my physical rehabilitation. It’s great stress relief. I learn discipline and time management for my rehabilitation exercises.”
Holt and other students prepare for their last two performances of the semester at WCC’s Towsley Auditorium. And the word is getting out about some very special acts.
“You better get your butt in a seat, especially to catch Kevin Sano’s show opener,” said Jasmine Young, 21, of Ann Arbor.
“I’m opening with a Michael Jackson-esque routine,” said Sano, 21, an Ann Arbor resident studying graphic design who admits he’s a little nervous. “I’ll wear a microphone to vocalize a beat while dancing.”
Students perform under the tutelage of WCC dance instructor Noonie Anderson, who is adamant about preparing them for the highly competitive dance profession.
“My students learn what it takes to produce their own show and succeed,” she said. “These last two performances represent two years worth of student development.”
Jasmine Young appreciates Anderson’s approach. “Her Advanced Choreography class opened my eyes and taught me how to succeed in this business,” said Young.
Young will perform to an instrumental piece titled, “Breathe Me,” with fellow student Jazmine Slater, 21, studying photography and dance.
Gavin Pydyn, 22, from Ypsilanti, is at WCC for dance classes and a business degree.
“I’m practicing my hip-hop and modern dance performance for the show,” said Pydyn. “After I graduate, I hope to start a dance company using my business degree.”
PatchWerk dance company founder Willie Baker, 27, of Ypsilanti, will have 17 students join him for a performance. Baker is a WCC graduate, but still takes dance classes.
“I incorporate pop, R&B and rap for this performance, so get ready,” Baker said.
WCC dance students present “Choreographer’s Showcase” on April 13 and “Spring Swing” on April 20 at WCC’s Towsley Auditorium. Both shows start at 7 p.m.
So don’t let a reckless driver in a Jeep keep you from attending these final two shows. Megan Holt didn’t.
ROBERT CONRADI THE WASHTENAW VOICE
Students in advanced performance, DAN 200, practice for two upcoming shows in April.
ROBERT CONRADI THE WASHTENAW VOICE
Dance instructor Noonie Anderson admonishes student Gavin Pydyn, 22, of Ann Arbor to ‘focus!’
Indian dancers perform a dance as part of ‘Samasti — The Elements of Illusion’ at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Friday, Nov. 12.
Ashwin Korde is an Indian American, and up until four years ago he didn’t know what that really meant for him. He was not forced to actively participate in his religion; he did not hang out with other Indian children.
Korde felt more like an average American, without much of an identity.
Then he was accepted into the University of Michigan, and he joined the Indian American Student Association. Now Korde is the vice-president of group, and he speaks of passion and of service, and can expound on one of the most important lessons he’s learned here in Ann Arbor: to love, honor, and to respect his culture.
Oh, and he can dance. Sort of.
On Nov. 12, IASA members like Korde showed their unity as Indian Americans through the organization’s annual cultural show, Samasti: The Element of Illusion.
Samasti, which translates to the word “element,” was a dazzling display of color, sound, and heritage. And the performance, produced and choreographed by UM IASA students, presented a dance showcase that exhibited the myriad traditions of their homeland.
All the proceeds from the event went to One World Health Organization, which gives medical aid and resources to children in developing nations.
Styles like Bhangra, Raas, Classical, Gypsy, South-Indian, and Bollywood were all performed with passion and dedication.
“Samasti is about culture, and diversity, and happiness,” Monica Patel said with a proud smile. She is a senior at UM, and the president of IASA.
Indian culture is a virtual gumbo of different religions and ethnic groups, said Patel. Samasti was a way to show off those elements, and to promote deep connection among their members in the Ann Arbor community.
“Just like here in America, each region and group has different stereotypes,” explained Patel. “One region likes to drink and party a lot, one region is really cheap, and so on.
“We are trying to break down some of those stereotypes.”
LEONORA LUPASTIAN THE WASHTENAW VOICE
Dancers from the troupe ‘Sharara Sharara’ perform in Gypsy style.
IASA, which was founded nearly 27 years ago, focuses on three established principles, or pillars: culture, community-service and political awareness.
“We feel that if we come together and say, ‘Oh, well this is where I’m from and we do this type of dance and celebrate this festival like this,’ we’ll have a greater understanding of who we all are,” said Patel.
Throughout the show, video segments detailed the historic innovations India has given to our modern world, such as the first documented university.
The segments also hailed influential Indians from around the world, like CNN’s resident doctor, Sanjay Gupta, a UM alum and former president of IASA.
The performance itself was much more than a blatant display of ethnocentricity said the 22-year-old Korde. For him, the show is just another great aspect of IASA.
When he started as a freshman, Korde said that he had few friends who were of the same background, and saw IASA as a way to change that
“It’s really all about the energy and emotions that went into to building these new friendships,” he said. “You can see it in all of our faces while we do this show.”
Although culture is their core pillar, Korde states that building common bonds with students of all cultures is at the heart of IASA’s mission.
“This show is really a springboard for people to get involved in our organization,” said Korde. “We have all types of races, outside our own, who are a part of IASA. The show is the first thing we all get to do together.”
