This is a black-tie event–but not the kind you’re thinking of.
“Five, six, seven, eight!” Seina Haruta, president of MERGE, shouts as she counts the dancers in with music bumping against the walls of studio 2.
Black ties lay across dancers’ chests, draping over their leggings and Nike sports bras, as they prepared for Illuminate this past weekend.
Rhythmic stomps echo across the room as each girl slides into place, army-like in unison and perfectly painted facial expressions.
Suddenly, the music stops and Haruta sighs in relief.
“Oh my God,” she said as she smiled and looked to the ceiling, then to Alyssa Turn, her choreography partner.
“Did yours work?” Haruta asks her, inquiring if the staging they decided on went through successfully.
Turn looks back and nods.
The pair give barely any time for rest. They begin the next set of placements and the girls are back on the dance floor with black ties in stride.
Haruta and Turn are choreographing a jazz piece for the annual Illuminate dance showcase hosted by United Movement. This, alongside a separately choreographed contemporary piece, was MERGE’s contribution to the dance showcase.
Illuminate is the one event where MERGE members get to perform on stage—for most on the team, it’s the only time outside of high school where they showcase their talent to an audience, according to Haruta.
“I think dancing gives you a different discipline that I not only can apply to MERGE now, but just throughout life,” Haruta said.
At the end of last academic school year, Haruta, a statistics senior, became MERGE’s president. Her responsibilities include hosting board meetings, planning out social events, delegation of tasks and a lot of tedious paperwork, mostly to ensure the studio is booked for MERGE’s two weekly workshops along with other rehearsals.
“I immediately thought of Seina [Haruta],” said Ellie Deninno, business sophomore and dancer, referring to a theater class assignment asking students to describe a good leader. “ I just think she comes in with a great attitude every time we come in the studio, and I think that’s really admirable.”
Similar to many other MERGE members, Haruta has been dancing her whole life. During high school, she considered her studio a second home. It was where she ate, slept and did homework along with dance, said Haruta. Though it was demanding, its emphasis on having fun perfectly lends itself to MERGE’s philosophy.
“I think that’s what I love,” Haruta said. “That like, you’re really dancing for yourself. You’re being able to throw everything else away for that hour-and-a-half to two hours and just let yourself do what your body needs.”
When she came to Cal Poly as a freshman in 2021, Haruta knew she wanted to continue dancing, but not as intensely as before. During the WOW Club Showcase, she found herself chatting with the people at MERGE. Its open membership, lower commitment and dedication to inclusivity were exactly what she was looking for, Haruta said. Over time she rose in leadership after regularly attending workshops and practices.
“You could tell how much Seina loves to dance, and her being able to kind of share that with new members, returning members, all that, is really cool,” said Colby Galassi, MERGE board member and agricultural science junior.
Haruta never thought she would have the confidence to choreograph successfully during her formative years of dance but now does so, expressively, within the comfortable space MERGE provides her, she expressed.
The choreography for the jazz piece started with choosing a song—a process in which several playlists were made, said Haruta and her co-choreographer Alyssa Turn. Then the two broke it up into segments and worked through the moves, piece by piece, until their vision felt complete.
“I feel like it’s really seamless with her. We’re also at the point where we can be super blunt with each other–like if we don’t like the other’s idea, it’s just like ‘Oh, no, that doesn’t work,’” Turn said about working with Haruta. “It’s easy and it’s no harsh feelings. It’s a part of growing up dancing.”
It’s almost 8 p.m. as the team runs through the finished four-minute routine. The air shifts and the dancers are back in sync as they reach the last beat. The studio erupts with jubilation; cheers, laughs, heavy sighs and pats on backs mark Haruta’s legacy within Cal Poly’s dance community.
At Illuminate this past Sunday, the audience watched a MERGE dancers flood the stage in their white button ups and black ties performing a classic Michael Jackson song, “The Way You Make Me Feel.”
“Being able to produce something a group of girls have all worked really hard for is something really special,” Haruta said.
