Introducing Essence Dance Troop
The Essence Dance Troop is a newly formed contemporary-style dance group at Vanier College. To learn more about them, I sat-in on one of their Wednesday evening practices to interview the choreographer and coach, Vailea Parris, and Essence dance members Analisa Lepore, Eva Pucella, Alexia Fagnani, and Anastasia Bombakos. Here is what I learned:
After searching online and finally ‘’stumbling across’’ an application to be a Vanier College dance coach, Vailea applied and got the job! Now as coach and choreographer of the Essence dance troop, Vailea’s main role is to create dances for the team. She also trains the girls in their dance technique and leads them through 20-30mins warm-ups before every practice.
Vailea has a decade worth of competitive dance experience and studied dance, specifically choreography, in university. Her creative process, in her words, ‘’is literally all over the place’’ (Parris, 2025). But when it comes to the dance itself, it is ‘’literally’’ a masterpiece. She did, however, express that ”coming up with a dance for multiple people can sometimes be difficult when you’re just one person” (Parris, 2025).
Selecting the right song is imperative when choreographing. Vailea goes into ‘’a deep dive’’ (Parris, 2025) when searching for a song. She avoids trendy/popular tunes ‘’because as someone who came from [the competition world], 9/10, it is going to be at the competition’’ (Parris, 2025). When she isn’t able to find a song, she makes one! With her electric acoustic and editing skills, Vailea can easily create an original tune or customize an existing song to match the vibe of her choreography.
Once the song and dance are set, it’s time to teach! To make sure her dancers get the moves locked-in, she reviews the previous week’s material, adds-on new material, and cleans-up from there. Vailea’s experience working with the group has been ‘’very fruitful’’ (Parris, 2025). She shared how she can get overwhelmed with large groups. But with Essence being a group of six girls, communication and choreographing is a much easier process.
What helps Vailea most is working with improvisation. From one move, she allows it to naturally flow into the next one. Vailea always keeps in mind her dancers’ ability to execute a move. Cleverly, she ‘’tries to come up with multiple variations of one idea so that [she] can reach out to all types of people when [she] is choreographing’’ (Parris, 2025).
Vailea finished her interview by expressing how excited she is to showcase the dancers. Since Essence is a brand new contemporary dance troop, she is eager to prove ‘’that Vanier can do contemporary too’’ (Parris, 2025). To current and future Essence dancers, Vailea’s words of advice are ‘’to just go for it! If anything comes your way, just go for it’’ (Parris, 2025).
Now that we know who the mastermind is behind the choreography, let’s interview the Vanier students who are on the Essence dance troop:
What motivated you to want to join the Essence dance troop?
Analisa: “I’ve always loved dancing and so I decided to show myself that I am capable and worthy of being on a dance team. So I manifested it, did my best, and got on.’’
Eva: “Initially Analisa told me to do it, so I did. But also a part of me wanted to do it because I used to be a dancer. So I was like ‘Let’s give it a try’. And so I did, and now I am here.’’
Alexia: “I did dance when I was younger and I also did it throughout high school, but I was never on an actual troop. One of my friends was starting a dance troop and I was asked if I wanted to join and so I tried and here I am.”
Anastasia: “I’ve been dancing competitively since I was eight years old. I still dance competitively to this day. I realized that I really wasn’t involved in my school and I really should get more involved. So I auditioned and I made it.”
What do you love most about being in this troop?
Analisa: “It gets me involved in school life. It helps with feeling accomplished. I know that one day I’m going to look back and not regret having done it.”
Eva: “It gives me something to do after school.’’
Alexia: “It kind of gives you somewhat of a sense of purpose because you belong to something. And it’s kind of cool how there were so many people and then six of us made it. So it just feels special.”
Anastasia: “I would say Vailea. I’ve been dancing for so long and, honestly, she’s taught me some new stuff. She’s taught me some funky moves.’’
What do you love most about being in this troop?
Analisa: “It gets me involved in school life. It helps with feeling accomplished. I know that one day I’m going to look back and not regret having done it.”
Eva: “It gives me something to do after school.’’
Alexia: “It kind of gives you somewhat of a sense of purpose because you belong to something. And it’s kind of cool how there were so many people and then six of us made it. So it just feels special.”
Anastasia: “I would say Vailea. I’ve been dancing for so long and, honestly, she’s taught me some new stuff. She’s taught me some funky moves.’’
What do you love most about your coach?
Analisa spoke for the team when she said: “Yes she’s our coach, but the relationship is not like a teacher-student, it’s more like a mentor-student and friend. She creates a safe space and is trustworthy so you don’t feel judged. And she’s chill af.’’
How has being on the troop challenged you?
Analisa: ‘’I would like to work on my back flexibility. We do a lot of back-bends so I would like to know how to do it gracefully without hurting myself. For me when I’m learning, I like setting it in stone. I think we have different learners on the dance team which is cool because then we have to learn how to adapt and integrate all of our learning together.”
Eva: “This dance style really challenges you to use up your space and fill up the movements in a way because there’s little gaps in between the movements so you can use that part to fill it up with the music. We’re also doing a lot of movements where there’s no music, it’s just vocals or it’s just silence so that challenges us to use the space and fill it up. Let it speak.’’
Alexia: “I love how emotional it is. You can kind of put your whole soul into it. But it [requires] a lot of flexibility which I am still trying to work on to get more fluid in my movements.”
Anastasia: ‘’It’s mostly the environment that’s different, like the pac3 is very different from what you would have in a dance studio type of vibe. Here it’s like “We’ll get there’’. In a studio you’re being yelled at, ”come on, you’ve got to do this!”.
What words of encouragement would you, 1) give to yourself and 2) give to future Essence dancers?
Analisa: “To future Analisa, to future dancers, I would say you have the time to learn how to be comfortable with yourself. It’s not something that is taught or encouraged in society. So just do it for you, and know that no one is thinking about you. The pressure is not going to be from outside sources, it’s going to be from yourself. So don’t care what other people think. It’s your life so if you want to go for it, go.”
Eva: “For myself, I would say that I am proud of myself for getting back into this. For future dancers, work on yourself. Like Analisa said, don’t care about what other people think because their opinions don’t matter. And have fun. Do it for you, do it for personal growth, and just remember, at the end of the day, it’s to accomplish something in life.’’
Alexia: “For present Alexia, I’m proud that I tried and I made it, because in high school I had tried out for the dance troop and it was like, if you weren’t a 110% perfect dancer, you weren’t in the troop. So I am really happy that I opened myself up and tried [out for Vanier’s troop] and made it. And for future Alexia and for future Essence dancers, you don’t have to start off perfect, you don’t have to show up perfect. You just got to be ready to try, ready to learn. Show up for yourself, show up for your team, and have fun!’’
Anastasia: “All I got to say is that you really just have to have fun. It really doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, if you’re on stage and you fall on your face, in a year you’re going to laugh at it. So just go with the flow and do your best.”
That concludes the interview. The Insider wishes Essence dance troop all the best of fun and all the best of luck during their dance competitions.
Shoutout Maya Brunache and Sandra Elena Arguello Pavon who were not present during the time of the interview but who are Essence dancers.
