Fusion Dance Company is a dance program at Franklin High School in Elk Grove, California that allows students to study and perform the art of dance. 

The company’s goal is to build on a dancer’s performance style, build unity with other members by working together on dance pieces and learn and professionally perform different artistic dance styles. 

Fusion offers two different honors classes for students, which include Level 1: Apprentice Honors (Advanced), and Level 2: Principal Honors (Pre-Professional), and  both perform at a variety of different public shows and school rallies. In addition, to be part of either class, an audition and application are required. Auditions will be held next week December 10-12th.

The apprentice honors class is a single class where students can take the class for two out of four terms throughout the school year, learning advanced dance skills needed for those interested in pursuing a dance career.

The pre-professional honors class is a double practice and after-school commitment where students take the class all four terms throughout the school year, learning more about dance history and culture, as well as the performing arts role in the dance industry.

With all of the hard work these dancers have been putting in their performances, Fusion was finally offered as an honors-level course, with the Level 1: Apprentice Honors (Advanced) class offered for 10-credits, and the Level 2: Principal Honors (Pre-Professional) class offered for 20-credits.

Joseph Candelaria, who has been teaching Fusion Dance Company’s at Franklin for 19 years, said the classes emphasize a student-focused and student-led nature of Fusion – and that allows artistic freedom for the dancers, despite challenges that might arise.

Fusion Dance Company teacher Joseph Candelaria.

“Fusion is an empowered group where students take care of a lot of responsibilities and tasks, and at times it works beautifully,” Candelaria said. “And at other times, just like any work environment, it becomes stressful and problematic.”

“I think in the end, if everybody comes together and works hard to achieve what their end goal is, which is the performance, I definitely see growth and the students being challenged when it all comes together, which usually does just invariant levels of success.”

Unlike other performing arts, Fusion dancers create and perform their own choreography, making it unique and special to Fusion. 

“We really try to structure a lot of the assignments and activities that give a lot of artistic freedom to the students, which sometimes backfires, because sometimes that can create drama,” Candelaria said. “For the most part, I think that’s what makes it such a difficult program, because unlike band, where they have music that they play, or theater, where they have plays or musicals that they then create, we are also creating the choreography. So we don’t even have the base that they’re just learning from. They’re just creating and then performing and putting it all together.”

As a dance teacher, Candelaria said his biggest goal is getting students to see the artistic significance of dance.

He wants dancers “to have the greatest success possible in terms of all of the students really having a deep appreciation and connection to dance as an art form,” he said.

Candelaria said the process of creating the courses was an extended – and challenging – process.

“I wrote the courses, so I developed them in the district,” he said. “I talked to a lot of the other dance teachers in our school district, and I just decided I feel like they’re always here. They’re working, not learning from textbooks, but they’re creating the textbook then performing it, so I was like, ‘How come they’re not getting an additional boost or bump or something?’”

After realizing how much time and effort the dancers spent performing their own creative routines, Candelaria said a change in course credit needed to happen.

“As I talked to a couple of other dance teachers in different parts of California, I ran into a teacher that taught an honors dance class,” Candelaria said. “I was like, ‘Tell me what you did.’ From there, I kind of just took some stuff from there and combined it with stuff that we do here, and just kind of made it a much more connected, progressive program.”

Fusion students practicing their latest dance routine. Photo by Pia Manez 

Nevaeh Martin, a junior and a two-year returning member, said lots of work goes into being a Fusion student.

“We stay after school and we work on dances, for rallies and for our main stage and showcase, and also just to work on our dance skills and experience,” Martin said. “During these rehearsals, we learn a number of dances, and we also spend time bonding together as a team and learning to take corrections and give corrections and just work with all of our peers.”

Martin said she was thrilled when she learned that Fusion will now be offered for honors credit.

“It means so much, and we put in so much hard work (for) all of our dances and all of our rallies and just all of our performances,” Martin said. “The fact that it was becoming an honors program made me super excited, and it’s really nice to get a little GPA boost when you’re working so hard for something.”

She appreciates Fusion for how well it stands out from other dance programs.

“We have dancers of all levels and of all backgrounds, and it’s very welcoming and you don’t need any dance experience,” Martin said. “You just need to be a person, and you have fun with friends.”

Martin said the dancers especially appreciate the efforts of their teacher.

“If there’s ever an issue, he immediately jumps to solve it, always having a smile and a positive attitude that makes everyone’s day brighter,” she said. “You can’t go a day in Fusion without smiling and being excited to be there, and he makes the experience so enjoyable – there’s no other teacher that I’d rather dance for.”

Emma Deguzman, a senior and four-year member of Fusion, said there’s a rhythm to the flow of being in the class.

“Everyone will audition a piece, and then we’ll vote on them,” she said. “Whoever we normally pick, each week we’ll have up to four rehearsals where they teach their dance, and we audition it.”

Deguzman said the key element, for Fusion, is the student-centered focus of the program.

“The main thing is that we’re all student-choreographed for all of our dances, so we don’t have Candelaria choreograph any dances for the most part,” she said.

While Deguzman is pleased Fusion now offers honors credit, as a senior she admits she’s also a bit jealous.

“This would’ve helped my GPA a lot, but it’s also good because it’ll attract more people into doing it,” she said.

Despite some disappointment of the timing for her own academic journey, Deguzman said Fusion has been a highlight of her experience at Franklin High.

“Fusion … feels like family,” she said. “We all love to dance, so you’re surrounded by people who understand you”

Photo by Pia Manez.