So you think you can dance?
Even if you can't, an opportunity to learn will be available for interested students when the Raw Aesthetic Movements (RAM) Squad hosts The Essence Ladies MVMNT Tour this Saturday, providing workshops for aspiring dancers.
Tickets must be pre-purchased in order to participate in the event. They went on sale Monday and will be available through Friday, at the HUB-Robeson Center for $15 per workshop or $45 for all four, said Brian Henninger (senior-kineseology), co-vice president of RAM Squad, the student break, hip-hop, pop and lock dance group.
"For dancers of this magnitude and skill to be teaching on a college campus for such a cheap rate doesn't happen very often. Take advantage of it, especially if you're a dancer," said Casie Goshow (senior-recreation, park, and tourism management), president of RAM.
Three members of the Essence Dance Company -- Gigi Torres, April Rodriguez and Candace Brown -- and breaker Ryan Wagner, who goes by the nickname B-boy Napalm, will teach original choreography in back-to-back classes, Henninger said.
Gigi Torres, director and founder of the Essence Dance Company, choreographs for So You Think You Can Dance in Scandinavia, Henninger said. April Rodriguez used to be a part of the dance group Kaba Modern on America's Best Dance Crew, and both Torres and Rodriguez have danced on stage with Snoop Dogg before, he added.
According to a RAM Squad flier, Brown, assistant director of Essence, has experience including dance company Funkanometry LA, a non-profit dance troupe, and dance touring group Monster's of Hip Hop.
"These stars have been around and seen the industry," Henninger said.
Torres created The Essence Dance Company in November 2005, after a troubling period in her life, according to the group's MySpace.com Web site.
The Essence Ladies will each successively instruct -- Brown from 4 to 5, Rodriguez from 5 to 6 and Torres from 6 to 7 -- an intermediate hip-hop routine. Napalm will concentrate on beginning break-dancing instruction from 3 to 4, Goshow said.
Stylistically, Torres, Rodriquez and Brown dance very much alike although Rodriquez tends to do more R&B, Goshow said.
"The styles are pretty similar, yet unique in their own way, so you can't say one person does R&B or hip-hop. They all do everything," Goshow said.
None of the dancers have been to State College before except for Napalm, who, in spring semester of last year, competed in RAM's annual hip-hop and break dancing battle, Rhythm Spotlight, Henninger said.
With Napalm in the picture, RAM can now offer a break-dancing clinic class for the first time, Goshow said. She added she hopes Napalm's presence will attract men to the workshop.
Participants outside of Penn State are welcome to participate. People will be venturing from places as far as New York and New Jersey, Henninger said.
"This is your chance to learn from people you would never get a chance to learn from otherwise," Henninger said.
