Living Your Potential

Living+Your+Potential

Gerardo Heredia and Errol Lucas

After three days of tryouts, Ms. Stephanie Zeppetello found the missing pieces of her Orchesis team and expects all her dancers to live up to their full potential and be ready to improve as dancers and people.

During open tryouts from August 17-21, Zeppetello saw what she believes will be a successful team. “I taught the most difficult tryout I have since I began at Leyden. Dancers with no prior experience whatsoever took everything I threw at them and refused to give up. The dancers I saw on Monday are not the same ones I saw three days later. Their improvement in less than a week is astounding. I cannot wait to take that passion for dance and build a team that will only get better and better as the year progresses.”

Like last year, Zeppetello plans on showcasing these dancers by providing them with examples of dance all around the world and working on new creative ideas to add to choreography. “I expect them to be open to new ideas and styles of dance, to try to achieve personal improvement and to feel safe and ready to create,” she said.

The team will also again rely on different dance instructors and even Leyden alumnus for choreography. The craft is something Zeppetello clearly cares about. She explained, “Dance is one of the most visceral forms of inner expression, because it is a physical art. You are literally putting yourself out there, on stage, to tell a story through movement. That is an incredibly personal experience that you are able to share with the world. Dance is my escape and how I communicate. It is when I feel most free. I love the chance to be able to share that with Leyden students who make the team.”

 

Orchesis Roster:

Emily Sanchez
Breane Bowling
Taylor Pesch
Kimberly Ortega
Aileen Padilla
Shelsea Reynoso
Daisy Fernandez
Menecis Garriga
Hannah Cullerton
Dania Gonzalez
Ashley Soller
Majda Causevic
Estefania Moreno
Lynn Nguyen
William Flores
Stephanie Barrera
Jessica Gonzalez