i love to DANCE

sorry, this is one of my long blog posts. well, it’s summer time, nothing really to do. so if anything, you could read about my long year and struggles with Diversity Movement this year. i talk a little about my senior year, but it wasn’t that special as a student, but amazing as a leader. 

the beginning of this year, i had no expectations whatsoever of what was bound to happen for me. i could really care less about being a senior, i didn’t really like my class of 2012. idk, i just don’t like high school seniors because majority of some people were obnoxious and disrespectful to underclassmen in my opinion and based on what i saw. the only things i liked about being a senior was Mr. Henley’s class with all the insight of the government and what they’re hiding, how the media affects the mainstream, and a clearer view of democrats and republicans. i’m glad i finished the HenDawg express. it was an amazing ride. Mr. Woolard was a good teacher as well because he was so intellectually smart :P Mr. Champeau was good cause i learned a lot about acting, the origins of Broadway, and his exercises were fun, just didn’t like it when he was gone for periods of time. my other two classes, i was a TA, and a peer tutor for Algebra 1. being a peer tutor was awesome, but freshman don’t seem to pick up the concepts fast. helping them was fun, it was just hard jumping from person to person. Grad Nite was alright, but of course FanimeCon was better with the cyphers no lie. 

now for diversity movement, i didn’t know what was to come. all i knew for myself was that i really just wanted more experience to teach more improved dances to whoever showed up to take my free classes. it started off slow when the year began, we had to wait a couple weeks to use the classroom. at the time, i started teaching my latest piece that i struggled with at the start of summer, That Thing by Lauryn Hill. i had dancers come from last year, and dancers who i wanted to come. Austin Gutierrez, EJAY Pagaduan, and Jason Pham, i was glad they came. next week when i taught the dance again, new people came, Desiree Purisima, Alyssa Pascual, Ashley Pascua. in my head i was like, “hm, i’m not sure if they’re gonna be good dancers, but idc, were not the best team. the main purpose is to bring a better understanding of dance for whoever came to take my class.” after that day, Alyssa was fricken raw, i just completely underestimated her! next week more people came John Alfelor, Jaimee Roque, Kharra Bachoco, Marvin Culannay, and some other dude (but he didn’t stay). that’s when i taught “I Used to Love H.E.R” by Murs & 9th Wonder, and boy that was a struggle, i taught this dance for many weeks. in the middle of those weeks, we went to Brianna Grey’s house, and thats when i met RJ Guba, Jordan Urbano, and Rayanah Lizardo. i shared the reality of what happened to hip hop, and i felt that it inspired them. i really didn’t expect for Diversity Movement to keep getting more and more people. it was overwhelming! but it was hard training people who just started dancing and teaching intermediate/advanced dances. if the new people kept struggling, they might quit. so i made a more simple piece “Floetic” by Floetry. that week, Rancheska Macam and her friend Ashley Conanan joined the batch of dancers. and at the right time. DM reached a number of 28 people! that was crazy!!! it took me a couple weeks teaching. all of it put together, we were ready for the first rally. however, during the whole process of everything, Diversity Movement for some reason felt different. the leaders and myself didn’t know what it was. but our performance, Dedication to Hip Hop, was a great way to start the year. playing ground sky was awesome. we did the performance again at AC American Canyon High School. but after that performance, things started to look down. the next couple weeks, i wanted to start a new project, Dedication to my Kuya, and just teach all of his dances that i collabed with him. we started having vent sessions. but during those weeks, i felt disrespected by DM a lot. during the classes, people wouldn’t stop talking, being so loud, and before classes, they didnt seem as excited to dance. thats when things were getting really different. i started to question, is it some of the new people? myself? or the fact that we don’t have Ms. Dilley anymore? one day, i was completely mad at DM for being so tired of the disrespect. Froilan came in an hour later after i was talking, and he was the only one who stepped and said something. it was emotional surprisingly, but it made sense. in the first year for DM, we were all family, no real cliques, just everyone close together. no one feeling like an outsider. but froi felt like that. during weekends, i would hang out with some of DM and not everyone. and when we were at AC, i guess Froi got tired of me doing my own dances that i always saw from YouTube. he told me that everyone in this team has potential, and i failed to recognize that. but idk, i basically wanted to get better at that point. i disagree, yet agree with some of those statements he made because i know i acknowledged a couple of people, but not everyone. you know? some other people stepped to say something too, Des Payumo, Ashley Nagal, Niko Haber. they had their say. after that day, i took everything in, and i made things better. we even had a picnic at blue rock springs the following weekend. 

