“Five, Six, Seven, Eight…Boom, boom, ba, boom, boom, ba…”

From pique turns to isolations, Sacramento’s own dance group discreetly prepares for the Public Display 8 showcase in Sacramento State’s Yosemite hall.

The practices consist of instructing the choreography and working on cleaning up formations, like the pyramid where the dancers march into a triangular shape to the song “Pompeii” by Bastille.

The dancers have also been practicing pulling off into groups to create individual choreography that can potentially be incorporated into the main routine.

Sac Modern dance group consist of about 40 dancers with the majority of them being Sac State students. The group originated from Sac State’s Samahang Pilipino group that performed dance of varying styles but mainly focused on hip-hop.

Jacqui “Zion” Ramos, a freestyle dancer from American River College, auditioned after she heard about the group on Facebook.

“I like the diversity, the culture and the acceptance of every style because all the other dance groups that I danced with only had one style, and you had to stick to that one style,” Ramos said.

Sac Modern dancers do not have to be Sac State students and do not have to be dance majors to participate in the group.

Cj Caraos, a communications and public relations major, is president and also a dancer in the group. Aside from dancing, he takes care of the business aspect by making sure the dancers have their paperwork filled out and events coordinated.

Sac Modern competes locally as well as in the Bay Area against other dance groups.

Hilary Ahl, a biology major, has been a part of Sac Modern for two semesters and her dance style is more lyrical but also shows hip-hop influences. She wanted to be more involved with school so she joined the group.

“I make time to come here even though I also have school because everyone here is family, we have so many different dance styles…I participated in the competition “Breakthrough” and it was nerve-wrecking,” Ahl said. “When the curtains closed I started crying because we all worked so hard.”

Ahl, along with her other dance members, have to be able to balance making time for practice and school.

“Tuesdays and Thursdays are my better days, I go to the gym early in the morning and I book out all my stuff for my physics and biology; Mondays and Wednesdays I am here from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. I make time for it by having a schedule when to get assignments done,” Ahl said.

Sac Modern has performed on campus in the past for events and plans to perform again for the Student Emergency Grant Fund dance marathon, or the “Glow for Good”, which will take place Oct. 18 for Homecoming.