Farewell For Now

This is a few days over due, but I want to dedicate this blog post to rookie member Alan Caballes, who has to leave the team to head back home to Florida after World of Dance-LA. We just wanted to give him a shout out and let him know that his presence with this team was important like everyone else's. And he will be missed.

Yes there is Facebook.

Yes there is e-mail.

But what both of those lack are the substance of human interaction, which cannot be experienced through the digital realm. It's unfortunate that he has to step out of the journey, but it is what it is. He's needed more else where.

When we first met him the day of auditions and workshops, we didn't know he wasn't from around here. He was a bit shy from the get go but that didn't take away his willingness to learn and improve. One of the things that was definitely noticeable from the get go is that he would not stop smiling. Even if he was kept messing up certain parts during the routine and we would yell at him to fix his mistakes, he'd just look at you with wide eyes and a smile and say, "Yeah!" And keep going.

When the season really got rolling we came to learn that he originally was only in California for the summer. But once he made it onto the team, his intentions of going home any time soon were dropped as he wanted to stay here and join us on our journey throughout the 2010-2011 season.  Throughout the season  along with performances and competitions, he joined us on a few of our fundraisers, which were about 4-8 hours long. It was during one of these fundraisers that we found out his real name: Manvil. Although he was a bit shy and embarrassed of his name, we thought it was a dope, unique name. He always made sure to be at rehearsal ready to work, and for his birthday we went to one the members house after rehearsal and celebrated with him until the wee hours of the night.

Though it was a short lived season with us, it was a great pleasure for him to be a part of this team and this journey. He'll always have a special place with this family. And to consider this not as a goodbye, but a farewell… for now.

By the way, Cheyanne will miss you too.

Posted in: