Robin Glynn – General Assignment Reporter –
The Symphonic Pulse Dance Company is one of the newest groups on the SCSU campus.
The Symphonic Pulse Dance Company may be a newer organization to Southern, but they have definitely made an impact on campus.
“It’s cool to work with a diverse group of people,” said Vinny Patino.
Patino, a junior, started with SPDC in the fall of 2010, one year after the team was founded. He, along with members Jesse Kroll and Erica Rivera, love the diversity that the members bring. They said that each member knows a different genre of dance and they work with of each other to learn it.
According to the members, the team is accepting of everyone, including those with no previous experience. Kroll and Rivera, SPDC President, agreed about the diversity of SPDC. They said that when some members joined, they had little to no experience but were trained and have become some of the best.
According to Kroll, the team was founded when Kroll first saw Jason Facey dance; he approached Facey and they shared their dance moves. When Lyte and Wiley came into the mix, they began to freestyle in a basement. Kroll said that the hardest part of making the team officially part of Southern was trying to get them established.
“It was hard to establish our team because there was another dance team,” said Kroll.
The members agree that the biggest difference between them and the other dance team on campus, the SCSU Dance Team, is that they do different genres of dance while the SCSU Dance Team does more performance dancing.
“We do more hip-hop,” said Rivera, “and we have a diverse setting and dress.”
Patino said that never focusing on one genre of dance is what makes them different from the SCSU Dance Team.
According to the team’s website, SPDC was founded in 2009 by Isaiah Lyte, Jason Facey, Kroll and Muonia Wiley; it was created to use dance as a form expression and as a social voice. It was created because a group of students saw the need for a dance group that explored the world of culture and dance and the desire to expose it to the SCSU community. It was created to build an atmosphere of unity among cultures.
“We can mold them to good hip-hop dancers with good technique,” said Kroll.
One of the biggest compliments that Kroll sayid that the team has heard is how much they can hype a crowd.
“We always hype up a crowd,” said Kroll. “We love to give energy to others.”
Dancer from the Symphonic Pulse Dance Company performing on campus at the club fair a few weeks ago.
Kroll said that one thing that he wants people to know is that they shouldn’t be intimidated by the team.
“We are about giving anyone a shot,” said Kroll. “We don’t want people to feel scared and intimidated.”
“It is not all universal,” said Patino. “We are never set on one genre. We expand our genres to balance off each other as a group.”
Kroll said that coming up with a name was hard. He said symphony came up because the word is the more beautiful part of movement.
“We have had a lot of next year people,” said Kroll. He believes that if you think you will do poorly, it can affect them. Kroll wants people to check them out.
“We are a lot friendlier than our performances may show,” said Kroll.
Kroll wants to help students who may like to tryout for the team; anyone who tries out should come with a positive and open mind.
