ELEMENTS X: A Hip Hop Dance Competition
THE JUDGES:
ANDREW BATERINA
Andrew Baterina started dancing hip hop at the age of 13. His main inspiration comes from his teammates and every individual that strives in stepping outside the box in music and choreography. He is currently the head director of the group SoReal Cru based out of Houston, Texas. In 2008, SoReal took the 1st place crown (and Crowd Favorite award) at the World of Dance competition in Pomona, CA. Later on that same year, SoReal Cru got 2nd place on the popular MTV show "America's Best Dance Crew" Season 2.
A regular instructor at Marvelous Motion Studios, Andrew has also taught at different workshops across the country including Boogiezone, Groove Against The Machine, and Male On Sunday 2, and takes pride in teaching anyone that has the determination to learn. More recently, Andrew has brought SoReal to compete at this year's Body Rock dance competition and has been traveling non-stop both within and outside of the country for workshops and performances, and he hopes to teach the rest of the world his unique style.
ADRIAN CAUSING
Adrian Causing began his technical dance training studying Jazz, Modern, and Ballet under the American Repertory Ballets, Princeton Ballet Schools, Kimberly Tam. After a year of tutelage, he earned a position as dance captain in her performance company, the American Dance Theater of New Jersey. While performing and choreographing throughout NJ, Adrian auditioned to become a company member and choreographer for Culture Shock, NY, an international hip-hop dance company with chapters across the US, Canada, and the UK. Most notably, he performed for Culture Shock San Diego's Choreographer Showcase, a prestigious international exhibition.
Adrian Causing is currently the Founder and Executive Director of the FR3SH Dance Troupe, LLC (consisting of the FR3SH Dance Company, a professional exhibition company, FR3SH Juniors, a competitive youth team, and the FR3SH Freestyle Crew, a competitive freestyle team). Founded in 2003, Adrian has created one of the most recognized hip-hop dance companies on the east coast. They have one won first place at Culture Shock D.C.'s East Coast Dance Competition 2008, exhibited at Funkanometry San Francisco's The Sockhop, and has featured choreography in the famous Carnival: The Choreographers Ball in New York City.
With the success of his company, Adrian has become a sought after choreographer and instructor, teaching master classes and workshops throughout the US and Canada, including Boston University's Fusion dance team, and Canada's Culture Shock Canada. He produced and directed Prelude: East Coast Dance Competition with Americas Best Dance Crew's Team Millennia held at the Union County Performing Arts Center in NJ, FUNKy FR3SH, an event held at Touch Night Club in New York City featuring Melissa Reyes from the WBs Search for the Next Pussycat Doll, and is the executive director of The Main Event a national hip hop dance competition held at the Bergen County Performing Arts Center in NJ. Adrian has studied under choreographers from across the nation, such as NYC Broadway Dance Centers, Luam Keflezgy, Jermaine Brown, and Brian Greene, Tucker Barkley and Shaun Evaristo of Millennium Dance Complex(LA, CA), and Teresa Espinosa and J.P. San Pedro from Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio (LA).
KYLE HANAGAMI
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Kyle Hanagami began dancing during college with UC Berkeley's hip hop team in 2005. Soon after, he joined Funkanometry SF as 2006 company member where he quickly excelled in creating unique and innovative choreography. In 2008, he said his goodbyes to Funkanometry SF and has moved on to start his own company with Ellen Kim called The Lost Kids as co-artistic director. More recently, Kyle and Ellen have also started the new dance company NeverLand, under The Lost Kids, who will be debuting at this year's show. Kyle has taught classes across the U.S. and in countries such as Canada, the UK and Colombia.
LESLIE HUBILLA
FR3SH Dance Company Co-Artistic Director Leslie Hubilla is an original member of FR3SH from it's first official season in 2003. During FR3SH's humble beginnings is when Leslie first began dancing hip hop in "The Dojo" and people's basements. While she started hip hop rather late at the age of 15, she had been studying ballet and modern extensively, at such prestigious schools as The School of American Ballet and The Ailey School in New York City, since the 7th grade.
Upon her graduation from the Professional Performing Arts School, Leslie packed up her bags, bid the east coast farewell (more like see ya later) and moved to San Francisco, California to study at the acclaimed school of the LINES BALLET as a member of their Ensemble and Training Program. While residing in the bay area for the next two years, Leslie had the honor of dancing with Culture Shock Oakland and Funkanometry San Francisco. Leslie is currently freelancing and working with various contemporary companies in New York City and is happy to be back with her FR3SH fam. She is excited for what is to come and is honored to be Co-Artistic Director! Wee!
ROCKO LUCIANO
For Rocko, a self-proclaimed nerd, dance is an inescapable passion. In his pursuit to find a new outlet he fatefully found Funkanometry SF Dance Company. In a few short years, he worked from the bottom up, quickly moving from an unsecured training position to company dancer, to principal dancer, and eventually served as the Artistic Director. Rocko prides himself in the ability to lead a company firmly but to still remain a friend. In gaining the respect and trust of his dancers, he feels so accomplished already.