during the whole process of dedication to hip hop, i also had another opportunity to teach dance other than DM. and it was the NBAA North Bay Athletic Association, and i taught hip hop. i carried on the torch for my kuya. but it died down after a while because only Dale would show up to class. that died down too for me as well :( i taught every monday night, but thats over.

after that crazy week. we had another opportunity coming up for us, the parol festival.  at this point, i lost a lot of dancers… even some from the first year of DM. Rancheska Macam, Desiree Purisima, Ashley Conanan, Kharra Bachoco, Daryl Masajo, Jordan Jarmin, Briana Omori, Amber Carter, Marvin Culannay and even my more experienced dancers… Austin Gutierrez, Jek Montehermoso, and Jason Pham… i couldn’t believe it. i lost at least 12 dancers from the 27 i had. DM dropped to at least 15 to 16 people. i had so much expectations from the big group, but i understand that life happens, and that people come and they go. but it didn’t matter if i lost a big quantity, i looked for quality. so i made a dance that my kuya and S**t kingz inspired me to do. UPULAR by DJ POGO, one of my most favorite dances i’ve made this school year. thankfully, this dance made majority of people stay. i was hoping i wouldn’t lose more numbers. class was still a little disrespectful, but it didn’t matter. Niko learned the dance too! during the time, we learned how to do the Tinikling, a Filipino folk dance. it was weird, Ejay Pagaduan was there, but he didn’t learn Upular, to me that hurt a little, but its ok, i understand. we finally performed at Parol Festival. it was fun! but we had to wait a long time for Upular. people were hating on us! but whatever! no one at Bethel could really dance hip hop anyway! we did that same show again at Brianna Grey’s Christmas lighting! man… that was one of the funnest days DM ever had. hot chocolate, Christmas Tree Lighting, Despicable Me, jumpers, cookies, the only thing that was bad was that it was cold. funny thing was, we did Dedication to Hip Hop again too as an encore! 

winter break came, and DM took a break… not me. if any of you remember reading some of my stuff, during winter break, i would post stuff saying “yes! 13 eight counts done! 12 eight counts done! 21 eight counts done!” i made three dances over the break for the upcoming show that DM did and HiDep did… BLACK HISTORY MONTH. during break, i struggled with one piece, “Holdin’ U Down” by Jazmine Sullivan. i went to Niko’s house for some help, cause i couldn’t really think of anything for the next transitions from move to move. niko didn’t give me any moves, but seeing him helped motivated me to finish the piece. and i did :) before break was over, i remember during one of our good vent sessions Grey talked about how at times she felt suicidal, and Jaimee talked about how she really misses her mom since she passed away. so one day during break i was watching Moto Oguri of S**t Kingz and he danced to an artist i’ve never heard before, LEDISI. and the song was super chill “Simple.” so i looked up some of Ledisi’s songs, and i eventually found “Alright.” Two days before break was over, i really wanted to touch up on this song because i couldn’t stop thinking of what Grey said and what Jaimee had said. so i did it. i finished a good amount of it. when break was over, i taught the three dances “Constant Surprises” by Little Dragon “Holdin’ U Down” and “Alright.” and everyone loved it. Froi helped me with the first part of staging Constant surprises. the funny thing is, Constant surprises, i didn’t know it was by Little Dragon. i took Mariel Martin and Tracy Seiler’s class with Niko, Tanya, and Maria!!! and Tracy’s song choice was a little dragon song! coincidence! :P anyway… the theme for Black History Month this year, it goes with the song titles and about life itself. life gives us Constant Surprises that can Hold you down… but it takes time for to realize that things in the end will be Alright. BHM was different this year only because the directors. Mr. Punjabi was a douche bag. i swear… i was trying to be very professional with everything, but he was just being disrespectful. but whatever, we killed the show anyway. i thought it was funny when we didn’t show up on friday night. performed it like 4 times, that was a good amount. 

