Group prayer before Impulse’s April 2011 main stage. (Photo by Eillene Valencia)

Collect your ticket. Stamp on hand. Find a seat.

This is my second year as a spectator watching Impulse Dance Company’s annual main stage.* The first time as alumnus.

The aurora is different on the other side of the curtains. I imagine all the dancers checking themselves more than twice if they have the correct costume. Putting final touches to their makeup. On the sides, adjusting their next costume for quick changes. And running around saying “g’luck” to everyone before they get set into their formations.

My favorite part before performances like these was the group prayer where everyone set aside their differences they had over the year or made this week and joined hands to pray “to whatever high power they believed in”**. They worked hard all year and harder this past week to get here: showtime. Believe me, they made it.

Lights off. Curtains drawn.

The signature Impulse heartbeat cues the opening number. The bumps on your skin will rise in anticipation and Impulse Dance Company is sure to impress. You will be instantly drawn in with their precision and unity. The lifts and leaps introduce the dance before they separate: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, girls, boys, lyrical section, student directors, and seniors. All united at the end. These sections were choreographed by their respective groups showing their teamwork.

Jackets off.

Isela Perez was one of my favorite guest choreographers, who is currently with the Sacramento Kings dance team. She taught an energetic dance that included a girl section, boy section, and a group section. The genders never outdid each other. The dancers were evenly impressing and you could feel the energy in their movement and facial expressions.

Tramon Traywick was also another favorite guest choreographer of mine with an exceptional dance résumé that included teaching in California to worldwide. Although, I did not perform in his piece last year, he taught an upbeat jazz dance that made everyone in the company want to be in it despite the difficulties, and he brought it once again to the dance floor. Using Stevie Wonder instrumentals, the dancers brought a funky and vintage vibe in the choreography and the bright costumes. It could make the crowd want to hop on stage and dance along.

Derek “DZ” Dobynes is a guest choreographer favorite of all Impulse members with tenure. His choreography demonstrates his outgoing personality and unique style and Impulse was basically having a choreographed party costumed in lime green, one of the colors in DZ’s current dance company, Grooveology.

They were plenty of memorable performances that were also taught by the dancers themselves who obviously worked hard to perfection.

Four-year member and student director Ryanna Declines brings a story to her lyrical pieces and taught a great group of talented dancers who told it exceptionally. Another four-year member and student director Ronnie Hill taught a fierce piece to the sassy girls and boys in Impulse who were bold in their steps. Three-year member Shivani Ram taught a dynamic Bollywood piece with shimmering costumes you could hear with every movement. Student directors and seniors Brandon Le, Victor Phan, and senior Alex Ramos with junior Octavio Corona choreographed hip-hop dances with amazing musicality. Student director and junior Zora Mathews choreographed a smile-inducing hip-hop piece inspired by her hero Bruno Mars.

“Mars: The Mysterious Red Planet”, is an approximately 10 minute dance performed at the annual Dance Fest, with this year’s theme being planets. Was there life on Mars? With a love story that gave you chills, it made the audience believe there really was life on a planet so strikingly similar to Earth.

The apprentice company was fantastic in their respective lyrical and hip-hop performances. Several members showed prowess they could bring to Impulse.

Nostalgia.

Alumni Jeremy Gotgotao always crafts a beautifully done lyrical dance that is broadcasted by the elegant dancers who audition for his piece. Alumni Erica Golightly brings a stunningly scary sequel to her “Circus” crowd pleaser that begun four years ago, back when Impulse still performed in the black box theatre of Monterey Trail.

The senior piece is always a bittersweet moment. Seeing the three to four year members improve is shown in this masterfully choreographed piece by the amazing director Jeanine Howland. And if they’re a first or second year member, they are equally talented in this emotional piece.

Standing ovation.

Over course of the school year, people confided in me that this year’s members could not compare to last year. You know what? That statement is a broken record. If you’re old enough to know what a record is. They don’t know what goes on behind the doors of the dance room except the sounds of leaking music. They don’t know what goes on during the morning rehearsals or dress rehearsals before a rally, a halftime show, or a guest performance at another school. They don’t know what goes on the week of showtime that the dancers lovingly call “Hell Week”. They just don’t know.

Until they come to this: Impulse’s annual main stage. Where lovers and haters come to watch because this event was so hyped up. That’s great advertising, by the way. This show proves all the naysayers wrong and reassures the supporters.

Impulse Dance Company will change every year. They will improve every year. And they are worth every ounce of support when main stage comes around the corner.

The final show is on Saturday, May 4 at 7 PM. The location is Sheldon High School’s Performing Arts Center. Please attend and be ready to purchase a ticket, if it’s not sold out.

