Audition Information
Introduction
The Urban Company as founded in September 2000. We just finished year 10! The company has performed at the American College Dance Festival (ACDF) and our ACDF 2005 entry mixing Hip Hop with Modern Dance was selected for the Gala and given the honor of closing the show. The company has a creative focus and often performs in hybrid pieces with dancers from the other company. The company won the Ontario Universities Competition for Hip Hop (OUCH) 2004. It also contributed several dancers to the Mac 2006-2009 OUCH winning teams (see You tube videos). In 2008-2009 the company received Judges Choreographic Awards at both Ontario University dance competitions, Terpsichore-Guelph (from 47 entries) and Rhythm-Brantford (from 121 entries). Past dancer Jordan Settaci had a dance role in the urban film 'Honey'. Markwell Ottolino-Perry was cast in 'Dawn of the Dead' and recently toured Europe as a dancer. Choreographer/teacher Mike Rhodes has danced for Janet Jackson and Lady Gaga. Other guest teachers/choreographers have included Jeff Reyes, Apolonia Velasquez, David Norsworthy, Michelle Daniel, Miss Prissy, Blaze, Lenny Len. The company will carry 12-14 dancers.
Current Dancers
 |
Kelsey AllenHometown: Chatham, Ontario Kelsey has been dancing for essentially her entire life. She moved around quite a bit in her childhood, and as a result, learned from a wide variety of instructors. At the age of 12, she began competing in jazz and lyrical at various competitions across Ontario. During her final year of high school, Kelsey won first place in two different competitions for her lyrical solos, and was the highest scoring soloist in the professional category at the Let’s Get Loud competition in Niagara Falls. Her passion for hip hop, however, is relatively new. She developed a love for the style when she began taking classes at Erin’s Dance Club in Blenheim in 2009. Kelsey has also had experience as the assistant coach and choreographer of the competitive team at Alexandria’s Dance Studio in Chatham. |
 |
Namita Deodhare Hometown: Mississauga, Ontario Namita Deodhare has been training in Kathak, an Indian classical dance, since the age of four. At the age of 15 she decided to start exploring other styles of dance such as hip-hop. She started her journey as a company dancer at Mississauga School Dance with Natalie Nesterenko and it is now her third year learning hip-hop. So far, she has been exposed to styles such as, house, waacking, tutting, old school and new style hip-hop. She recently got the opportunity to compete at World of Dance Toronto as a part of Faction Crew led by Natalie Nesterenko and Mariano Abarca. Being part of the McMaster Urban Dance Company is a great opportunity for Namita to strengthen her hip-hop skills. She loves her team and is more than happy that she was able to find a dance platform away from home. |
 |
Shreemouna Gurung Hometown: Hornepayne, Ontario Shreemouna was first introduced to Hip-hop through a local performing arts summer camp when she was 13 years old. For the next two summer she continued to participate in the summer program. After relocating to a small town up north, her exposure to dance came to a sudden halt. When she joined McMaster to further her academic studies, she was once again reunited with her love for dance. Although she has never trained professionally as a dancer, she has always found dancing to be very intriguing. She hopes to progress as a dancer and challenged as a person by joining the McMaster dance company. |
 |
Aiden (Ranke) Liu
Hometown: Scarborough, Ontario Aiden first started dancing in 2011. Dance made him realize the value of “going all out” and being challenged is an opportunity to grow. Within this short period of time, Aiden hse been training intensively in Hip Hop and its many styles including popping, waving, house, and choreography. Aiden was able to become a dance instructor here at McMaster’s David Braley Athletic Center in May of 2012, spreading his love and passion for dance to the McMaster community. One thing he loves the most about dance is the community it is built upon and the opportunity to learn from everybody, because no two person will dance the same way. Aiden has a wide range of styles ranging from smooth R&B to hard hitting Hip Hop. Whatever the style is, his goal is to visualize the sentiment he associates with the music. |
 |
Fareh Malik Hometown: Whitby, Ontario Fareh Malik started dancing at the age of 15. Spending the majority of his time going between NY and Toronto, he dived into the hip-hop culture and embraced the four elements. Him and his friends used to freestyle at parties, battle other crews, and each day he used to practice tutting, popping and waving in front of a narrow mirror. In grade 10, Fareh joined the dance company at his high school, SDC. Spending years with the team starting from rookie to team captain in grade 12, to choreographing his own intricate choreography for workshops, classes and pieces. Him and his friends even got their crew affiliated with competitions such as WOD, TBHSDC, and STOMP. I guess you could say he has sort of been everywhere, from the street to the stage. Fareh says his only wish is that he can continue dancing and keep on improving on his abilities under the guidance of MDC and his awesome superiors. |
 |
Julia Plummer Hometown: Richmond Hill, Ontario Julia was enrolled into a few introductory dance classes when she was 5 and 7 but had no interest in pursuing the art form until age 9 when she discovered YouTube and became inspired by other young talents. At age 12, she was enrolled in her first recreational hip hop class at Soul in Motion Dance Arts Academy and grew fond of it very quickly. The next year more genres of dance were added to her training repertoire in order to prepare her for the competition team the following year. Since then, Julia has competed and trained in a variety of dance styles but hip hop has remained her favourite. Some of her favourite urban dancers who have inspired her most include her past teacher Melissa McDermott, Ysabelle Capitule, Ian Eastwood, Simrin Player, Janelle Ginestra, Bobby Newberry, Willdabeast, and more. |
 |
Javier Sandoval Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario Javier Sandoval started dancing at the age of 16. He was not your ordinary dancer; a rather big guy. He weighed about 240lbs to be exact. At first Sandoval only started dancing to lose weight, but he very quickly fell in love with dance. Sandoval’s very first style was popping. As His second year of popping went by, so did his obesity, and he was at a comfortable weight of 160lbs. At this point in his life he decided to try new things and experiment with other styles such as B-boying and hip-hop choreography. Throughout this year he joined a dance crew called [ILL]-usion crew, they ended up competing at an all styles crew competition in Hamilton, called H24 dance, and won 1st place as the champions, after that they competed in Toronto at a competition called STOMP and won 4th place in the intermediate division. During Sandoval`s 3rd year of dancing he decided to try out for a show called so you think you can dance Canada during season 4. After this great experience Sandoval decided to broaden his dance vocabulary and take up a year of jazz. Now, during his fourth year as a dancer, his main styles are B-boying and popping, but his journey as a dancer is only beginning, as he continues to become the best dancer he can be. |
 |
Stephanie Williams Hometown: Port Elgin, Ontario Stephanie started dancing before she could walk, and always wanted to be on a stage under the spotlight. She has been taking classical ballet training since she was 4, and began pointe, jazz and tap during elementary school. It wasn’t until high school that she was introduced to lyrical and contemporary as well as a competitive level of dance. She has always had an interest in urban styles and integrating them with contemporary movement in fusion pieces. She didn’t lose her love of the stage coming to university, participating and choreographing in the McMaster Dance Club, taking DBAC classes in swing and belly dance, as well as taking ballet classes in Dundas. She looks forward to the intense training environment of the company as well as putting on more performances throughout the year. In addition to dance, Stephanie has a passion for music including playing piano and saxophone, painting and photography. Art is Stephanie’s outlet; she is very interested in self-expression through different dance styles and looks forward to experimentation with new genres to develop as an artist. |