If you have ever caught one of Sacramento /Black Art of Dance (S/BAD)club’s performances, you might get the impression that these studentsare all dance majors spending most of their time practicing andperfecting their creative dance skills, but that is contrary to theactual story behind these dynamic women.

Coming from different social backgrounds, the women that make up thisdance troup are as diverse in talent and personal achievements as thedances they perform. They also have separate goals, aspirations andshare a common unity in their love of dance.

Directed by Dr. Linda Goodrich, S/BAD, formerly African CreativeExpression (ACE), has been a part of Sacramento State?s Theatre andDance for the past nine years.

“The girls in the dance club are all at different levels of dance,” saidGoodrich, “but they have the eye of the tiger and are very passionatewhen it comes to dance.”

Miss Chinyere Anyuwu

One of the current longest-standing members of S/BAD, 24-year-oldChinyere (Chi Chi) Anyuwu, (pronounced an-yow), has been dancing withthe company for four years. She started dancing in high school for arapper in Oakland.

Anyuwu is majoring in communication studies and is currently taking 15units.She was asked to apprentice with the club when Goodrich noticed during adance class that she had talent.

“Dr. Goodrich works hard to maintain the integrity of her dance club,”Anyuwu said. “You don’t just join this dance club, you have to beselected to work as an apprentice and then you have to prove yourself.”

Anyuwu enjoys dancing barefoot because it brings her close to what’snatural.Although Anyuwu plans to become certified in massage therapy after shegraduates, she also wants to work with children somewhere along the way.

Anyuwu has a strong sense of self and feels that is a very importantquality.”I learned, if you don’t think you are good, nobody else will,” shesaid.

This attitude and a lack of any prejudice is something Anyuwu learnedwhen she lived for three years in Africa as a child.

Her first love is dance, she says, but her second love is reading andwriting. She plans someday to go on and get her master’s ininter-cultural communications.

Miss Venetia James

“Miss natural,” the talented 25-year-old Venetia James has been dancingwith the group for three and a half years. In the beginning, she didn?tnecessarily display her talent.

“That girl, when she started with me, had two left feet,” said Goodrichof James.

Goodrich recalls James walking up to her after seeing one of theperformances for the first time and hearing her say, “I gotta do this.”

Like Anyuwu, James also is a world traveler and lived abroad. Perhapsthat?s why they have become best friends.

James lived in Germany most recently, where she studied for four years.She is fluent in German and has also taken many years of French.

” My dad is a computer engineer and my mom a flight attendant,” Jamessaid.

“Traveling all over the world with them has educated me morethan any higher education I could have taken.”James is majoring in communication studies and ethnic studies. She iscurrently taking 15 units and plans to graduate in May and then laterget her master’s in architecture.

In her spare time, James works as a loctician, specializing incompletely natural hair care.When asked how she finds the time to fit dance into her busy schedule,James said, ” I will always and forever be involved in dance. It’s verytherapeutic.”

Miss Rita Clark

A ball of fire would be a good way to describe 20-year-old Rita “CoCo”Clark.Clark has been dancing since she was four years old and has takeneverything from gymnastics and jazz to ballet and hip-hop.

“Hip hop is my first love, modeling maybe my second,” Clark said.

Being in the limelight is nothing new for Clark, who just returned fromFlorida where she helped choreograph and perform for new artist MariaDulce at the Gavin Convention.She plans on going to an eight-week summer-intensive program at theAlvin Ailey School of Dance in New York when she is finished with thissemester. A person would think she might need a break after taking afull load of 21 units.

” Someday I will dance professionally,” said Clark

” Dancing is my therapy, and it’s not just when I’m working, I like togo out dancing for fun, too,” she said. “When I go to a club, if there’sa cage-stage, I’m in it.”

Miss Sheila Coleman

Miss Sheila Coleman, an enlisted member of the Army Reserves used tobelong to a ” Hip-Hop” dance group in high school called “Ennovation.”

With Social Science as her major and dance her minor, Coleman iscurrently carrying 20 units and also finds time to teach dance atCourtyard Private School in her spare time.Coleman, who has been with the group for two years, has been dancingsince she was in elementary school and she was a cheerleader in highschool.

The only thing about this kind of dance is your feet have to adjust, shesaid. “No one has pretty feet in dance,” Coleman said.

Miss Nicole Manker

The president of S/BAD, 22-year-old Nicole Manker can often be seenroller-blading around campus. Although she?s only been dancing for 6years, it didn’t take her long to catch up. She danced with a drillteam called “Sounds of Sole” and also with a group called “Jazz andPizzazz” at Sacramento High School.

By carrying 18 units this semester, Manker is majoring in mechanicalengineering and completing a double minor in math and foreign language.

She speaks French, Italian and German, and if that is not enough to keepher busy, she works for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission andthe Sacramento County Office of Education in her spare time.

Manker has always enjoyed the essence of music.

“I got into dance because it allows me to appreciate music on anotherlevel,” Manker said. “I will always be involved.”

Miss Marissa Wright

The face of 21-year-old Marissa Wright may look familiar to some. Shewas that cute little smiling girl singing “B-o-l-o-g-n-a” on the OscarMeyer commercial a few years back.

Fame and fortune were no stranger to this girl. She also did a Barbieand a Mattel commercial and is paying for her education here at SacState with the money she made from a Miss Fashionetta Pageant she won.

Wright, who is carrying 18 units, somehow finds a little spare time toteach dance to children at North Highlands Community Center and Studio Cin Winters.

Wright said the first time she saw one of Goodrich’s shows she knew shehad to be in the dance club.

New on board

Naillah Ayo, (pronounced I-o), who is still attending junior college,has been dancing with the group for two years.

“She has more ballet in her background than any of the others and is avery strong dancer,” Goodrich said.

Apprentice, Jeannette Farrell is the newest member on board.