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*In my senior year, I was injured during dress rehearsal the week of show that sidelined me from dancing activity. Note to self: I am never doing a butterfly kick ever again. Ever.
**Whoever led group prayer used this statement. All Impulse members come from various religions and beliefs and we respect that.

Eillene Valencia is a proud alumnus of Monterey Trail High School, a former member of Voices from the Trail, and former three-year member of Impulse Dance Company. She currently attends Cosumnes River College with an interest in mass media and sports. She apologizes for any typo in advance.

Tempting, as most unattainable things are, but vile.

It’s something you try to shove down my throat with sharp and cutting thrusts,

Just until I can close my eyes and swallow.

“Trust me, darling, trust me.”

But one way

Or the other,

It always comes back up.

I regurgitate it in spouts,

My eyes watering,

Back stinging,

Dry heaving,

Choking,

And always dissatisfied with myself afterwards.

Trust wraps around me like a noose,

Squeezing out everything I am,

And everything I am not.

The promises,

The secrets?

They all come out.

This scares me.

Trust scares me.

You scare me.

So I avert my eyes,

And plug my ears

To avoid hearing your

Sickeningly

Saccharine

Sweet

Nothings.

Recently, in October 2012 at fourteen years old, she was shot by a Taliban man in the head and miraculously survived. Although many claim other conspiracies to her attack, the issue is not who shot her, the issue is why. She is bringing change to a region where change is unwanted. Despite her young age, her bravery is a threat because it disrupts the traditional society and lifestyle of people in places like Pakistan. Women are degraded by culture and suffer because a male figure culturally provides the income. Most are dependent on a male’s salary. If without a sufficient male figure, which makes up a significant amount of women, the women and their children are hopeless on the streets or forced into jobs, doomed for humiliation. There is a lack of education burdening each citizen with hardships and increasing poverty due to the inability to survive on meager jobs and businesses. Pakistan’s foundation is Islam, and in Islam education, especially equal education to both genders, is crucial. It is one of the most essential principles of Islam and duties brought to humanity. Malala is educated because she is aware of her surroundings and the truth. Her critics misunderstand and denounce seemingly her Western and secular beliefs, but her motive is to provide education and equality–a value in Islam–and not just in Westernized ideas.

The United States literacy rate is on average 95.5%, and by gender, women have a rate of 95.3%. Pakistan’s literacy rate is an average 37% where women are literate by only 24%, while the male’s literacy rate is 50%. We have free education, the law commands us to attend school, and we have nothing to worry about besides passing high school, going to college, then getting a career–or even choosing not to plan any future.

Women like Malala are targeted for bringing awareness and demanding change. Yet, we ignore people like her or only give them our attention for a short period of time and then forget. We ignore the activists because they protest what we – the privileged – already abuse. We are accustomed to our privileges and treat them as basic essentials. Education is a necessity; a necessity that not everyone has access to. If we truly valued our education, we would not be sleeping in class, cheating on tests, or disrespecting our teachers. And here at the Trail we have SPUR cards? We need incentives for our students to respect an institution that many pay to learn, to read, to write, and most of all, to think? Trust me, if school and education was useless, the disadvantaged youth like Malala would not take a bullet for it. But that is if we valued our education, and if we did, we would be aware of the world that surrounds and affects us, the global impact of the 7 billion people that we share it with, and maybe, just maybe we would know of Malala.

DISCLAIMER

I do not mean to patronize or demean any students here at the Trail or
anywhere. Even I also have days when I am disconnected from my teachers
lectures and feel stressed or just simply tired of school. The point is,
if you take advantage and learn of the resources and the privileges given
to you, (education being the most important privilege), then you should be
in good hands to whatever goal you wish to achieve.

A: How did you become a teacher and was this your initial career choice?

B: This was not my initial career choice. My initial career choice was to be a lawyer. I finally decided my senior year in college that it was not really what I wanted to do. I went after something I was really interested in, which was being a sports broadcaster. I got a chance to pursue that for two or three years and I decided that it was time to settle down and find something else I really wanted to do. I always liked working with kids and I liked teaching and being around young people, so I got my teaching credential. I taught for almost ten years and I got my administrative credential. I finally came over to Monterey Trail High School four years ago and I learned how to be a leader. I was a vice principal and I’ve been a principal for the last three years.

A: What would you do differently in your career journey? Any detours along the way?

B: I would have pursued what I was really interested in, passionate about, excited about first. I was never really interested in being a lawyer. It sounded good on paper, sounded good to my parents who were spending money to help me go through college, sounded good to tell to other people…but I think I knew all along that it was not really what I wanted to do. I wish I made that decision when I was a freshman going into college, maybe even when I was in high school to puruse broadcasting. I don’t know if that would have changed the fact that I went into teaching and educating but at least I wouldn’t have wasted so much time in college. Another detour was when I was a teacher and a coach. I taught history and coached wrestling. I wish I could have gotten more into school and into the campus being more involved in club and other things. I would have understood the whole high school experience better. When I became a principal, I had a lot to learn.

