Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter
The Symphonic Pulse Dance Company has made their presence felt on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University with their numerous performances at multiple university events.
Symphonic Pulse Dance Company, which was founded in September 2009 by Isaiah Lyte, Jason Facey, Jesse Kroll, and Muonia Wiley, describes itself as an avenue to use dance as a form of expression and also as a social voice.
Juliane Prusinski, a current member of Symphonic Pulse said the club gives dancers of all skill ranges a place.
“The club is to give dancers, including those who haven’t even danced before, the chance to join a club,” Prusinski said. “It gives people who haven’t danced before an experience.”
Symphonic Pulse’s performances, Prusinski said, range from many genres.
“We do all different types of genres, we do dance hall, lyrical, hip hop, break dancing, African, pretty much every genre,” she said. “We mostly do hip hop, but we still work on technique and do every genre there is. We perform that on campus clubs and we have a big showcase at the end of the year in April,” Prusinski said.
Prusinski said that at the end of the spring semester Symphonic Pulse puts a huge show together which includes close to 20 pieces that showcases every genre and that it usually has a strong turnout.
Prusinski who said she has been dancing for many years, found her way to Symphonic Pulse and that it has been an amazing break.
“I’ve been dancing since I was three,” Prusinski said. “When I was trying out for the dance team, I realized it wasn’t really for me. There was pretty much no hip hop and I am just all about hip hop, so when I found Symphonic Pulse Dance Company, I was like, oh my god, I need to tryout for them and when I made it I was very excited.
On November 17, the club held a dance competition at Southern, Prusinski said.
“Other schools came and competed, so we didn’t compete, we were just hosting it,” she said. “And we had judges and the grand prize winner, they won 500 dollars and they get a music video, that’s what they won!”
While not performing at the November event, Symphonic Pulse Dance Company did take the stage together.
“We performed in it,” Prusinski said. “We did the intro, intermission, and finale. We just represented Southern, pretty much, and that was a really good turnout, it was at the Lyman Center and was free for everyone. It was a really good show.”
Prusinski said that Symphonic Pulse performs at many of the numerous events on Southern’s campus and they do not conflict with what the Southern Dance Team does.
“We do on campus events, we do ASA fashion shows, Peace Day, just any on campus event because the dance team doesn’t do on campus events, they compete and they do the football and basketball games and we don’t. So we really don’t butt heads because we have different projects,” Prusinski said.
According to Prusinski, one of Symphonic Pulse’s greatest assets is their closeness.
“We are very diverse, and there is no drama, everyone gets along,” she said.
Prusinski said the club meets three times a week and is constantly working on something currently, which includes a performance at the University of New Haven.
“We are going to be performing at the University of New Haven in a couple of weeks, performing at one of their shows,” she said. “So we are starting to branch out, and some of us are competing at a Fairfield competition, so we are starting to compete but like I said, we don’t want to butt heads with the dance team, we are two different things, we are just a club and they are the actual school team.”
Prusinski said that being part of Symphonic Pulse has been an amazing opportunity.
“It’s really great to be part of an on campus club, you can meet people; that’s actually where I met a lot of my friends,” she said. “And it is just really a lot of fun.”
Symphonic Pulse, Prusinski said, offers anyone with a passion for dance the chance to learn and grow within the group.
“Some people who haven’t even tried dance before, by the end, are choreographers within the club,” she said. “So it just shows how much people grow.”
