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Chris Makris Dances Up A Storm

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Julianne Grauel Student Contributor, Carnegie Mellon University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

You’ve probably seen Chris around campus—leading cheers at orientation, hanging out doing statistics homework, or most likely, killing it on stage during a Dancer’s Symposium show. This Carnegie Mellon Senior became involved with DS almost as soon as he stepped foot on campus. During the first night of freshman orientation he learned about DS and hasn’t stopped participating since: “Ever since that first semester, I have kept my involvement with DS as much as possible. I consistently choreograph primarily Hip Hop/Contemporary pieces, but love to take part in as much of the production as possible. I have also been one of the members of DS Company since its inception in Fall 2009.”
 
I was surprised to learn that Chris started dancing in high school; his technique would leave anyone thinking he’d danced for much longer. In HS, he started a student-run Step and Hip Hop team called Urban Connection that performed at various school events. 
 
This semester, Chris is working on two pieces for the upcoming DS show (April 29th and 30th). One is a hip/hop contemporary piece and the other is a senior duet with fellow DS dancer Krizia Torres.
 
It’s safe to say that DS will be different without Chris’ presence in the future. When I asked him about his future dance plans, he said, “I’m taking advantage of all the dance opportunities Carnegie Mellon has to offer now because I know I will miss them so much when I graduate. If anything, I plan to take classes in New York City with friends every so often.” 

Julianne Grauel is a sophomore Professional Writing major at Carnegie Mellon University and is originally from the California Bay Area. At Carnegie Mellon she is a peer tutor for writing and an active sister in her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. This past summer, she interned at Gentry Magazine and hopes to work for a magazine after college. Julianne loves football, sushi, sunshine, and dance parties. She probably consumes far too much Red Mango froyo and can’t get enough of Project Runway. In her free time she likes to travel, watch sports center, take spinning classes and, most of all, shop.