Most of the dancers had no formal training and learned each step as the show was created.
This, however, was not the case for Patel, one of the few classically trained dancers in the group.
“My parents took me to the temple a lot when I was a child, and they taught the classes there,” she said. “I started doing it when I was six, and it’s just something that has been a part of my life ever since.”
Korde, on the other hand, was of the majority of those just looking for something fun to do.
“If I do something embarrassing on stage, it’s no big deal,” Korde said with a laugh. “We have no dance experience and we make it look as professional as possible. People really seem to enjoy it, and so do we.”
Ten minutes before the close of Washtenaw Community College’s annual talent show auditions, students and staff were dancing and frolicking on Towsley Auditorium’s stage working off energy and riding on a high of a slew of generally impressive auditions.
For the previous few hours, Towsley’s stage was home to anyone who wanted to perform. Audience members watched as hip hop and b-boy dancers popped, locked and sashayed all over the stage; a cappella singers hit notes that gave onlookers the chills; and others performed prose and poetry readings.
“The acts this year seem more prepared than last year,” said Rachel Barsch, Student Activities events coordinator. “I’m glad to see students putting in a lot of effort this year.”
About 27 acts tried out for the talent show, but Barsch said only 20 or so will make the cut for the 2½-hour talent show on Nov. 11. From auditions to their fifteen minutes of fame on Towsley’s stage, students have a month to whip their routines into shape. But there’s more to these students’ talent than meets the eye.
Creepy tribute
Kevin Leistner, 32, walked up to the stage in a rumpled, tan suit without a note card or a microphone when he auditioned. It was story time for Leistner and his audience, and no props were necessary to make his tale stand out.
Leistner recited Alvin Schwartz’s “The Hearse Song,” eyes glowing and hands gesturing to amplify worms crawling in and out and visions of eyes turning into dust. Even at the auditions, his grave storytelling entrapped the audience in the spooky, morbid prose.
Leistner has been working with school and community theatres for more than 20 years, and he wanted to share Schwartz’s morbid tales to an audience who, he feels, is no longer in touch with the author’s work.
“Most people, now-a-days, don’t know who he is,” Leistner said. “And he just has such wonderful graphically gruesome pieces. I just love his work.”
And Leistner admits he has always had a “sick taste in media.”
“I love horror movies and Edgar Allen Poe, just the macabre and creepy,” he said. “There’s just something about it – it’s so disturbing you have to like it.”
MICHAEL WESTHOFF WASHTENAW VOICE
A whirl of a twirl
Dressed in a pink and black polka-dot getup and twirling a baton in one hand, Kayla Dillon, 18, later admitted she was basically twirling blind onstage to her act’s upbeat big-band music. But a pasted-on smile never left her face.
Even with lights glaring her vision, Dillon gracefully tossed and caught a baton between her legs, and later cart-wheeled with a baton suspended in midair. Yes, she caught that one, too.
“I practice three times a week . . . for about 3½ hours, maybe four,” Dillon said.
Dillon began baton twirling when she was 12. Her mother saw an ad about baton twirling, and she hoped it would help improve her daughter’s self-esteem and weight problems.
“The better I got, the more self-confident I got. It’s like a work out, so I started to lose weight . . . about 45 pounds,” Dillon said. “It boosted my self-esteem. It was the one thing in high school that kept me going.”
Now she teaches twirling classes to 12-year-old girls.
“Not only do I teach them how to twirl and the techniques, but I teach them how to build their self-confidence as a team,” Dillon said. “So they’re learning team-building skills, how to be kind, how to be nice, good sportsmanship. It’s really nice to see when they’re changing and being better people.”
MICHAEL WESTHOFF WASHTENAW VOICE
Hip hop in memoriam
Willie Baker, 25, grew up in a community where guys didn’t know how to dance. At home, he had been dancing his whole life.
“I kind of hid it,” Baker said. “But when I finally got the courage to be in a talent show, and I was in the show, a lot of people were like ‘you’re a really good dancer. I didn’t know you could dance.’ And that motivated me to start showing more people my talent.”
His older sister, Chrissy Satterfield, was good at dancing. She was murdered when Baker was 13. From then on, dancing had a whole new meaning.
“She taught me to dance hip hop, and I always watched her growing up,” Baker said. “So it’s kind of a personal tribute to her every time I do perform. But it’s like dancing kind of went down the line in the family, and it was her favorite hobby to do. And it became mine, too.”
Dancing soon became part of his daily life. He formed dance groups in high school that performed across the Midwest. And, after he moved away from home, Baker always managed to get a dance group together. Even when he’s walking through WCC’s campus on to his next class, Baker said he’s dancing in his head, visualizing new dance routines.
Baker moved to Washtenaw County last year, and at the encouragement of a high school buddy, he and a few friends formed the dance group, PatchWerk.
“We all just kind of joined together,” Baker said. “That’s why we called it PatchWerk because we were all just thrown together like patches.”
PatchWerk won first place at the talent show last year for its routine that combined ballet and hip hop.
“I would tell people that if they have a talent, they should use it to the best of their ability and not let it go to waste. . . .,” Baker said. “If it’s where their heart is at, they should follow their heart.”
