Andrew Baterina, Private Dancer

Great news everyone. Andrew Baterina has returned, and this time he's hot. His new choreography to Private Dancer by Omarion is both smooth and sassy at the same time. In addition, there is partner section in the choreography that is assisted by Jackie Lautchang. This choreography in my opinion is one of the best of 2013. It covers many aspects of dance, which will be explained in detail.

Here's the link to his video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqHJm1D9uG8. What stood out most to me was the use of the entire group and formation changes. For example, from 0:16 to 0:18, Andrew Baterina in the center does his own move, while the entire group follows with a different move. There are multiple instances where the group executes different moves from Andrew, such as 0:24 to 0:27, and 0:40 to 0:47. The formation changes were flawless. My favorite was right after the dancers switched from their partner dance to the entire group, at 1:33 to 1:38. The first move at 1:36 really accents on the bass.

Overall, Andrew Baterina's new choreography is one of my favorites right now for 2013. Andrew has always been one of my biggest inspirations. He has choreographed for famous singers such as Jay Park from Korea. Andrew Baterina has been successful in his dancing career. Soreal studios in Houston, Texas was founded by Andrew Baterina. At Soreal studios, Andrew leads adult competition teams as well as junior competition teams.

Brian Puspos Adorn

One of Brian Puspos's  videos became a Youtube hit awhile ago. After stumbling upon it over and over again on Youtube, I felt the need to blog about it. So the song that Brian Puspos dances to is a cover of the song Adorn. Adorn originally by Miguel is covered by Travis Garland. The purpose of this choreography was "For her. I know I can't be with you but if I could.."  This quote was said by Brian Puspos. Let's get to the technicalities of dance.

From the moment Brian Puspos starts dancing until the end of his dance, every move that he does has a meaning to it. For example, at 0:31, the lyrics say the word grin. Brian dances and relates his moves to the word grin. Brian's style is creating pictures to the lyrics of the song through his dancing. When watching his dances, most of Brian's moves are connected through the lyrics of the song. In addition, his moves are clean and not messy at all. He executes his choreography extremely well.

Brian Puspos is not only a sensational dancer, but he is the one I look up to for inspiration. The reason why I started dancing was because I discovered Brian Puspos a long time ago on Youtube. Eventually, he danced on live television and I've followed him ever since. This is the link to his Youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianPuspos?feature=watch

Merengue

Most recently, I took a dance class taught by a Spanish teacher at FVHS. Ms. Kennedy taught Merengue to students and teachers who wanted to learn how to dance. In reality, 90% of students came to earn cultural points for their Spanish Class. The other 10% were people like me.

To be honest, the culture points did not really mean much to me when I attended the Merengue class. I just really wanted to learn a new style of dance. Last year, Ms. Kennedy did dance classes for her students, except she taught Salsa dancing. This years first Merengue class was extremely fun. The footwork and timing of the moves were a lot different from what I usually do. In addition, I really enjoyed the Latin American music.

I plan on attending the rest of Ms Kennedy's Merengue classes because I really want to learn new dances and expand on them. To become a better dancer, one must try different and new styles of dance. In addition, my parents are very supportive of me for learning dances such as the ones on the show Dancing With the Stars.

Talent Show Auditions

For those of you who don't know, my friends and I auditioned for two talent shows. One is the Friday Night Live talent show at FVHS. The other is the district wide talent show at HBHS. I am very happy to say that our group made it into both talent shows. Our act is an entire dance routine about three minutes choreographed by ourselves. The original name of the group was The Panty Droppers, but since it was so inappropriate we had to change it to something else. Our new name is the 714 FV Smooth Sassy Boyz with a Z. This name was inspired by the last year's FNL talent show, where our group used the same name.

The 714 FV Smooth Sassy Boyz just want to display their talents and give people a performance they will never forget. We are most popular among the ladies. Just a warning, our dance is going to be extremely sexual, so we expect most of our audience to be beautiful women.

The FNL talent show will take place sometime in April and the District Wide talent show will take place sometime in May.

The Company Workshops

Recently, I attended a hip-hop dance class known as the ORG Workshop Featuring The Company. This dance workshop was hosted by The Organization, which is a junior dance team. The class featured three choreographers from the company, which include Aggie Loyola, Jonathan Shay, and the famous Pat Cruz. This event took place at Quest Dance Studios. 

