PERFORMERS

The purpose of The Rock Island Praise & Dance Ministry is to let our light shine as we share the gospel through Polynesian & Worship Song and Dance to believers and non-believers to perpetuate the Creator of all creation, Jesus Christ. Through our song and dance we fellowship and share our common passion for Polynesian song and dance.

The mission of The Rock Island Praise & Dance Ministry is to be the radiant light for Christ to Polynesian musicians, dancers, believers and non-believers to teach all who want to learn Polynesian & Worship song and dance. We come together to allow Christians and non-Christians an opportunity to share their common interest, learn God's word, build relationships through learning and equipping each other to share God's love to the unsaved throughout the San Diego community.

Neslene Sahagun is a soul/R&B singer. Born in Sacramento and raised in San Diego, CA, Neslene is the eldest of 5 children. She discovered her interest in singing and performing at a young age listening to music and dancing with friends and family. After pursuing voice lessons and training in dance, she went on to win local singing competitions while performing with dance crews throughout high school. After graduating from Morse Senior High School in San Diego, Neslene has moved on to college as well as her first steps toward pursuing her dream.

Neslene's vocal style leans toward R&B and Soul, with her influences including artists like John Legend and Musiq Soulchild. Her voice has been compared to Jill Scott (A Long Walk), and she's shown she can hold her own covering Erykah Badu (Love of my Life).

Decypher (aka Andrew Sahagun) is an emcee and producer from San Diego, CA. As many emcees have, Decypher got his start writing poetry in high school. After taking his poetry to a beat, he found the love of his life in hip-hop music. Going on to emcee as well as taking up the turntable, Decypher's interest in music continued to grow as he got older. To sharpen his skills he began attending open-mic night's at clubs and events locally and in the Los Angeles area, eventually making his way into the cipher or a battle.

Decypher's musical influences include hip-hop artists KRS-One, Common, Tupac and Canibus. He released his first full album "Progress Report" independently in 2007, with another album in its final stages to be released in 2010.

In 2009, cousins Neslene and Andrew joined together to form Relatively Ill, a collaborative effort showcasing Neslene's voice as well as Andrew's emceeing and production talents. After their debut performance at a show called Sessions was hailed by many in the crowd of thousands as the highlight of the night, Relatively Ill found themselves in demand as additional booking requests began to come in.

Entering 2010, Relatively Ill have established an online presence with their official website (www.relativelyill.com), Twitter, Facebook and YouTube Channel to help spread their music. The duo are currently writing new material for their debut EP, Relatively Speaking."

RYPE (formerly Pride Rice Dance Company) was founded in March 2009 by siblings Devin Banares, Jordan Banares, and Tamara Michelle Lange. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by Erik Molina who became one of the dance company's Artistic Directors. When the company was founded, we started out only as a dance team with the intention to do a couple of performances and perhaps a competition here and there.

RYPE Dance Company is a 6-month dance intensive that is open to a wide range of ages and all levels. RYPE promotes growth, creativity, and self-expression through dance education and training. RYPE participates in local events for the community as well as competitions across California.

The BOX's Performance & Competition Team, RYPE (formerly Pride Rice) is a well accomplished team. In addition to being featured on International TV Networks, websites, and local newspapers, in May 2010 the team was awarded 1st place in the Y2Y's Safe Summer Slam Dance Competition and in August 2010 received the highly regarded "Crowd Favorite" award at San Diego's World of Dance Competition.

For more information on RYPE, please visit www.beliefofexpression.com