MICA Runway 2008

Jarmy Quezada is a proud 19 years old native of the Bronx, New York and is a junior at the Lexington School for the Deaf. His family is from Santo Domingo and Villatapia, Salecdo, Dominican Republic. He is on the Lexington Varsity Soccer Team, Varsity Wrestling team, Varsity Track and Field Team, and Varsity Softball Team.

Since he was 7, he discovered a passion for dance after his mother taught him how to dance Merengue, Salsa, and Baschata. He enjoys and loves to watch Hip Hop dance moves on any music videos on television. One of his dreams is to some day become a professional dancer and be cast on Music Television (MTV) and to be drafted as a member of a baseball team for Major Leagues Baseball (MLB). His talent for Teen MICA Idol is with dance partner, Teresa Pichardo and they will be doing Plantain and La Dominican Merengue dance moves. They are excited and are looking forward to being a part of the Teen MICA Idol Talent Competition.

Joe Cortez is a 18 years old Ecuadorian-American resident of Queens, New York and is a junior at Lexington School for the Deaf. He enrolled into the program since age 3. He is a member of the Lexington Varsity Cheerleading team and Varsity Track & Field team. He is also involved in several fundraising activities and does community services. He is currently the Vice President of the Core Class of 2010. He is a member of the Junior National Association of the Deaf.

One of his talents in American Sign Language storytelling. He incorporates story ideas from life experience, through his social connections within the Deaf community, from watching movies, and reading books. His life goals are to be an actor and study to become a psychologist.He loves to be a ham and act in front of the audiences making them laugh and to inspire them.

Teresa Pichardo hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She is a junior at Lexington School for the Deaf. She enrolled in the Foreign Language Transition program at age 13 then transferred to the High School department. She is on Varsity Cheerleading team, Junior Varsity Volleyball team and Varsity Track and Field team. She also participates in fundraising activities and does community service. She is the Treasurer of the Core Class of 2009. She is accepted into the Youth Leadership Camp, which is affiliated with the National Association of the Deaf in Oregon this summer of 2008.

She is very good at Latin American dance and learned most of the moves from her family members. Her family are music and dance lovers. While growing up, she enjoyed watching her family perform solos at home and at parties. She'd join them and dance with them. Her future goal is to become a professional dancer so she can participate in the Latin American Dance competitions and dance against other Latin America dancers from other countries. Hertalent for Teen MICA Idol is with dance partner, Jarmy Quezada and they will be doing Plantain and La Dominican Merengue dance moves.

Jackie Lalescu is 13 years of age and from the Bronx. She is currently in the 6th grade at Lexington School for the Deaf in Queens.Her favorite subjects in school are math and science. Lexington school has praised Jackie on many occasions for her academic excellence.She has also performed in many school shows most recently acting as Birdy in "Peter and the Wolf

Jackie loves to perform and her favorite sport is rhythmic gymnastics. She is a rhythmic gymnast who trains at Xtreme Rhythmic Academy in Manhattan. Although, Jackie has only been doing gymnastics for a little over a year she has done multiple shows and plans to compete for USA Gymnastics next year. Jackie's favorite events are the hoop, ribbon and ball and loves to dance with everything

Name performance: Vodoo

Name song: The man with a hex

Name artist: The atomic fireballs

LeAnha is originally from Philadelphia, PA. She will be graduating from Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) on June 20, 2008. She started dancing at the age of three with the Brenda Lee’s Dance Studio. While at Brenda Lee’s she learned ballet, modern, tap and jazz. She performed in yearly recitals until the age of 10 when she began running Track and Field.

He track career began with the United Stars Track and Field Association in Philadelphia and she continued training with the Gallaudet Women’s Track Coach after entering MSSD in September of 2004. The highlight of her track experience was traveling to Sydney, Australia to participate in the USA DEAF Olympics in January of 2005. She rediscovered her passion for Dance after performing a routine as my talent in the MSSD Miss Onyx Pageant in November 2004. This performance brought tears to both her mother and father eyes. She won the Miss Onyx Pageant and Best Dressed Evening Wear which made my Grandmother proud because she handcrafted LeAnha ‘s gown. More importantly, it was that performance and the crowds’ reaction that prompted LeAnha to join the MSSD Winter Dance Program. In November 2005, she participated in the Miss MSSD Pageant and won Miss Congeniality.

She have participated in the Winter Dance Program for two years. As a part of this program, She took modern, African dance, jazz and hip-hop dance. Her goal is to be part of the Gallaudet Dance Company and the National Deaf Dance Theatre. This fall, she plan to study Dance technique and major in Kinesiology at Gallaudet University. She want to be consistent with her dance and grow and develop as a performer. Dance is he passion, because it helps her to release her stresses and express myself more fully.

Ormar Rodriguez was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. Ormar have a deaf family. Ormar comes from a generation of Puerto Rican family. All his family members are from Puerto Rico. He was brought up into a mainstream education system. After he graduated from middle school, he went to McNair Academic High School. Ormar didn’t like McNair High so transferred to the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD). He is currently a sophomore student. Ormar loves to dance, sign to songs, perform in front of an audience and would love to try his hand at modeling someday.

At MSSD, Ormar performed and starred in a play called, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” which was directed by Michelle Banks. He won 3 awards for Best Actor, Best Creative Performance, and All Around Artist. He was also involved in a play called “Bring it to the Street” during a Winter Dance Concert. He idolizes Pop Artist, Britney Spears. Ormar gets his inspiration to be a model and to perform in show business from Britney Spears. He believes if there was no Britney Spears in this world, he will not be able to participate in any of these events.

Ormar is now working on his Album for his Sign Music Videos.

Ameena Dayo Saleema Patterson, born Durham, North Carolina. She was raised near Rochester, New York. Ameena has been dancing since she was three and thanks her parents for encouraging and exposing her and her siblings to the arts world because she gained so much exposure from them.

Since she was young, Ameena has been taught African dance as well as modern dance. Yet, she was also exposed to many other cultural dances such as Salsa, Indian, Caribbean and other dance moves. She is a senior at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf and is graduating this June. Ameena has been involved in sports, such as soccer and cheerleading. She was the co-captain for the squad. She received an all-star award and her squad team won the champion for the first time in 6years. She was also involved in Winter Dance Concert, which takes place annually. She has been a dance leader for two years in a row of her school at MSSD.

Kenta Joseph is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Kenta and her family moved to Brooklyn, New York when she was 4 years old. She is 19 years old and is a junior at the Lexington School for the Deaf in Jackson Heights, Queens. Kenta is a member of the Cheerleading Team. She loves to dance. Her dancing inspiration comes from watching music videos on television, and at family events and parties. She is pursing her dream to become a dancechoreographerafter she graduate from Lexington.

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