This workshop was the first time I've ever learned choreography from The Company. The Company is a very well-known adult dance team. The first class was Aggie Loyola. It was about an hour long and we danced to a very smooth R&B song. Before Aggie taught the class, she told us that this dance was inspired by her feelings, and that all of the moves portray how she interprets the song. I was surprised that I was able to keep up with the class. Near the end of the class, Aggie split us into groups to dance the choreography. The groups were filmed and Aggie performed a solo.

The second class was taught by Jonathan Shay. The song we danced to was very fast. The footwork was pretty difficult to learn, but I was able to catch up with the class. Unfortunately, Jonathan was not able to teach much of his choreography because we ran out of time. So, he also split us into groups and we performed his dance. 

I was unable to take the class taught by Pat Cruz because I was so hungry. Right after Jonathan's class, I ran straight to the cafe in the studio and ate a big plate of chicken teryaki. As this was happening, the third class already started, so I was too late. 

Brian Puspos, Take You Down

Brian Puspos has released a new video, but this time, it is for the ladies. The Take You Down video by Brian Puspos has reached nearly 300,000 views! The song Take You Down by Chris Brown was danced by five people, all who are members of a dance crew called The Architeks. Brian Puspos, the choreographer of the video, did a different approach to his dance. His dance for this song was mainly for sexual appeal. Even I was screaming like a fan girl after watching the video. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Semy2iLEq5c. Let's explore the aspects of this dance in depth.

The dancers in the video are extremely smooth. This matches the mood of the music. Brian Puspos dances to both the lyrics and the beat of the song. When watching the video, listen to the lyrics and see how Brian tells a story through his dancing. For example, when the lyrics say, "take you down", the dancers actually start grinding the floor. Once again, this dance is made for sexual appeal, especially for the ladies. Another part I would like to highlight are the formation changes throughout the routine. At 1:26 to 1:28 in the video, the dancers go from a formation of two people in the front and three in the back, to a formation of a circle. Notice how smooth they transition from one formation to the next. It takes a lot of work to execute the choreography along with formation changes. The part that made me scream like a fan girl was the start of 2:11, where all of the dancers lined up and Brian Puspos did a solo.

This video really caught my attention because this dance brought back the old Brian Puspos from years ago. Back then, Brian's dancing was very smooth. Nowadays, his choreography consists of hard hitting and upbeat music. I personally love Chris Brown, especially the song Take You Down, so this video was a jackpot for me. If you want more of Brian Puspos, check out his Youtube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianPuspos?feature=watch.

Vibe XVIII

One of the most respected hip-hop dance competitions happened on January 27, 2013. This event was located at the UCI Bren Events Center. I am proud to say that I was able to experience Vibe 18 live. International teams from Mexico and Japan battled their hearts out to place in the competition, along with U.S. and local teams. The crowd was crazy wild, cheering for every single team that performed. These professional teams trained rigorously to place in this competition. I lost my voice because I was screaming like a little girl throughout the dance routines. Vibe 18 showcased an incredible amount of talented dancers.

Fountain Valley Dance Team alumni, Brian Khong, competed in Vibe 18. His team is called Team Millenia. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqYr5WZVSmE. In this dance routine, the dancers portrayed a concept. They told a story through their dancing. Watch their performance and try to understand the concept.

A team I would like to highlight is the first place team known as G-Fam. This team consists of the adult team, GRV, combined with the junior team Gravy Babies. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APZkF1u6gSw. Jawn Ha and Bam Martin, both from Mos Wanted Crew from America's Best Dance Crew, both competed with G-Fam. Notice the clean footwork of Bam Martin's choreography at  3:55 in the video. The routine is so clean because every dancer is sharp and in sync. G-Fam beat the second place team by 0.4 points, which is extremely close.

The most entertainment for me personally came from the second place winners of Vibe XVIII, Koutei Sennin. This team traveled to UCI from Japan! Here's their performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX-j1pPsQIU. Koutei Sennin's routine was so unique because they did something different from all of the other teams that competed. They showcased popping, which is a type of hip-hop dancing. In addition, their dancing was creative with their costumes and props. This routine was the most exciting of the night. Once the performance was finished, everyone gave a standing ovation.

Vibe XVIII happens once every year. I suggest anyone who has an interest in dance to attend these hip-hop competitions. They're exciting, and people can learn so much more about the dance community.