Dustin Johnson / Roundup
Spread across the dance studio of the North Gym were two concentric circles made up of 40 or 50 dancers, all hopeful of earning in a position in this year’s folk dance concert. In the center stood Candace Cohen, teaching the participants a brief Israeli dance routine.
Barely five minutes of instruction had passed before she announced to the dancers surrounding her, “Does everyone have it? Because I’m ready to audition.”
This girl definitely means business.
Cohen, a 21-year-old Pierce College sophomore, is a pre-veterinary major but dancing is an integral part of her life.
“It’s why I wake up in the morning,” she said. “Music is a life-changer and people interpret music differently. That’s how I interpret music is through dance.”
Born and raised in Southern California and a self-professed valley girl, Cohen has been dancing since she could crawl. A music video on television enticed her to mimic the movements of dancers she saw on the screen, she recalled.
Everyone is born with the ability to dance, Cohen believes, “but it depends on the level of commitment and dedication that each individual puts into it.”
Cohen is one of two students chosen for the position of choreographer for Pierce College Dance Department’s annual folk dance concert being performed November 20 and 21.
Fellow dancer Zenneta Taylor has performed beside Cohen for nearly two years.
“I’ve seen her work hard for [the choreographer position],” said Taylor. “She deserves it.”
For the concert, Cohen will be choreographing a routine that is Israeli in origin.
“I’m really excited,” she said, “because it’s the first time I get to audition dancers for my piece and direct them and shape them into what I want to see on stage. It’s a great opportunity for me to mold my image and see it come to life.”
Cohen is a former member of an Israeli dance team that travelled to Mexico City to compete. It was this experience that proved advantageous in her earning the position as choreographer.
“I was looking for everything,” said Marian Weiser, the director of the dance department. “She said, ‘Israeli’ and I said, ‘I’ll take it!'”
Jacqueline Eusanio, who has been a dance instructor at Pierce for 30 years, has not worked with Cohen before but is enthusiastic to do so.
“We love to give students a chance to choreograph,” she said.
Cohen plans to attend veterinary school in Australia but her dancing will not stop at Pierce.
“My goal,” she said, “is to get technically good enough to get on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and maybe weasel my way in there with the choreography team.”