ChristianSekhanan
Meet the Choreographer and Artistic Director of eCSentric crew, Christian Sekhanan.
Born in Glendora California, Christian moved to the Philippines at the age of 5. dancing to Michael Jackson as early as 3 years old, Christian's dancing repertoire has been solo performing all the way until he made his way into the UST Bio Pool of Talents dancing with a talented crew of BS Biology Students in the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. He then moved to Las Piñas, South side of Manila, to attend Southville International Schools and Colleges (SISC) where he takes up BS Psychology.
Aside from being a part of the SISC Dance Troupe superiors, Christian has made his name within the College amongst peers and professors as a solid performer singing and dancing in several events inside and outside of the College.
but it was only in October 2007 that Christian took his choreography up a notch by entering in the SouthVIBE Hip-Hop group dance competition '07. Christian recruited a group of 7 SISC students to form Excentric Crew, now eCSentric, winning top place in the Eliminations but eventually nabbing only 2nd place in the Finals. eCSentric may have lost the competition but one thing was made clear, the eCSentric style of dancing and choreography is the only one of its kind in the south, dominating as an all choreography-based crew.
Born in Glendora California, Christian moved to the Philippines at the age of 5. dancing to Michael Jackson as early as 3 years old, Christian's dancing repertoire has been solo performing all the way until he made his way into the UST Bio Pool of Talents dancing with a talented crew of BS Biology Students in the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. He then moved to Las Piñas, South side of Manila, to attend Southville International Schools and Colleges (SISC) where he takes up BS Psychology.
Aside from being a part of the SISC Dance Troupe superiors, Christian has made his name within the College amongst peers and professors as a solid performer singing and dancing in several events inside and outside of the College.
but it was only in October 2007 that Christian took his choreography up a notch by entering in the SouthVIBE Hip-Hop group dance competition '07. Christian recruited a group of 7 SISC students to form Excentric Crew, now eCSentric, winning top place in the Eliminations but eventually nabbing only 2nd place in the Finals. eCSentric may have lost the competition but one thing was made clear, the eCSentric style of dancing and choreography is the only one of its kind in the south, dominating as an all choreography-based crew.
CS: the story
Although i am the leader of this crew I have to say i haven't really been dancing that long. most of the original 8 members of my crew had more experience in dance than I do. But i did grow up surrounded by dance though, when i was younger i would frequent california (i'm a US citizen with a student's visa which requires me to go back every year) and i had friends who were in the whole dance scene in San Francisco. Though i live in west covina i often found myself in either san diego, san fran or LA where the dance scene is HUGE.
the whole "LA dance" thing was pretty popular where i'm from and i had quite a few friends into the whole choreography thing. I for one was NOT one of them. those times in my life i was concentrated on two things; playing Pokemon and drawing. DANCING was never really something i knew i was gonna do earlier on in my life.
When i graduated High School at Southville Int'l School & Colleges I made it to the University of Santo Tomas where i tried out for the "Bio Pool of Talents". I auditioned for singing (and i got accepted into) but also made it into their dancegroup since my audition piece had some dancing in it (I sang "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson). and that is where i first tried dancing, but i didn't fall inlove with it there...
the whole "LA dance" thing was pretty popular where i'm from and i had quite a few friends into the whole choreography thing. I for one was NOT one of them. those times in my life i was concentrated on two things; playing Pokemon and drawing. DANCING was never really something i knew i was gonna do earlier on in my life.
When i graduated High School at Southville Int'l School & Colleges I made it to the University of Santo Tomas where i tried out for the "Bio Pool of Talents". I auditioned for singing (and i got accepted into) but also made it into their dancegroup since my audition piece had some dancing in it (I sang "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson). and that is where i first tried dancing, but i didn't fall inlove with it there...
Hate for Dance
believe it or not but i used to hate group dancing... why? well here's the story:
When i made it into my first official dance group they taught us a dance for Usher's "U-Turn" song that we had to perform for our BS biology acquaintance party. I personally love that song so i thought it would be fun to learn the choreography. so they taught us the choreography with the counting and i picked it up really fast, the problem is we practiced the whole routine with counting and counting alone.
since i was following a bunch of "1 and 2 and 3 and 4's..." i had no problem with it and i executed the moves quite well if i do say so myself. everything was going great! but to my dismay it wouldn't last for long. because right when i thought i had this routine understood they then played the music...
it turned out that choreography had nothing to do with the song, nothing at all. we didn't follow the lyrics or even the beats, nothing at all. we were just counting in our heads while they played the music. and that sucked for me. i knew usher's U-turn song inside out; i knew the musical progression, the existence of the small beats and breaks and everything! so when i tried to do the steps i couldn't help but follow the music, which ofcourse meant i was doing the choreography wrong...