A: Do you have any advice for students experiencing anxiety about their career future?

B: I know this is easy to say, but you’re young and you got a lot of time. Explore everything you’re interested in doing. Don’t let money or time or other people get in the way. If you’re interested in doing something, go try it out. Call up a company and be an intern. Ask to volunteer. Do things that expose you to the things that you’re passionate about. I think that will lower your anxiety. Don’t get so obsessed with one thing that you think that it will be your only chance. Don’t listen to other people. Do what you think you love. You’re not gonna know it right away. You’re not gonna be great at what you do right away. It takes a lot of work and time and patience. People are going to invest in you. Make sure you absorb that. Enjoy it and don’t be afraid of change.

For those that do not know what K-pop is, it’s Korean Pop music, originating from South Korea beginning around 1940′s from American influence but the turning point began around the 1990′s and eventually leading to the  21st century: The Hallyu wave . For many K-Pop fans, as one of my friends says, she started listening to K-Pop when Big Bang came out and she started liking it. She also enjoyed K-Pop because a lot of the songs she liked to listen to all related to her life situations. Another reason why she liked it (I was rather dismayed at this but can’t say anything)  was for the male singers preforming the song. There are also those who listen to K-Pop who will say that some of the songs sound almost the same to J-pop.

J-pop, or Japanese pop, began during the 1930′s making it older then K-Pop. It essentially began with Ryūkōka (literally means Popular Song). Over the years it would eventually be re-coined to J-pop at the 1990′s and leading it to the term it means today. Like those who have stuck to J-pop, such as myself, I started listening to it after watching an anime and have liked it ever since. A lot of the songs must require either a certain beat or lyrics or else I would not listen to it.  The prime issue of J-pop is that the amount of rookie bands made must compete with more senior and popular bands/singers like Uverworld or T.M. Revolution.

But all together, both sides come down to many likes and dislikes. However, some love to listen to both because they normally like to switch back and forth from each genre.

On set, Hitchcock was “just the man in the corner”, as he said, “watching with [his] camera”. But at home, he was the not-so observant husband. A previously untold story, the deep secrets of their relationship are unraveled and expressed through the explicit detail of their personal life. Though a wonderful director, it is difficult being “married to a man obsessed by murder”, Alma Reville entailed through the movie. Where he excels in finding what frightens people, he lacked in finding the one way to make his wife happy. Actor Anthony Hopkins was successful in recreating Hitchcock’s sarcastic demeanor and added to the playful yet dim banter between him and his wife, played by Helen Mirren.

Based on the book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, the movie occurs during the production of one of Hitchcock’s final creations: the legendary, Psycho. Although this film turned out to be one of his greatest creations, it also proved to be his most controversial film made. Prior to Psycho, The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was rather strict on their production codes of the movie industry. In the U.S., it was not even allowed to display a toilet on the big screen, let alone murder. After much negotiation and even more sarcastic requitals by Hitchcock, the MPAA finally approved his picture, as revealed through this movie. Although meeting approval proved to be quite the challenge, it had only been half the battle. Distributing the film and funding it additionally versed the entire production. Unlike previous Hitchcock productions, Warner Brothers Studios refused to fund Psycho for its controversial substance matter and bleak artistic style. They reluctantly contracted him to a marketing deal in which they agreed to distribute the film in only select theaters. Hitchcock could only accredit his major success to his partner and loyal wife for her often unrecognized support and technical ability.

You could say this is a movie based off a book based off a film based off a novel based off a murder.  Alluding to the murderous account of Edward Theodore Gein, of whom  he accredits for the inspiration for his film, Hitchcock remarks, “without them there’d be no movie” . His fascination with murder simply attributes to the suspense factor and arousal of fear in his movies. It keeps the audience on edge wanting more. As deranged the images were, “they can’t stop looking”. After all, they did not call him The Master of Suspense for nothing. In all, Hitchcock presents many clever subtleties that allude to his life’s work and previous success. But you don’t have to be an Alfred Hitchcock fan to enjoy this movie. Although understanding Hitchcock may help pick up on the faint references, the movie welcomes almost any classic film lover or suspense-aholic to enter the realm of Alma and Hitchcock’s love affair.

I love this song! In contrast to her music video, in which you see her and a young man who is said to be a Chris Brown look-a-like in various scenes being happy and enjoying each other’s company then the deterioration of their perfect relationship and her leaving him once he becomes abusive hence, “I choose to be happy.” I believe this is a modern fairy tale song.

I recommend this song and album to be a part of anyone’s music selection. If you have been living in a cave so far and don’t know any of Rhianna’s song start with this one Diamonds.