Rocko has explored himself as a choreographer with much success. His pieces are abstract, style-heavy, and always memorable. Peers label him as a great choreographer that is still flying under the radar and he is ready to step into the light. Rocko's other credits include: MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew" (Boxcuttuhz), Boogiezone, and Black Eyed Peas. He feels blessed to be able to share his passion at workshops from LA to NY, from Bogota to Manchester. "It has truly been a dream come true." Rocko has grown up as a dancer and as a person in the tightly knit community. He looks forward to applying all that he has learned when pursuing the industry in the near future.
GLORY MENDOZA
Glory started dancing at a young age at the Westlake School for the Performing Arts in hip-hop and jazz. She excelled quickly in hip-hop, where she found her greatest passion, and she later joined Funkanometry SF, becoming the youngest member of the professional company at age 17.
Glory developed her leadership abilities with the company and later went on to direct the first Funksters youth dance company, along with Mariel Martin. She led Funksters to win numerous awards and to perform at the acclaimed Body Rock dance competition, as well as nationally in Chicago. She later stepped down from Funksters in order to take on a leadership role with Funkanometry SF & De La Femme, the Funkbrella's all-female company, and she currently serves as one of the Artistic Coordinators of Funkanometry SF. She also leads one of Funkanometry SF's afterschool programs at Burton High School in San Francisco. Glory is committed to teaching youth and bringing out the best dancer in each person.
ELM PIZARRO
Elm Pizarro is an accomplished choreographer and teacher whose personal dance style has been described as smooth yet definite, hard hitting but fluid, with a hint of an "old school groove." With over 25 years of choreography experience, Elm's dance background includes founding and leading several dance companies, performing a multitude of times for audiences in the thousands, and teaching hip hop internationally.
Elm is most known for creating www.boogiezone.com - YOUR online dance community which is an emerging internet dance website which currently has almost 12,000 members worldwide.
He is also the co-founder of Team Boogiezone "Breed - Adult Exhibition Dance Company" (EST. 2003) and "Offspring - Junior Exhibition Dance Company" (EST. 2008) which as physical extensions of Boogiezone help to spread the Boogiezone philosophy of "Community" as members of these groups are made up of directors and members of several other competitive dance groups. Over the years Breed has gained quite a reputation within the community as an exhibition company which continues to push the limits of concept and theming for stage shows.
Elm is also the creator of The Boogiezone Community Class which is recognized worldwide for offering some of the best hip hop instruction - as taught by up and coming and industry choreographers to the stars.
BRIAN PUSPOS
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Brian Puspos' dancing career began taking shape when he became a part of the UH FSA to represent UH in the modern dance portion of the Texas Goodphil competition. Since then, his credentials have grown nonstop. After taking three 1st place titles with the FSA (2 as a choreographer), he became one of the choreographers for SoReal Cru. In 2008, SoReal took the 1st place crown (and Crowd Favorite award) at the World of Dance competition in Pomona, CA. Later on that same year, SoReal Cru got 2nd place on the popular MTV show "America's Best Dance Crew" Season 2.
Originally Hip Hop Choreography Instructor at Marvelous Motion, Revolutions PAC and Planet Funk Studios, Brian has since then been featured in different workshops, such as Male On Sunday 2, Urban Legends 2008, and BoogieZone. He has also carried master classes in Stylez Studio, Hype Studios, Jayvee Dance Center, and Nix PAC in Hawaii. Over the years Brian has created and claimed his own original dance style, which is safe to say shock and awed the dance world. He is still on a mission to keep growing as a dancer and to teach everyone who is passionate in dance.
LANDO WILKINS
Arlando Lee Wilkins was born February 13th, 1983 in San Diego, California. He is the oldest of two boys in his family. Lando loves two things most, fooling around and people, and since the earth has both of those he is a perfect addition to it. At the age of 19, he chose to take dance more seriously and began taking classes with Angie Bunch and Anna Sarao. From there, he left to join 220 and after two years with that family he left to train and mess with the style of "beat manipulating" with Kevin Brewer.
Lando roots his dance from the streets, so to speak, and just plain good 'ol hood fun. That lead to breaking, locking, and popping. Soon, he implemented these into his choreography and "freestyle" groove. Lando decided to stick with and back his good friend Kevin in starting a team that praises the Lord himself, called the Super Galactic Beat Manipulators. Now representing Family Royale, which consists of the brother teams of Jabbawockeez, Boogie Monstarz (Phil Tayag), Press P.L.A.Y (Joe Larot), and SGBM (Kevin Brewer), Lando loves to travel and teach whenever he can to make people enjoy dance just a little more with what little knowledge he can share. Lando has also appeared on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew with the Boxcuttuhz, another team led under his direction. You can now find Lando enjoying himself at Culture Shock Dance Studio San Diego, and other workshops along the west coast and Las Vegas.
MEET THE COMPETITION
EPIC Motion (Energy and Passion Inspiring Collaborative Motion) is a dance company made up of people who came together out of a common desire to express themselves on a larger stage outside the dance studio. Its members embrace... read more
Location:
New York City
Achievements:
Reign Or Shine 2008 - 3rd Place
Pride Dance Competition - 2nd Place
Fr3sh's Main Event Dance Competition
Prelude EC Dance Competition
World of Dance NYC