Rilan Roppolo ’13 Dances with the Dancing Stars

[FULL STORY]

Rilan Roppolo ’13 took some time out of his busy acting schedule to participate in The PULSE on Tour which came to Biloxi in late January. This troupe of professional dancers holds workshops around the country. The program is designed and led by some of the most dynamic dancers on stages and television today.

 

According to The PULSE members, what makes the opportunity special is that they “aim to educate and teach dancers in a non-competitive environment, and we pride ourselves on having a tremendous faculty who support this cause.” Tremendous indeed! Rilan worked one-on-one with Chris Judd and Desmond Richardson during class time. Chris is currently choreographing a play called Bench Seat and he also choreographs for the hit TV show, America’s Got Talent. You may remember Desdmond Richardson from his incredible performance in an episode of So You Think You Can Dance last year. 

 

The weekend workshop is as exhaustive as it is exhausting. Beginning on Friday evening at around 6:00 p.m., the weekend of intense rehearsals and classes begin. Saturday is filled with five different classes, and Sunday is equally jam-packed with four more class sessions. To say that Rilan was exhausted when he was done is an understatement. His favorite class was one taught by Brooke Lipton, the assistant choreographer for Glee. Rilan felt he learned the most from this particular contemporary dance class.

 

Rilan performed in the choreographed opening showcase, and he participated in all of the classes during the weekend. Rilan must have stuck out from the rest of the pack, because the instructors chose to award him with a scholarship to The PULSE Dance Intensive in New York this coming July. Only 150 students across the nation were chosen to attend. Congratulations, Rilan!