DANCE DIRECTORS | Betasite

MOIRA SIMPAO & CAMILLE TOLENTINO

Hi there! My name is Moira Simpao (she/her/hers), I'm a second-year Kinesiology Pre-Physical Therapy major with an Interdisciplinary Studies minor and I'm thrilled to serve as one of this year's FCN dance directors! I will mostly be working on the cultural dances for this production. For me, joining FCN last year gave me a chance to learn more about and connect to Filipino culture. As an immigrant, I sometimes felt pressured to hide and be ashamed of my own heritage in order to "fit in", but FCN helped me learn that there had never been a need to do that. Joining FCN (thank you Ally, Fifi, and Jess hehe) was inspiring as I was able to perform alongside a group of passionate and talented people that took pride and love towards the culture I took too long to embrace. Hoping to do the same for others, one of my goals this year is to create a welcoming environment that help both performers and audience members celebrate Filipino culture. As your dance director, I can't wait to see all the magic come together!

HI!!!! :) Welcome to the FCN page! My name is Camille Tolentino and I am one of the dance directors. I am a third year nursing student. I am from Oxnard, CA. and I love the color purple, Disney, eating food, watching tv, and reading! But one thing I absolutely love to do is DANCE. I started dancing when I was three years old. I took ballet, jazz, and tap at a studio until I was about 8 years old. Then I moved onto hip hop and eventually joined a competition hip-hop team called Undeclared and Emanon Dance Crew (Alias Dance Family) from 12-18 years old. When I was younger, my sister and I were always the performers at our family parties, so my aunt taught us a few Filipino folk dances to perform at my Lolo and Lola’s birthdays/events. But other than that, my recent experiences with Filipino folk dances would be from my senior year of high school - where we also had like our own Filipino cultural night - and last year as one of the performers at my very first FCN. As cliche as it might sound, Tinikling is my favorite folk dance. When I was super young, I would watch my aunt perform and I always wanted to do that instead of other dances she taught because it seemed so cool and fun - and to finally be able to do it myself makes me feel so happy and connected to my culture. Before I transferred to SDSU, the number one thing I was excited about was joining the Filipino Club and performing at FCN - which I was able to fulfill last year - and now I have been blessed with the position of being one of the dance directors. I am super excited to be working alongside Moira, the other dance director, and we can’t wait for everything to come into place. If you are interested in being a dancer for FCN, don’t be afraid to join or ask me any questions! I am super excited to meet everyone! See you at FCN practice! :)