PAC Modern packs a punch

By the base of the Cal State Long Beach’s Walter Pyramid, a group of well-conditioned dancers kneel, cross their arms and link fingers before beginning a ground-shaking call-and-response prayer that the PAC Modern dance team has carried with them for 19 years.

 
PAC Modern began in 1995 as a branch of the Philipino American Coalition on campus, according to Gino Claudio, a senior kinesiology major and PAC Modern team coordinator.

 
Through a Philipino Cultural Night event, a few hip-hop loving members seized the opportunity to begin a performance-based, competitive dance team. Since its beginnings, PAC Modern has been competing throughout Southern California, and the team is going as strong as ever.

 
“We’re not only a competitive team, but we really like wowing the audience, giving them something to take from it and [inspiring] the rest of the dance community to start a trend,” said Skye Victoriano, artistic coordinator of PAC Modern. All of the 40 current members consider themselves family, and alumni are always welcomed back.

 
“We’re more than just teammates, we really act as a family, and [PAC Modern are some of the] closest friends I’ve ever had, for sure,” said Lauren Belyea, a senior animation major and executive coordinator of the dance team. The team practices daily, sometimes for 12 hours straight during competition season.

 
“We’ve definitely seen the sunrise a couple times this year … sunrise meaning, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning,” Victoriano said. “That’s what it takes to be a dancer, you need to push your body and yourself.” Needless to say, PAC Modern is extremely selective. Of the 100-200 people who audition every year, Victoriano said only around 10 percent make it.

 
“If only 20 people completely killed it, then we would have a 20 person team,” Belyea said. Dylan Tarrant, a senior dance science major, said that PAC Modern was the springboard into the wider world of dance.

 
After Tarrant had the opportunity to work on choreography with a senior member, dubbed “Oldie” in PAC Modern jargon, Tarrant discovered his love for choreography that currently has him teaching dance classes to all age groups, multiple times a week.

 
“PAC Modern stays true to the roots of how hip-hop truly came about,” Tarrant said, referencing an emphasis the team places on starting from basic elements such as breaking, locking, “wacking” and house.

 
In fact, while teaching one of his own choreographies at a dance studio in Walnut, he was surprised with an invitation to audition for GRV, a professional competitive dance team that has seen members dance on America’s Best Dance Crew.  Not only do experienced dancers benefit from PAC Modern, but the club also reaches out to future dancers.

For the 7th summer, PAC Modern will be hosting their summer PAC Camp for kids in the surrounding Los Angeles area. The camp is designed to keep kids out of trouble while teaching them the fundamentals of hip-hop dance. Victoriano, Claudio and Belyea all started in PAC camp, and now hold coordinator positions for the club.

 
After roughly two decades of dancing late into the sunrise, the team’s hard work has paid off as PAC Modern was selected as one of the teams representing the United States at Hip Hop International, a world-renowned dance competition with teams from nearly every country. Victoriano said that they’re not taking this one lightly, and preparation will be fierce.

“We’re still making schedules for this and we’re really going to go above and beyond for this one,” Victoriano said. “I can’t even imagine what the rehearsals are going to be like.”