What started as a dancer eating mushroom soup at “a friend of a friend’s house” turned into a dreamy, abstract dance, about an abusive relationship that holds the protagonist from blooming into her full, beautiful, ruffly mushroom self.
The dance, choreographed by LBCC student Joshuah Snel who wrote an original song to accompany it, will debut today at the Fall 2025 Dance Ensemble In Concert at 7:00 p.m. at LAC’s Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium, alongside 10 other performances by students and faculty, with most following a spooky theme until Sunday.
Intrigued by the ruffly form of the cooked snow fungus in the Chinese medicinal soup he received, Snel was curious as to how the mushroom looked in its natural uncooked state.
When Snel researched it, he was shocked to find out that its appearance perfectly aligned with a vision he had.
“I looked it up and funny enough, it’s almost exactly what I had envisioned like weeks before with that costume that was all ruffly and white and with blue lighting… So I was like I need to make this piece, this is where the solo is,” recalled Snel.
Dancer Raychell Rymer falls to the ground during the number “Tremella” while supporting dancers Phyre Romero and Shalaja Rudder-Wilson are in the background at the dress rehearsal. (Paloma Maciel)
A need to express his troubled feelings and passion for nature drove Snel to extensively research the role of the tremella mushroom, commonly known as snow fungus.
Through this research, Snel wanted to ensure that the storyline of his dance gave the mushroom’s role justice and humanized its relationship with other aspects of nature.
“I found out that she is a parasite to the parasitic fungus that is actually killing the tree. And that … she’s a gelatinous white like, sludge until she touches that other parasitic fungus. And the only way that she’s able to become this beautiful, roughly fruiting body that looks like a snowflake is if she is attached to that other parasitic fungus, and she’s getting her nutrients from that one that’s like killing the tree,” said Snel.
Snel deeply resonated with the parasitic function of the mushroom.
“At the time, I was working with parts of myself that were feeling like I was not providing enough and I was being more of someone who was like, I was worried that I was being a parasite to my friend groups or my family. And I was like I really want to move through this,” Snel said.
Snel created an original song to accompany the fantasy world that he envisioned with the help of a friend who’s a songwriter, a friend who plays drums and another who plays the piano.
They only had three in-person sessions to practice the song together, and they recorded the song on the fourth session.
“So then we got together, and I was like, I just had a vocal recording of like, ‘this is like the general vibe,’ it wasn’t even lyrics, it was me humming. And me going like ‘I’m hearing this on a piano’ and maybe ‘this is making me feel like this’ type of beat and I’m almost like drumming it out,” said Snel.
The song has a sorrowful feel, expressing the pain through the lyrics that the abusive relationship causes to the protagonist, constantly followed with recurrent eerie piano notes.
Snel also worked with a hired dance costume designer for the show, Andrew Palomares, to bring his fungi fantasy world to life.
Palomares shared that the fluffy and airy costume that was meant to resemble snow fungus was made by deconstructing a $150 wedding dress that he bought online.
Working with the organza material that was used to create the costume was not the most favorable experience for Palomares.
“It’s an organza, which is a very slippery and difficult fabric to work with. Not my favorite, but it was part of the vision that Joshuah was having in terms of the dancer representing a specific type of mushroom that looks very, kind of like organza would, gathered organza, where it has these frills and kind of like roughly look and semitransparent,” Palomares said.
Though the dance has an ethereal aesthetic, the story is heavy, as the main dancer, who resembles the mushroom, represents someone who is in an abusive, codependent relationship.
The supporting dancers, who represent the fungi that are actually killing the tree in nature, are the abusers in the relationship.
“In the grand scheme of the characters in this piece, they are that manipulator that are like intoxicating and trying to coax her to stay in the relationship, this coexistive relationship that they have,” said Snel. “Who’s telling her she can only be this fruiting person and only be her true self if she’s attached to it.”
Snel connected the metaphor of the snow fungus, having to rely on the black fungus to survive, and them collectively contributing to the destruction of the tree, to his own life.
“To me, I envision that (the tree) as like a house, or like a family unit, and how I mean I grew up in a broken home, how the parental units, like that sort of dynamic was toxic for not only the children, which could be, you know the roots, or the innards of the tree. But like the house to me is the tree, and how is this relationship causing harm to the household at the end of the day?” Snel said.
Dancer Raychell Rymer dancing during the number “Tremella” with supporting dancers Phyre Romero and Shalaja Rudder-Wilson at the dress rehearsal. (Asa Liberty)
Raychell Rymer, Snel’s sister and another student dancer, plays the protagonist in the dance, and shared that she completely trusted her brother’s vision from the start because of his naturally explorative creative process, and because of Snel’s success with the other previous projects.
Before dancers are chosen to be a choreographer for the Fall 2025 Dance Ensemble In Concert, they must audition a rough draft of their dance to the faculty. Rymer explained her brother’s plan for it, believing that him being detail oriented comes from his background in theater.
Dancer Joshuah Snel, holds dancer Marissa Ramos during the number “Sombras de Colibri” at the dress rehearsal on Tuesday. (Paloma Maciel)
“He’s extremely detail oriented, extremely. For his presentation for the audition of his piece, he had pages of just costumes, like when he had an idea of what he wanted for the costume, a whole page dedicated to the lighting for what piece, what the trees should look like, what other parts should be on stage,” said Rymer.
Rymer described the dance as abstract and contemporary, noting that unlike modern dance, this style “isn’t meant to be pretty.”
Snel’s creative process for dance differs from his sister’s, saying that when she comes up with new choreography she is able to envision the new moves in her head, while he sees “shapes and colors, but not necessarily the exact movements right away.”
He thinks his sister is able to have a clear vision because she has a trained background as a dancer, while he started dancing later on in life, taking his first dance class in 2017, and not being able to pursue dance when he was younger because he was pushed into sports.
Although his process is less conventional, Snel still sees the unique value of his experimental process.
“It’s not to diminish the process that I have because, while my process may not be as precise, it is extremely explorative, which can take you out of the realms of what you normally might see in a trained dancer choreographer’s expression. So some of my moves are quirkier and less technique based,” Snel said.
Dancer Raychell Rymer performing the number “Tremella” at the dress rehearsal of LBCC’s Fall 2025 Dance Ensemble In Concert. (Paloma Maciel)
Audiences can see Snel and Rymer’s choreographies and dances at the Fall 2025 Dance Ensemble In Concert, which will be debuting today at 7:00 p.m., with the following dates being on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and the last show is on Sunday at 1:00 p.m..
All performances will take place at LAC’s Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium, and tickets can be purchased at this link, or before each performance in the box office, with student, senior, staff, veteran, and children (under 12) tickets being $10, while general admission is $17.
Dancer Essence Cooper jumps in the air during the number “Chicago Medley” at the dress rehearsal of LBCC’s Fall 2025 Dance Ensemble In Concert on Tuesday at LAC’s Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium. (Paloma Maciel)
Dancer Janell Cobian, right, dances on pointe during the number “Exquisite Bellows” along with other dancers during the dress rehearsal. (Asa Liberty)
Dancer Myrei Desouza, left, and Maura Merida Arias soar on stage during the number “Tethered” during the dress rehearsal. (Asa Liberty)
Dancer Marissa Ramos poses on the ground during the number “Sombras de Colibri” at the dress rehearsal. (Paloma Maciel)
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