Echoes of Illuminate: A reflection on its soundtrack
Reflecting on Illuminate 2025, with various dance collectives bringing their messages of inclusion, passion and community to the stage, one specific feature highlights the individuality of each team — the soundtrack. With various modern, cultural and throwback hits, there was a song that could easily resonate with every audience member.
Including catchy hip-hop beats, SLO Breakers brought the energy with routines to songs by Easy-E and Ugly Duckling, coming together on stage to create a party of back spinners and top rockers. The song choice, meant to highlight the moves that vibrate with every beat, reflected the loud and confident air of the group as they flipped and spun across the stage.
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“Being in this club has been my entire college experience,” Cameron Shimokawa, a senior environmental science major said. Shimokawa is the current president and has also served as the treasurer of SLO Breakers.
“It’s something I look forward to every Monday, Wednesday, Friday,” Shimokawa said.
The on-the-spot nature of freestyle allows dancers to tap into their creativity while also tapping into each other’s energy, something that was apparent on stage. You could see the energy flowing from dancer to dancer as they took turns soloing amid a ring of fellow breakers as they cheered each other on.
Shimokawa revisited the choreography process, recounting how some of his winter break was spent going over song counts in the shower or jamming out to the tracks in his room, meticulously choosing which beats would be in the final performance.
Shimokawa wants to show audiences that breakdancing steps beyond its limitations, which goes against the misconceptions surrounding the genre. “We have people from different cultures, from different backgrounds who enjoy breaking for the art as the style it is,” Shimokawa said.
Imagen y Espíritu Ballet Folklórico de Cal Poly followed with the celebration of Mexican folk dance, bringing culture and tradition to the Illuminate stage with vibrant skirts and intricate footwork. The tapping of boots on the wooden dance floor was accompanied by two traditional folk songs chosen by the group. The first track, “El Toro Mambo,” embodied the lively, high-energy spirit of the Sinaloa region driven by bold percussive rhythms.
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PIN IT“It’s very much party music,” senior environmental management major and Ballet Folklórico co-president Luke Mendoza said. “We wanted to make sure we’re being bold, confident, and brazen in the way we perform,”
Their second piece, “Las Sagradas,” took a slightly different approach, highlighting the technical and intimate partner works of Chihuahua’s polka-infused style. It is a high-energy song, but also centered around precision and skill Mendoza said.
As the deep drumbeats of El Toro Mambo rang out through the PAC, the dancers whirled across the stage in a blur of color and flowing fabric, paying homage to the regions they proudly represented.
For Mendoza and many in Ballet Folklorico, Illuminate was more than just a performance — it was a testament to identity, heritage and the power of dance beyond movement.
As a division of the Chinese Student Association, Cal Poly’s Lion Dance Team adds something distinctive to the Illuminate soundtrack — live music. The performance’s live percussion gives life to the vibrantly costumed lions, as the bassline sings “bum bum, bum bum,” simulating the heartbeat of the creature as it moves across the stage.
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PIN ITSenior interdisciplinary studies student Aidan Tran currently serves as one of the team captains alongside Jason Liu and has been a member of the club since he came across the organization during his freshman year. Being a part of the dance club has allowed him to connect with his cultural and musical background, and share his passions with those around him.
“I hope people can walk away with just some level of appreciation for Lion Dance as an art because I think it’s very different from other dancing,” Tran said.
“You have a simulation of a living creature that’s being shown, and it’s telling a story and it’s walking you through that story, which is a lot different than some of the other dance groups that are at Illuminate.”
The movements of the lion are reflected within the rhythm of the drums, and as the stage filled with percussion beats, the lion’s footsteps harmonized throughout the journey.
“The denser the drum beat is, the more erratic or the quicker the lion will move. When the drum’s playing a lot slower, the lion’s gonna be moving a lot slower with it. The movements will be a little more flowy and maybe more graceful,” Tran said.
The group brought five lions to the stage to perform their “Hok Son” routine, which follows the lion through a three-part inspection. The sequence begins with the discovery of an object, which is ultimately revealed to be a scroll with Chinese characters.
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PIN ITThe colorful lions and booming drums were followed by contemporary dance team MERGE, who took the stage in white button-ups and black ties to pay tribute to the legacy of Michael Jackson. After much consideration, senior statistics major and MERGE president Seina Haruta as well as co-choreographer Alyssa Turn decided upon Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” for their performance.
“This song choice is something a little different, and we haven’t done something like this in the past four years, so I’m really excited to do something a little more out-of-the-box for us,” Haruta said.
The MERGE team displayed their versatility in what was described as a “full-180,” with a moody contemporary piece to Hozier’s “Work Song” in Act One, and a comeback in Act Two with their performance to the upbeat and familiar tunes of Jackson.
The club serves to be an inclusive space for performers of any level or background, and Haruta and Turn wanted to channel that into a piece that could resonate with all audiences, landing on the Micheal Jackson hit song.
When choreographing with a group of more than 30 dancers, the duo specifically drew inspiration from watching Jackson groove with other dancers in his award ceremony performances.
“It’s always really exciting to be on that stage again, and for me personally, just bringing that vision to life. Alyssa and I have worked super hard on this choreography, so watching it is going to be super awesome,” Haruta said.
The artistry of the dancers embodied the intersection of dance and sound, as the Illuminate stage highlighted the talent of people from all different backgrounds.