the weird thing that happened for this year, talent show started a month early. in DM, before we start practice at 4 o clock, there’s an hour in between from 3 to 4 where we do our homework and do whatever’s productive in that time period. last year, i remember DM would always just go straight to the room, READY TO DANCE. and plus, we would be dancing even before practice actually started. some of us actually did homework, Grey even did Niko’s homework. but this year… :/ it was quiet, and not everyone would be in the room right after school ://///// so it wasn’t as exciting… i would though. tanya would. daryl would. sigh…. jeez… its whatever. it was crunch time for DM for the talent show. during Black History Month, i watched The Muppets Movie! with my family! and i showed tanya Beaker. we watched him together! it was so funny! we made a simple beginning for the talent show when we found Habanera by Beaker. it was awesome! during the time i wanted to do a dedication for my kuya, i brought back Showgirl by Bluey Robinson, and Free by Lisa Shaw! those were two dances i collabed with my kuya. and i decided to put in Upular! Desiree Payumo suggested to put in our traditional DM K-pop closing piece with “I Am the Best” by 2NE1. so altogether, the show was just VERY VERY FUN! we didn’t compete this year in the talent show, and most of the dances were grounded with less transitions and movement due to the little time we had. we finished it all in 3 days!!! on YouTube, we got 4k views. i was so amazed! that was the most views we have ever gotten on YouTube… EVER!!! sadly Alyssa Pascual and Brianna Grey couldn’t do it… i wish they did. but still it was one of the best shows ever. only 11 of us did it, but still one of our best shows to date. surprisingly someone from who i underestimated got so much better from day one. JORDAN URBANO. 

after a while, we got more opportunities to perform for the school and outside of school! we performed at the Open House where we did Black History Month again. we performed at the English Learner’s Awards Ceremony where we did Talent Show again. we also did talent show another time at Hogan Middle School, i forgot what the event was called though :P and we did talent show the very last time at Saint Joseph’s Church in support of Ashley Nagal! all of it was fun, but i burned my knee on the rug for doing a jazz split. 

