Samo Dance team visits Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

This year, on Nov. 6, 2015 the Samo dance squads for levels two and three are going on a trip made possible by Principal Mayoral. This year the Music Center created a dance contest series offering Los Angeles based schools to see internationally recognized dance companies for free at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  “This is an amazing opportunity for students to see high quality, professional caliber dance from companies who have been creative leaders, boundary pushers, and trend setters in the dance community,” Hodges said. “Because this specific trip will be seeing the youth company, the students can see dancers who are not far from their own age, being paid to dance professionally and to see successful, talented, young people, not unlike themselves.”  The first series Samo will see is part of Hubbard Street Chicago based contemporary company. The group is called Hubbard Street 2 whose age ranges from 18 to 25.  "The dances were amazing and I was completely mesmerized by how much hard work and dedication they put into this and so the atmosphere felt moving and comfortable because everybody in the audience seemed to be amazed just as me so it was a really good atmosphere," dancer Nathaly Orozco ('17) said.  Samo’s dance team will be seeing other dance companies such as “Cloud Gate,” in Winter, and “Complexions,” in Spring.  According to Mr. Hodges, there are very few opportunities for students to see professional dance because many companies cannot get the funding to travel without charging a lot of money per ticket. And watching dance videos on youtube is not as effective as watching it live because videos don’t capture the energy that watching lives has.