The Northwest Voice

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Hip Hop Dancing has become well established in the world of dance culture; and yet it is still growing. It initially evolved from the streets of New York, as well as Los Angeles; and it now is seen in music videos, T.V. shows, and even the big screen. It is one of the hottest and fastest growing forms of dance around right now.

    Fresno hosted the Starbound competition with teams from all over California. This included the hiphop team from Bakersfield, hosted by Shawn Henry, who competed in the American Street Dance championship a few years back. Shawn is a long time DJ and HipHop dance teacher; he has been teaching HipHop and Breakdancing at Lenore Smith's Dance Arts Centre for over 12 years. 

    He brought both his intermediate group, Force of Nature, and his advance group, Evolution, he was hoping to come back from Fresno with awards of their own; as well as a positive experience for both the youth he instructs, and himself.

    There were many talented studios that brought their best dancers forth. The dancing included lyrical, tap, jazz, hiphop, and more. Doing good in this competition meant qualifying for the finals which are hosted in Lake Tahoe at the end of July.

    As dance routines passed, and the dances got closer to the Bakersfield crew, expectations grew. First up was Force of Nature he were performing a 2 minute and 59 second routine, consisting of the songs Get The Feeling by The DEY, Wall to Wall by Chris Brown, and I Get Money by 50 Cent. After flipping and stepping through the routine, the dancers returned off stage with high hopes after completing a near perfect dance. The Bakersfield Californian's own Ryan Pedigo attended this dance doing a guy duo part with Zach Chandler; which was done with great ease.

    Next up was Shawn's other crew, Evolution. There routine followed a 3 minute 15 second pattern and included Shawn himself as a dancer. There routine went near perfect with every floor move, and every standing move being hit in synchronization of the dancers. Once again, after the group returned off stage, high hopes and expectations came from all the dancers.

    After the rest of the groups completed their routines, the award ceremony came at the end. Each group returned back to stage together, gathering around and waiting for the places to be awarded. During this event, there were two different types of gold medals that were being given away. One was the 'High Gold' which defined a team that got first place with a high score. Then the other 'Gold' meant that the team still came in first place with a great routine.

    Going through the list of ballet, lyrical, and other dancers, the hiphop category was next to come up. The first to be announced was Force of Nature who received a Gold in their excellence of performing their dance. Shawn was more then excited after this being the first time he had ever brought his intermediate group to a competition. So a Gold definitely was satisfying for Shawn, the dancers, and Ms. Lenore Smith who is the proud owner of the dance studio. The intermediate group consisted of the dancers: Ryan Pedigo, Anna Fairman, Zach Chandler, Katie Appel, Cassandra Silva, Candace Young, Kyliegh Chandler, Sabre Contreres, Rilyn Contreres, Jasmina Clayton, Tori Gordillo, and Mckenna Moses.

    Along with be rewarded a Gold to the intermediate group, the advance group was rewarded with the High Gold. This definitely brought excitement, but was not all. They were also rewarded with a plaque that included the best floor routine or dance. Then they were rewarded with another plaque that represented a high scoring routine or a special judges award. Evolution was very successful in their attempts at the competition walking away with 3 different awards. The advance group's dancers consisted of: Shawn Henry, Gina Prince, Kaysee Jimenez , Jillian Wellwood , Morgan Fischer, and Julie Brown.

    The hiphop dance crew from Lenore Smith's Dance Centre were not the only ones in attendance for the show, but also arriving at the competition was her tap dance group called Toy Trumpets, and her very own other tap dancer who performed to a solo of singing and dancing, Kayla Kennedy. Along with Evolution, Kayla was rewarded a High Gold for her spectacular performance, and the Toy Trumpets were rewarded with a Gold in their section; they consisted of Morgan Fischer, Anna Fairman, Kayla Kennedy, and Julie Brown.

    Lenore Smith's Dance Centre of Bakersfield was very successful in their time at Starbound's competition. After it was all finished, the teams brought back 6 different awards to be displayed along with many other trophies and awards from different performances. They are happy to say that they were all able to represent their home town, Bakersfield, great ways in Fresno; and as well supporting and representing the great studio of Lenore Smith's

    Lenore Smith, the owner of the studio, has had the dance center open for almost 40 years. Even with the competitions they have entered, Lenore Smith's studio is always a positive place where the dancers and teachers alike consider themselves family to one another. The environment that Lenore has produced through the years is something that everyone enjoys, to who has had the chance to experience this. The studio is very much successful in many ways of family and friendship, not only through their trophies, medals, and winnings.