Posts tagged Group

April Joy Rodriguez began dancing Hula at age 7 in the city of Carson, California. It wasn’t until the age of 18 though, that April took her first Hip Hop class. Her early training began with SuperDave Royster and Jayson Wright. With their mentorship, she began to develop a deep love for soul, groove, and dance. In her first year of college, April was introduced to the Boogiezone community through competing with Kaba Modern. Since then, she’s danced with various choreographers for different projects. Choreographers include: Jay Chris Moore, Jason Bueno, Jed Florano, and Jun Quemado. Although living miles away from San Diego, California, she also trained with SuperGalactic Beat Manipulators under the directorship of KJ Gonzales, Ben Chung, Lando Wilkins, and Kevin Brewer. At 22 years old, she now dances for Gigi Torres, alongside other powerhouses, in an all-female group called “Essence Dance Company,” where they focus on showcasing their strength as women and hope to become positive symbols to others in that way. Within this summer, April taught workshops with Essence ladies Audrey Benson, Aimee Lucas, Candace Brown, and also with Funkanometry SF ladies Mariel Martin, and Ellen Kim in different cities such as San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Tempe, Arizona. “Apes” feels very blessed to be surrounded by passionate teachers, as she believes she’s in the beginning stages of her dancing career. There is still much to learn. She would like to thank everyone she’s worked with …