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20 Years of eMotion

By Melanie Fung, Bellaire High School, School Buzz Reporter | January 19, 2023

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Modern president Christine Chen in the dance, To Build A Home, choreographed by Irene Zheng
Viviana Lopez in her solo, I’m Dreaming
Hip Hop performing Family Ties choreographed by Anh Bui
(Left to right) Breakdance members Eric Li, EJ Brotamonte, and Jeffery Gao in the dance, Surround Sound, choreographed by Jeffery Gao.

On Friday, Nov. 18, Bellaire High School’s eMotion Dance Company held their fall show, American Dream, celebrating its 20-year anniversary. The company was started in Bellaire High School’s cafeteria in 2002, when a group of high schoolers decided that they wanted to dance together. They came together to form what is now around 50 dancers putting on yearly shows, going to dance competitions, and even hosting their own community concert to invite other groups to perform at. “It’s really amazing how far this team has come since then,” said eMotion founder Sanja Korman, who made a special appearance at the end of the show.

Currently run by Artistic Director Paris Kent, eMotion Dance Company is one of the two dance groups of Bellaire High School. The dance company has won numerous awards with student choreography in different dance styles including jazz, breakdance, hip hop, lyrical, and modern. They also won first place at the MA Dance Competition last year. The team itself is split into three groups: Modern, Breakdance, and Hip Hop, with the majority of dances choreographed by students. The dancers have a wide variety of dance backgrounds but are also required to be passing in all their classes in order to perform or compete. They practice every school day and commit themselves to the team. eMotion Dance Company is a place where the dancers all feel like family, contributing hard work, creativity, patience, practice, and effort to make eMotion into the team it is.

This year, eMotion Dance will be attending the Ascension Competition and MA Competition again. Their next performance will be their Spring Show in April 2023 in the Bellaire High School auditorium.