Review: The full company gets in For-motion!
Kyla Monroe dances in "Take a Chance" to the song "Another Day of Sun" from the motion picture "La La Land." Monroe performed in six other dances during Motion! on May 19 at the Haugh Performing Arts Center. Photo by Hannah Walleck / Clarion

Review: The full company gets in For-motion!

A night filled with a variety of music from Kendrick Lamar to music from the motion picture “La La Land,” Motion! had the audience cheering for more.

The Citrus College Dance Department presented Motion! 2017, a dance concert students and faculty choreographed and designed.

The Full Company, also known as student dancers, kicked off the show with the famous James Bond theme song.

With the red and white lights flashing above and the dancers dressed in black costumes, The Full Company got the audience cheering and applauding with 18 more songs to go.

The show had a wide range of music and types of dance. Olivia Garcia choreographed her own solo dance titled “Conquer the Fear.” She danced to “Hold On To What You Believe” by Mumford and Sons.

Second-year student and dancer Kyla Monroe was in seven dances in Motion!, including the opener and closer.

One of her performances was “Take a Chance” based on “Another Day of Sun” from “La La Land.”

This dance was paired with bright orange and yellow lights and colorful costumes.

The “La La Land” re-creation had an upbeat tempo that even people who have not seen the movie could enjoy.

Monroe mainly does ballet and her talent shined through, especially during one of the last performances called “Body Politics.”

She said it was one of her favorites to perform, but loved each dance because of how unique they were.

“I appreciated and loved each dance for different reasons,” Monroe said. “They each showed different emotions that made them special.”

Hip-hop was another popular music genre heard throughout the show, with songs by Jason Derulo and Nicki Minaj to Gwen Stefani.

Steven Trujillo, a second year student and dancer, co-choreographed and performed “Funky Fresh, Full of Flava” with Ayumi Sano.

Trujillo and Sano impressed the audience with their hip-hop and break dancing skills.

The crowd applauded and cheered loud enough to hear over the music during their performance.

Trujillo said he was happy with how the piece he and Sano created turned out.

“They loved the piece I choreographed with Ayumi Sano,” Trujillo said. “It was great to collaborate with someone and understand their movement and put that piece together, especially because with the amount of time we had.”

However, the favorite of the night was the closing dance dedicated to Prince performed by The Full Company.

Purple and gold colored lights flashed in the background while the dancers wore glittered shirts of black, purple and gold.

Third-year student and dancer Matthew Salvador, who was in six dances, thought their tribute to Prince was a hit.

“I loved the costumes and songs we danced to for the Prince closer,” Salvador said. “It was a great way to end the show.”

They danced to some of Prince’s iconic songs including “Kiss,” “Purple Rain” and ended with “Let’s Go Crazy,” where they freestyled while moving off stage.

Prince was an excellent way to end the show, with his memorable tunes and beat that left the audience in a good mood as
they cheered for the full company’s performance.

Trujillo said the dance department worked on Motion! for three months and it all paid off.

“We’ve been working hard since February to put on a great production,” Trujillo said. “I want to thank everyone who came, it’s great to see we had a good audience there supporting us.”

The catchy songs and energetic dance moves made the production a fun show to see on a Friday night.

The dance department’s next performance will be the Fall Dance Concert during the fall semester.

It will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 and 2 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Haugh Performing Arts Center.

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