Over nine years ago when Aurelio Diaz joined Richland Newhope Industries as a Support Specialist, he had no idea he would end up doing choreography for the Richland Newhope Dance Troupe. The troupe, made up of six women and four men, have had eight performances already in the month of October with another one the way.
“We’ll be doing a 49-second rendition of ‘Gangham Style’ at the parade on Tuesday,” said Diaz, referring to the Downtown Mansfield Halloween parade.
Three years ago Jessica Reinhart and Maggie Smith along with a few other women from Newhope took a Hip Hop class at the Ohio State University-Mansfield. After the classes were over, Diaz’s supervisor asked him if he’d work with the women on a dance routine to perform at the Richland Newhope Employee Breakfast.
“What was supposed to be a one-time thing turned into an awesome thing,” explains Diaz. Early on, their performances were only for Newhope events; but the community has embraced them and they continue to get invitations for more performances. The dancers also actively promote themselves on Facebook and have received a great deal of support through social media.
Reinhart has been the ladies’ dance captain for two years and this past February they started performing more and more outside of Newhope. Angel Davis is the newest dance member, having joined in March. The boys joined in April to reach their current number of dancers.
“We’re focusing on going to more schools to deliver anti-bullying and People First Language,” said Diaz. “So far we’ve had a great reception from teachers and students alike. We’ve been to St. Mary’s and Senior High, Ontario…doing a lot of different things like Relay for Life.”
After an extremely physical twenty-minute routine, the dancers talked about what they love most about dancing. For Reinhart, it’s hanging out with her friends. Smith said she enjoyed the exercise. The dancers all consider one another friends.
Their performances are a mixture of Latin, Hip Hop, Cheer, Freestyle, and Flamenco dancing. They are starting to learn Tango and Salsa and Diaz feels that soon they’ll be able to perform without needing him as a visual presence. “There’s been times I forgot a dance move, so I have to rely on them. It’s definitely collaboration.”
Practices are one hour, three days per week, but they hope to increase that to at least an hour each day of the week.
Their biggest performance to date was at the Ashland Dance/Cheer Competition in front of a crowd of 400 where they won “Most Spirited.” They’ve done smaller crowds of about 100 at the Friendly House and other venues. The dancers said they don’t get nervous and look forward to each and every performance.
Below is a contributed video by Aurelio Diaz explaining more about the group and highlighting their work.
