SPECIALS
WITH THIS AD EXPIRES 8/31/19
SPECIALS WITH THIS AD EXPIRES 8/31/19
SPECIALS WITH THIS AD EXPIRES 8/31/19
SPECIALS WITH THIS AD EXPIRES 8/31/19
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 26 UGUST 23-29, 2019 BTR
Performer’s Edge
dancer performs at
Apollo’s Amateur Night
BY STEVEN GOODSTEIN
A local dancer has taken her talents
beyond the Bronx.
Laurielle Echevarria, a 14-year
old dancer from Throggs Neck who
graduated from the Urban Institute of
Mathematics and will attend the Professional
Performing Arts School in
the fall, performed at Amateur Night
at the Apollo last month, advancing to
the Apollo’s ‘Show Off’ round.
For her fi rst performance on July
31, Echevarria performed her dance
routine to Whitney Houston’s 1993
song ‘I Have Nothing’.
Laurielle may have been performing
in a different borough, but she received
tremendous local encouragement
from over 120 of her fellow family
members and Throggs Neck neighbors
who attended the show, including her
mom, aunt and cousins.
Laurielle performed in front of an
Apollo sellout crowd of over 1,500 people.
Her aunt, Loreen Mooney, Laurielle’s
number one fan who also works
at PEDA, refl ected on her niece’s commitment
to dance.
“I tell her before every performance,
‘Look in the mirror - you are
your only competition,’” she proudly
said about Laurielle, an only child.
“She was always the youngest in her
dance group and we were tough on her
- but she still succeeded and continued
to get better.”
Echevarria advanced to the second
round, the Show Off round, at Amateur
Night at the Apollo on Wednesday,
August 14, facing off against other
talented performers from other dance
academies citywide, where she once
again performed to the Whitney Houston
tune.
She did not win the second round,
but made such an impression that she
was chosen to perform in the Amateur
Night Holiday Special at the Apollo
on Saturday, December 14 as a special
guest. The Amateur Night Holiday
Special is a yearly dance recital that
features the recent Amateur Night at
the Apollo winners who dance to holiday
classics.
Practicing dance for almost her entire
life, Laurielle has trained in all
dance genres, from ballet, tap and jazz
to contemporary, lyrical and hip hop.
“Laurielle has trained, performed
and competed the whole year in preparation
for this event,” said Stefanie
Salaman Minetti, director and owner
of PEDA. Echevarria is Salaman Minetti’s
cousin.
“I’ve known Laurielle her whole
life - and she continues to work hard
and consistently strives for improvement.”
“I learned a lot from (Stefanie) - she
taught me how to be a humble dancer,
a hard worker and better person overall,”
said Echevarria, who mentioned
that Stefanie was one of her biggest
supporters and infl uences. “She also
taught me how to be loyal to my true
passion and to put my all into it.”
Laurielle said that another major
infl uence on her dancing career was
mega pop star and Apollo legend Michael
Jackson, because he worked hard
no matter how famous he became.
In July, Echevarria performed at
the National Dance Competition with
over 80 other performers from PEDA
at Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut.
Her goal is to open a dance studio in
another country for underprivileged
children, where she can instruct students
who otherwise would’t have the
fi nances or resources to acquire that
training.
I’ve known Laurielle
her whole life - and she
continues to work hard
and consistently strives
for improvement.
Stefanie Salaman Minetti
Echevarria backstage at Apollo’s Amateur
Night. Photo courtesy of Performers Edge Dance
Academy