Dance your heart out

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Cheif

May 21, 2013

At the 2013 Dance Review, the ROP Dance 2 team performs “Missy Beat,” which was choreographed by senior Cassie Garcia.

Downey High’s dance team took the stage alongside the ROP dance classes at the Downey Theatre on Wednesday, May 8, for a showcase of their dance routines that they’ve worked on all year.

Samantha Cid, 10, couldn’t wait to perform with her team and the other dancers, knowing how hard they had worked to make their dances the absolute best.

“My favorite part of the recital was making our circle before the show,” Cid said, “we all work really hard and I just love to get on stage and hear the audience.”

The two-hour dance review’s performances ranged from slow contemporary dances to upbeat hip-hop routines. The three groups of dancers were mingled together to dance different routines throughout the show.

The show started off with an energetic hip-hop routine performed by the dance team to the song “Going In” by Lil Wayne. The crowd roared and chanted as they paraded across the stage.

The girls then proceeded to perform 30 dances. Certain dances really caught the crowd’s eyes. A performance to “Girls” by the Beastie Boys, where the girls twirled across the stage in sparkly, eye-catching sequins outfits was one of them. Another attention-grabber was a lyrical routine in which the dancers kicked up their heels to “The Devil went Down to Georgia,” by The Charlie Daniels Band. The dance seemed to tell a comedic story, making it different from their usual dances.

To the audience’s surprise, a majority of the dances were not choreographed by Coach Leslie Patterson, but by seniors on the dance team. The senior choreographers went through what Coach Patterson goes through daily: teaching the ROP students and making sure they had their routine memorized. The ROP students were eager to cooperate, so the seniors enjoyed working with them.

Danielle Lapena, 12, explains that choreographing was easier than she expected it to be, and that she was very proud of the ROP students after their performances.

“The students listened really well and were eager to learn,” Lapena said. “The girls have improved so much and have made us all proud.”

The ROP students were excited to perform and show off what they had learned in class this past year. They performed a variety dances including tap, jazz, and hip-hop. ROP’s skills were portrayed in their first dance, a tap routine where the girls clicked and clacked in unison on stage is cowboy costumes to “Giddy On Up” by Laura Bell Bundy.

Nichole Rosales, 10, an ROP student, couldn’t wait to be on stage and felt the performance went perfectly when she stepped off for the last time that night.

“I liked being able to perform dances that we’ve worked on for so long,” Rosales said. “The dances were fun and I think we did great.”

The show ended with the dancers and choreographers coming out from backstage and did an unexpected Harlem Shake performance where they flailed their limbs and shook their tail feathers in the silliest ways possible across the entire stage as the curtains closed again for the last time that night. The dancers worked hard choreographing and dancing and ended their final show in smiles and laughs, knowing they had succeeded in putting on a great show.

About the Contributors

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Cheif

Mia Dixon-Slaughter, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Downey Legend, stepped into the world of journalism 3 years ago as a sophomore. After a great deal of persuasion from her two best friends, who were on staff at the time, Dixon-Slaughter submitted her application at the semester and was welcomed shortly after. “I love writing and always have,” Slaughter said, “but I’ve always stuck strictly to literature so branching out into a different style and type of writing has helped me develop as a writer.” Although writing essays and covering stories can be polar opposites, the writer adjusted without much trouble. During her time at The Downey Legend, she has covered numerous stories, fiddled with the camera, and established the newspaper’s credibility on social media. She is competent enough to know what it takes to have efficient deadlines; all Slaughter has to do now is to guide her staff in that direction. If the writer is not covering stories happening around school, she is still somehow always somewhere on campus. Juggling AP classes, an ASB position, and her role in newspaper, Slaughter often finds herself with a hectic schedule. This being said, when genuine free time presents itself, she takes full advantage of it. “I love getting lost or ending up in places spontaneously because it feels so great to not have an agenda sometimes,” Dixon-Slaughter said. While the senior is busy getting ready for college and balancing out the rest of her responsibilities, she hopes to provide the staff with an exemplary example of the amount of greatness that can rise from commitment.

Rodas Hailu, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Rodas Hailu, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Downey Legend, leads the 2013-2014 staff into a busy and exciting year, introducing them to the journalistic world and all its wonders. The writer and photographer first entered the online newspaper as a junior, landing the position of Student Life Editor and turned heads when her stories revealed a seemingly natural instinct for investigative journalism. One year in newspaper left Hailu craving more: a position of leadership where she could let her ideas flourish and create a more successful website. As this year’s editor, she hopes to lead her team into greatness and provide a comfortable workspace. According to the senior, there is no room for mediocrity in the online newspaper. “I don’t want the writers and photographers to be apathetic at all,” Hailu said. “If they are in The Downey Legend, they are in The Downey Legend.” Full force and with great efforts, the talented student hopes to heighten the newspaper’s popularity and implement new ideas, hopefully capturing a new, wider audience. The senior, who is often described as an old soul, admires classical music and is moved by each powerful note in pieces composed by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Khatchaturian. A violinist of 7 years, her appreciation for works of art extends to cinema, and claims to be an avid movie watcher. “I really love to watch movies with a good script, amazing characters, and wonderful cinematography,” Hailu said. With a sixth sense for different forms of human creativity, she hopes to become a student in a liberal arts college and experience the intimacy of a less populated university. The future awaits Hailu, a force to be reckoned with in the arts field, and she predicts she will be living on her own because of her “innate independence.” Living day by day and constantly telling herself, “whatever happens, happens,” she tunnels her focus on The Downey Legend and its future success. A true leader with a mind coiled with layers of depth, Hailu reveals bits and pieces of her vision through her various works or art, photographs and stories.