Roughly 100 dancers participated in Long Beach City College’s Spring Ensemble Dance auditions at the Liberal Arts Campus on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in room Q113.
Among the dancers was Annel Rodriguez, a dance major who showed up to the audition with a cast on her left foot due to a torn achilles tendon she hurt the night before while dancing ballet.
Her injury did not stop her from attending the audition to fill out the necessary paperwork.
“I felt my foot rip and just collapsed on the floor. I went to the emergency room yesterday and came tonight to still audition,” Rodriguez said.
Artistic director, dancer, choreographer and instructor Martha Pamintuan supervised the auditions.
She talked about her hopes for auditions and student involvement.
“We hope that students are able to work with multiple styles and just have a fabulous experience,” Pamintuan said.
Pamintuan has been dancing since she was a high school student at Skyline High in Oakland, Calif., continued her practice at San Francisco State University and has taught dance at various colleges in Southern Calif. And the Bay Area.
She talked about her passion for the art and the standards that are important to the program.
“My faculty members and I push for community, love, passion and growth,” Pamintuan said.
“This is a nationally recognized dance program and we strive for the best.”
There were also other choreographers and experienced dancers who watched the auditions.
Student choreographer Micahel Miller is a dance major who talked about the audition process.
“The audition process starts with student choreographers coming up with their own piece, and then we have students audition those pieces to be in the show,” he said.
The demanding process emphasizes the dedication that each student dancer must have in order to participate.