Last night at PMT Studios, my breaking performance group and I were the opening act for the Fall Dance Showcase. It was a packed audience — including a good 15 or so of my friends, family and co-workers, which was super awesome. It's both great and nerve-wracking going first in the lineup because you don't have much time to be nervous or worry about who you are going after. And then you get all the rest of the show to relax and enjoy everyone else's performances.
Entitled "No Strings Attached" our piece was choreographed by Pavan Thimmaiah, and featured William "Thrill" Chen, Marie Davis, Ian Hutchinson, Monica Ikeda, Boris Kerzner, Rik Panganiban and Ronald Truong. Highlights for me include Marie's puppeteering that ties the whole piece together, Ian's swipes that I'm totally jealous of, Will's silly solo, and Ron's and my battle sequence. My own solo includes some of my favorite moves: a short charleston toprock, a matrix dip, a baby-shoulder freeze combo into a kip-up, and a "P" handstand freeze.
I'm super proud of my whole team, who really rose to the occassion, bringing fun and positive energy to the performance. The crowd seemed to love it, and even my cranky roommate Swifty thought it was good.
Other pieces last night included a fun jazz dance / hip-hop battle choreographed by Heather Oberly and Pavan, a beautiful solo piece by Rachel Sattler danced to Otis Reddings "These Arms of Mine," and a couple of other jazz and contemporary pieces that I didn't get to see.
Just one more performance on Sunday in the afternoon. I'm going to rest up today so I'm fresh for tomorrow.