Sorono, who some may remember as a finalist from the 2008 season of TV’s So You Think You Can Dance, is keen to share her personal experiences of migration to the West from a traditional culture: she came from the Philippines to Australia when she was seven and grew up feeling a sense of cultural dislocation which contributed to a struggle to find her sense of self. “It’s really hard to figure yourself out,” she tells Beat. “When I found hip hop it was a massive thing: I found people and music I could relate to; here was my community, this was my family.” Sorono certainly has found her sense of self – not only is she a single mother, she’s one of Australia’s leading break dancers, a b-girl who’s also now exploring her musical voice, writing original songs for her one-woman show for the Melbourne Fringe. “I count my blessings that I can use dance as my career path,” she says. Sorono’s forged a successful career as a self-taught dancer, performer and teacher of hip hop but says she’s nervous about performing in Fringe.
Gerard Veltre, Artistic Director of Phunktional Limited, producers of the show, sings her praises. “Demi’s a beautiful dancer,” he says. “This show is a great opportunity for her to use those skills and perform her original songs. She has a lovely interesting voice which is sometimes folk-sounding, a bit ballad, bit jazz-sounding, so she’s an amazing combination of world class dancer and singer. This show has been eight months in development and has already been performed, at the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition’s Mosaic Festival, and they loved it. The show got a standing ovation. It led to a conversation afterwards which is also a good sign.”
For her Fringe debut Sorono has teamed up with music producer MC Julez to present her original music. “These songs come from the heart,” she says. “They’re related to my personal journey. One song is called Spice in Her, about how there’s spice and flavour in this girl, you gotta watch out cos you might fall in love with her.”
Beat asks Sorono how she came to hip hop in the first place. “I saw this crazy film clip when I was very young and I was inspired by this girl in this video – she was amazing, doing all these crazy moves, headstands, power moves, windmills, and I wanted to be her. So me and my brothers started practising, started doing their moves, doing the robot dance.” Sorono admits that the Bboy dance scene can still be male dominated but she doesn’t let that hold her back. “It can be intimidating for women. You tell yourself you’re just as good and build up your skills, strengths and confidence. You have to have a ‘just do it’ attitude.”
BY COLETTE DALLIMORE
Venue: Fringe Hub – Lithuanian Club 44 Errol St, North Melbourne
Dates: September 18 – 26 (except Monday)
Times: 8.15pm (Sunday 7.15pm)
Tickets: $15 – $25