after all these fun performances and ups and downs of DM. it was time for the last show for me to choreograph and put together. spring break came, and i made two dances. my first dance, i made another piece to Ledisi to her song “You and Me” and this song was mainly about each other in DM. despite some bad times we had, we still had some crazy experiences individually and together. it was all the best thing to experience no lie. and the song really just reflected how it’s all about us no matter what time we went through. the next dance i choreographed was with my kuya. he came back from LA to get a new phone for the weekend, while he was here, we choreographed to Jeff Bernat’s “Just Vibe.” really chill piece. i didn’t really focus on a message, but more of a feeling and groove. and i love the turn out. the next piece i wanted to bring was Sarari by Ame. this piece overall is a housing piece, and i made this with my kuya back in late January for my little brother’s, Justin’s, talent show in Saint Basil’s. Sarari, i recycled a couple moves from that dance into upular, constant surprises, and alright, so that dance is like a summary of what we did this year. i started teaching the dances when spring break was over. Jek came back!! however, there was a time when we needed to start practice, but Daryl and some of the folks in the room would always play Yu-Gi-Oh before practice would start. there was one day, we waited for them to stop, but they didn’t stop like a half hour later. that was one of the things that honestly ticked me off this whole year. sorry Daryl if you’re reading this, but grow up man come on… i thought you were better than that. because of that incident, i made the rule to ban yu gi oh from the room because it was one of the biggest distractions and made the room really roudy and loud. they played yu gi oh ever since the start of the year from Dedication to hip hop to this point on. i’m actually really happy i made that rule. everyone else agreed upon it, so why not? daryl, i’m not sorry actually. i know i got some beef, especially hearing from Marvin and some folks. but i did what i had to do to finish the show. because of that rule, i lost Marvin and Daryl cause they said they were gonna come back. anyway… while i taught, everybody wanted to do something from Avatar the Legend of Korra. so i found a random dubstep house feel that started with “BE THE LEAF!” and i choreographed it! it was fun! i even did my first flip in a DM showcase with John Alfelor! Jordan Urbano, Ejay, and, Tanya unfortunately was doing cyber high. but eventually completed it and still made time for practice and being in the show. Desiree Purisima on the other hand, said she was gonna come back, but missed an important mandatory practice date. Austin and Jason, i thought were gonna come back as well, but didn’t, i understand though, they both have jobs and in Chapkis Dance. Jordan Jarmin came back, but he couldn’t make every mandatory practice :( but it’s alright. next thing that came up for this show was Desiree Payumo’s idea of a Kpop mixed with both 2NE1’s I Am the Best and Big Bang’s Fantastic Baby. that took a while, but we pulled through it! i know we always end with Kpop, but i wanted something different since it was my last show. tanya and i had some crazy drama in between us, i’m not gonna go into detail with it, but things were crazy. but i wanted to show the school that a couple really does have love. all the I Love Yous really meant something between me and tanya. so i made Just Vibe the last dance, and the first time Diversity Movement doing a couple piece. all the time and practices were all a blur to me, but i know in the end, everything was an awesome turn out. performance day finally came. we performed for both rallys again like Dedication to hip hop. and as usual, the 2nd one turned out to be the better performance. and overall, it was just amazing. haters hated, teachers loved it, my close friends liked it. i’m just gonna miss a lot of people that came through this year. it was all an amazing experience from start to finish. we did this show again at Pista Sa Nayon, and it was fun! i slipped on my butt doing the front flip though. it’s all coming to a close in my high school life, but pursuing my higher education, i’m not gonna expect anything crazy, but myself knowing that i need to work hard entering this world of work and whatever possibilities may be.

thank you to whoever read my blog at this point. but i wanna say a little something more to the people who stayed with me the whole way through… 

Tanya, Jordan, Jaimee, John, Ashley P, Ashley N, Alyssa, Des, Grey, Froi,
I just wanna thank you guys so much for staying strong and dancing with me and altogether. You know? It was a good year overall, and everything we accomplished, bring it the next year wherever you guys will be. Don’t forget all that I’ve taught you, and remember to innovate in order to create. Stay INSPIRED. Let your inspiration be your motivation to become better dancers and better people.

Thank you… Love, Your Leader, Joey Dominguez

now as for the people who missed out and left…
YA’LL MISSED OUT!!! I’m not gonna lie, I remember hearing Froi and Ashley, they said “DM is the life of Bethel!” forreal though. what you see when we perform isn’t the full effect of everything. all the hard work that we put onto that stage is all the real foundation that people should experience. come out for DM next year! you can make it a fun experience if you really work hard and make it fun.

to Ms. Brown and to everyone who’s reading
i had an opportunity this year to get paid for all the hours i worked with these kids. imagine this… 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. 10 hours a week. 40 hours a month. i could’ve got paid minimum wage for all those hours… almost $80 a month? never got it… but it doesnt matter. i was in high school. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY, IT’S ABOUT DANCE…. but still, a little money could’ve helped. idk what it was, the budget cuts, district getting laid off, idk idc…. i just love doing what i do. the thing i truly believe that felt different about this year…. Ms. Dilley and Ms. Diaz from the after school program left…. honestly being in the career center everyday after school was different without them. i felt that if they stayed this year, i would’ve got paid, learn more about subsidies and scholarships… but it doesn’t matter. my hopes were high and i had a lot of expectations for this year. i remember telling Jordan Urbano, all my expectations turned out to be different. 

Morale of the story…

don’t expect too much. 

next blog i’ll write about my first time teaching an actual workshop and Patrick Cruz’s workshop at Chapkis Dance. i could’ve taught better imo. but an amazing experience. and honestly… MY FIRST TIME GETTING PAID… EVER. thanks Josh. thank you everyone. i’m off to go for the world. thanks Mr.Valenzuela for letting us use the room a second year. all of this was truly a blessing. Thank you God for all Your blessings.