The light of the day has already faded to a stark indigo, but the two boys still remain at school — not in any classroom, not on the fields and not in the dance studio. Instead, they practice their flips and parkour on the concrete outside the cafeteria, running and flying through the air.
These flying figures are seniors Shovik Guha and Marcus Laguisma, practicing their choreography for the upcoming Winter Formal 2016 promo video. The video will be released prior to the actual dance on Feb. 6, 2016, but they’ve just started choreographing and laying out the steps to their dance — or rather, their fight scene, in correspondence with this year’s spy-themed Winter Formal dance.
The two seniors each have extensive experience in their fields of dancing and stuntwork. Laguisma attended gymnastics classes for six years in elementary school and later learned a little parkour, a sport of rapid movement — often through urban settings — and overcoming obstacles, from Guha, who had started attending parkour sessions in middle school and even invited Laguisma to a few of those sessions. Laguisma eventually chose to do four years of hip hop, focusing more on dance and choreography itself.
Guha, however, says his attachment to parkour began with personal interest.
“I never did any formal gymnastics, but since around first grade I had this natural inclination towards this sort of thing,” Guha said. “I taught myself how to do handstands and things like that.”
And this Winter Formal promo video is not their first time working together for a dance; they have been working together since their seventh grade at Kennedy Middle School.
“Back in middle school, we had this mini-performance for our Spring Showcase and we were down one member,” Laguisma said. “We basically just kicked him out and we asked Shovik.”
At the mention of his name, Guha laughs lightly at the memory — but for the two, memories of working together on dances carry over into high school. Among their favorite memories are ones of Powderpuff performances for the Class of 2016. The two also worked together for Homecoming Talent Show and Winter Showcase performances in 2015.
“The Winter Formal [performance]… We’re seniors and we had college apps. So to be honest, we kind of put it together in [two] days,” Guha said. “But I think it [turned] out pretty well; the crowd enjoyed it and cheered.”
