Lexington High School’s new club the Lexington Dance Company (LDC) began offering I-Block workshops for students who are interested in dance—regardless of experience or ability.
“We wanted to mimic a more street dance format where you can drop in rather than a team or a club and just think of it as a very free way to enjoy dance,” Elaina Li, a leader of the LDC and a junior at LHS, said.
LDC was founded in 2020, and functioned more like a team at the time.
“[The founders] had trouble with advisors, so they stopped for two years. I’m friends with one of the co-founders, so I was able to find Elaina and we restarted it,” Allison Ma, another leader and junior at LHS, said.
Li and Ma combine their shared dance background to run their I-Block sessions. Ma handles the contemporary and ballet workshops, and Li is in charge of hip-hop and street dance. The workshops alternate between the two styles every I-Block. As of right now, LDC does not come up with its own choreography. Instead, they learn choreography from different dance studios including 1 Million, Just Jerk, and IJX.
The I-Blocks are on day six and are open to anyone who wants to join. Li and Ma lead participants through warm ups and drills before delving into the choreography for that week. At the end, participants are given the chance to perform the choreography, which is recorded and uploaded to a Google Drive for the students to review and improve on.
“Even people who say they don’t want to go because they don’t think they’ll be good at dance end up coming and they end up getting better at dance,” Ma said.
Attendees can attest to the positive environment at these workshops, allowing them to have a great time.
“It’s so fun to dance and everyone is so supportive, even if you don’t have any dance experience, like me. It’s just a really good time,” Ramaiza Sohail, a junior who frequently attends LDC I-Blocks, said.
Li and Ma hope that their I-Block will allow people of all skill levels to appreciate dance.
“It’s also a good way to de-stress and meet other people. It’s so fun and rewarding, I definitely recommend it to others,” Sohail said.
