Members of renowned dance group So Real Cru, Ailyn Isidro and Mark Fucanan and several other local and well-known choreographers taught a two-day dance workshop hosted by SMU’s Hip Hop Dance Club this past weekend at The School of Contemporary Ballet Dance.

Isidro and Fucanan, whose crew received the title of runner-up on the second season of popular MTV show “America’s Best Dance Crew,” both took time away from their studio in Houston, T to teach two of the master classes at this weekend’s workshop. They each showcased their choreography and helped aspiring dancers perfect their dance technique.

“Whenever we teach other places, it’s basically to inspire others to keep on dancing, keep on doing what you love,” Isidro said. “Regardless of what people say, just keep on striving for what you believe in and what you really want to do in life. If dancing is part of your life, just keep going, keep practicing because without practicing you’re not going to get better.”

Isidro said that helping dancers progress is why she travels to teach workshops.
Although the cost of bringing in well-known choreographers— such as those from So Real Cru—caused the HHDC to barely break even. Fucanan said the result of these types of events will have a greater and even longer lasting impact then any financial profit could offer.

“We basically search for places where hip hop, or dancing in general, strives,” Fucanan said. “When we come out, people will hear about it, and then the more and more they bring people out, it allows dancers to be like, ‘hey, there’s more out there,’ and it allows them to have a goal or a dream to explore and probably travel.”

With inspirations like Isidro and Fucanan, members of rEvolution, the HHDC’s performance company, have an example of what to strive for as they continue to perform and compete. Co-choreographers of rEvolution, Pat Traver and Chris White were pleased with the weekend’s turn out, despite the lack of SMU support. [Disclaimer: Traver is a copy editor for The Daily Campus.] Traver said that only two people from SMU participated, and they were both rEvolution members.

“We’re really excited to have gotten the amount of community support that we did,” Traver said. “So now we just need to try and get SMU hyped about us.”

“We will be performing at World of Dance, one of the biggest hip hop competitions in the nation, on Saturday, April 24,” White said. “It’s a huge honor to be chosen to compete, and we can’t wait. After that, we’re auditioning for an MTV3 hip hop dance crew competition.”

According to Isidro and Fucanan, the event went well overall, and the members of Dallas’ dance community left a lasting impression on the two.

“[The clinic] was definitely a success. I mean it was a two day workshop, and to have people actually come out and stay even past the time the workshop was supposed to be over, that shows you that this community, though it might be still growing, is definitely strong and determined,” Fucanan said.

Isidro and Fucanan do a lot of workshops together, and when they travel they “try to stay a few days longer, just to know the people. Dancing may be one thing, but the people of Dallas were like a blessing,” Fucanan said. “They were some of the kindest and most down-to-earth people…. We definitely want to come back here.”