I was able to pull-through the entire routine but it just murdered my first impression, my first experience of group dancing. and i hated it since.
When i made it into my first official dance group they taught us a dance for Usher's "U-Turn" song that we had to perform for our BS biology acquaintance party. I personally love that song so i thought it would be fun to learn the choreography. so they taught us the choreography with the counting and i picked it up really fast, the problem is we practiced the whole routine with counting and counting alone.
since i was following a bunch of "1 and 2 and 3 and 4's..." i had no problem with it and i executed the moves quite well if i do say so myself. everything was going great! but to my dismay it wouldn't last for long. because right when i thought i had this routine understood they then played the music...
it turned out that choreography had nothing to do with the song, nothing at all. we didn't follow the lyrics or even the beats, nothing at all. we were just counting in our heads while they played the music. and that sucked for me. i knew usher's U-turn song inside out; i knew the musical progression, the existence of the small beats and breaks and everything! so when i tried to do the steps i couldn't help but follow the music, which ofcourse meant i was doing the choreography wrong...
I was able to pull-through the entire routine but it just murdered my first impression, my first experience of group dancing. and i hated it since.
Dance Cultures
I had quit the UST bio pool of talent's dance troupe and concentrated on singing (I was part of a band called 'STRAY' during the time). I went back to California and i was about to enter Mt. San Antonio College but it turned out that i couldn't immediately get a grant so i spent my time there vacationing instead. so since i was already there, i decided to meet up with some old friends. it turned out that some of these friends of mine got into some cool crews like Mavyn, Kaba Modern (University of California Irvine), 909 (UC Riverside), etc... and i kinda gotta glimpse of the hip hop scene in the west coast which left quite a good impression on me...
although i was impressed with how dancing had evolved during that time, I still avoided it like the plague. I just didn't wanna get disappointed again. I knew that the dance scene in the philippines wasn't very particular about the whole "LA style" thing so i doubt i would find anything like it here.
I made it back to the philippines and went back to SISC where i joined the dance troupe just for kicks. i figured it was a good extracurricular activity so i went for it. but what i was really going all out for was my singing. I would perform a lot during those times doing solo singing and dancing. It went well. so well in fact that i decided on making an album! haha and for it i made a music video for my song entitled "Limber", and that's where it all started.
although i was impressed with how dancing had evolved during that time, I still avoided it like the plague. I just didn't wanna get disappointed again. I knew that the dance scene in the philippines wasn't very particular about the whole "LA style" thing so i doubt i would find anything like it here.
I made it back to the philippines and went back to SISC where i joined the dance troupe just for kicks. i figured it was a good extracurricular activity so i went for it. but what i was really going all out for was my singing. I would perform a lot during those times doing solo singing and dancing. It went well. so well in fact that i decided on making an album! haha and for it i made a music video for my song entitled "Limber", and that's where it all started.
gotta be Limber
I made a short choreography for my song "Limber" and i went out looking for back-up dancers for the music video. and that's how i met CL Trasmaño, Vince Mendoza, Randy Cura, and Jamarkaus Medina. these four were my back-up dancers and were my primary inspiration to dance.
I am a dancer now due to these four and my dance persona is reflected off each of them.
CL Trasmaño's pure passion and absolutely sincere love for dance.
Vince Mendoza's artistry, skill, musicality and need for uniqueness.
Jamarkaus Medina's appreciation for the art of dance.
Randy Cura's philosophical aspirations in dance.
all of these constitutes to who i am today as a dancer. and for that owe them the acknowledgement and appreciation.
I am a dancer now due to these four and my dance persona is reflected off each of them.
CL Trasmaño's pure passion and absolutely sincere love for dance.
Vince Mendoza's artistry, skill, musicality and need for uniqueness.
Jamarkaus Medina's appreciation for the art of dance.
Randy Cura's philosophical aspirations in dance.
all of these constitutes to who i am today as a dancer. and for that owe them the acknowledgement and appreciation.