A room full of 18 children, ranging from first to sixth grade, practice singing and dancing for their church’s Mother’s Day performance.

Gino Platina, a 35-year-old senior theatre and dance major, stands in front, choreographing dance moves on a Sunday at the Capital Christian Center. The full-time Admissions and Records Office transcript supervisor/records analyst regularly volunteers his time with children and adults.

“He has a heart for this art and shares it with us here at the church,” said Jennifer Thrash, secretary of the church’s music department.

“I love training new dancers,” Platina said.

He likes people who say, “I can’t dance,” so they can feel good about themselves once they have learned it.

Platina said he was a “jock” in high school who played football and ran track. He didn’t get serious about dance until after he graduated high school. Platina was taught dance, choreography and how to set up stage plays and said he fell in love.

“Dance is not just a female sport. It can be strong and masculine,” Platina said.

“He is amazing,” the church’s director of the children’s music department, Cindy Melgoza said. “His mind never stops and he thinks of things on the spot.”

Melgoza said the children love Platina and his choreography.

“We had someone else last year and (the children) all said they wanted Gino,” Melgoza said. Children have to audition for the church’s performances where Platina directs the choreography portion. About 60 children auditioned for this year’s Mother’s Day musical, “We are United,” where 18 were selected.

“He is interesting and fun to watch. … He works hard and it is all donated time,” Thrash said. Platina’s career goals are to teach dance at a junior college or university and eventually open a theater and dance company.

“I want to bring strong arts and dance to Sacramento,” Platina said.

Jazz, hip-hop, ballroom and musical theater are just some of the talents Platina has studied. He said he tries to take classes to train and learn as much as he can but wants to focus now on the education side of dance.

Platina has had surgeries on both of his knees, including twice on his right knee. Even with injured knees, Platina has not let this stop any of his career goals. He has been told many times by his doctors that he should stop dancing, but said he can’t do that. Dancing is what he feels he is here for.

Because he loves performing so much, nerves don’t even come around while he is performing. “I love the ooh, aah affect,” Platina said.

He listens to the audience’s reaction and plays from that. He said he loves performing and educating people.

Sacramento’s local radio station, 107.9 The End’s morning show, had a local “Dancing with the Stars” competition on March 3, where Platina was partnered with one of the radio DJs, Darci. Although the two did not dance together, their scores were totaled to determine the winning score.

Platina said he didn’t expect to be selected for the competition and was surprised when Darci selected him to be her partner.

He and his dance partner practiced two to three hours per day, five or six days a week for about three and a half weeks.

Platina and his partner performed the cha-cha, which he said he thought would be the easiest but ended up being the hardest of all the choices.The other choices were the tango and swing. Platina admitted that he actually dropped his partner once during the competition, but the audience thought it was part of the program.

“Our performance was actually the most intricate and had the most risks,” Platina said.

Platina did not expect to win and said he was surprised when they won the gold.

“This competition has opened a lot of doors for many other competition options,” Platina said.

Linda Le can be reached at [email protected]