Stage One - Another One Bites the Dance

Rachel Dolan demonstrates a bit of choreography to
the Stage One students.

The students of Stage One work hard. For eight hours a day, five days a week, these students are acting, singing, and dancing their hearts out essentially nonstop. There are a few merciful breaks worked in here and there for essentials like food, water, and bathroom breaks, but the work is difficult, demanding, and constant. So as the day comes to an end each weekday, one can imagine the last thing these talented young men and women might want to do is something physical. Too bad for them, because yesterday their master class to close out the day was a musical theatre dance workshop with the noted Rachel Dolan.

Stage One students warm up under
Rachel's direction.

Rachel Dolan is a musical theatre choreographer based in Washington, DC.  Some of her credits include work at Keegan Theatre: Cabaret (Helen Hayes Nomination, Outstanding Choreography, Broadway World Award) and Hair (Helen Hayes Recommended); Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre: Seussical. Rachel’s musical theatre and jazz choreography have appeared in showcases in New York City, Washington, DC and internationally.  As a teacher, Rachel has trained thousands of students in Tap, Jazz, and Musical Theatre. Her students’ credits include the Radio City Rockettes, Mary Poppins and White Christmas, Equity national tours, numerous cruise ships and theme parks, and renowned college programs across the country.  She is currently on faculty at Metropolitan School of the Arts and a recent guest teacher for Joy of Motion, American University and Catholic University.  

Caleigh stretches before starting in on "Another One Bites
the Dust".

During her hour long workshop, Rachel worked a sequence set to "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. As the students were learning the steps, Rachel reminded them that auditions, particularly dance auditions, are an opportunity to present oneself as a dancer. From the way one answers questions to how somebody enters the room and holds the space, there are ways in which a performer can convey what it is they are good at and where their strengths lie. If one wishes to be considered and read as as dancer by directors and casting teams then they should always be ready to have a movement or response to a prompt; physical or otherwise. Performers should be able to show the ability to think on the fly and be open to learning.

Stage One hits all the right steps during
"Another One Bites the Dust".

On Twitter? Follow us at #SigStageOne. More information here. 

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Stage One - From Fosse to Kelly

Kelly d'Amboise instructs Stage One students through
"Hot Honey Rag".

Following a delightful comedy workshop with Evan Casey, up next on the master class docket for Stage One this year was a dance intensive with the talented Kelly Crandall d'Amboise. Kelly trained at the School of American Ballet and the University of Michigan. She has performed on Broadway, on the road, in Hollywood and in Vegas. She was an original cast member of The Boy From Oz where she had the great pleasure of working with Hugh Jackman. Some of her performance credits include work as the lead dancer in the Disney film, A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey, Chicago on Broadway and the National Tour, Susan Stroman’s A Christmas Carol, the National Tour of The Producers, the Broadway workshops of Dirty Dancing and Last Dance, The Most Happy Fella with NYC Opera, EFX at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and Samson and Delilah with the LA Opera. She was a series regular on Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular and has appeared in numerous commercials, videos, on the Academy Awards and the Tony Awards. In addition, she has been the Associate Choreographer on numerous productions including those at Lincoln Center, South Coast Rep., Busch Gardens and Signature Theatre. Kelly’s teaching credits include work at Interlochen Arts Academy, Orange County Performing Arts High School and George Mason University.

Abby and Emma practice their Fosse walks.

Kelly's master class with the Stage One students yesterday focused on the choreographic style of Broadway legend Bob Fosse from the mid 50's to 80's. Some of Fosse's most well known shows and bits of choreography include The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Pippin and Chicago.

Bryan leans into warm ups with Kelly.

Throughout the short and intensive dance session Kelly and the students worked on choreography from "Hot Honey Rag" from Chicago. It's amazing how quick the Stage One students took to Kelly's steps and how fast the number came together. Keep your eyes peeled for a video snippet of the song itself.

On Twitter? Follow Stage One at #SigStageOne

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Overtures - NBC's Dean McFlicker

Dean McFlicker leads the Overtures
students in a camera performance exercise.

Yesterday, the Overtures students had the pleasure of getting to work with Dean McFlicker. Dean comes to Signature Theatre's Overtures Musical Theatre Institute from California where he is Vice President and Creative Director of NBC Entertainment Marketing. An award winning producer, director, and choreographer of countless productions, Dean has worked on and created campaigns for some of the most successful shows on television, including The Voice, America's Got Talent, ER, Law and Order, Smash, Heroes, The Apprentice, The West Wing, The Biggest Loser, and The Sound of Music. 

Dean McFlicker works with Allison
and Christina.

Having such a talented and valued member of the Hollywood executive scene join us here in Arlington was a delight for all involved. Throughout the day, Dean helped explain and explore the world of film and television, how it differs from the world of theatre, and how to best adapt one's skills to new platforms. This was one of the initial takeaways from Dean's time spent with us. 

Performers must be able to adapt and translate their skills to new mediums and avenues, particularly in this day and age where options are so varied and plentiful. The lines of entertainment are blurring and performers need to be ready to take the stage in whatever form it appears, whether it is a television show, movie, short film, web series, play, musical, one act, music video, awards show, television special, live event, etc.

After an in depth primer on the do's and don'ts of auditions in the world of film and television, Dean flipped a complete 180 and taught a brief dance routine to the students. After learning the steps the students were then taught how to play out for multiple cameras in a space. As they kicked, shimmied, and moved around to the music, Dean called out and changed their areas of focus quickly to different cameras, always keeping them on their toes. Keeping in time, focus and rhythm with several cameras around you is incredibly difficult, but if you can conquer that as a performer you can do anything.

Dean's time spent with the Overtures students was fantastic and we were so lucky to have him. Be sure to check Dean out on his Twitter and Instagram.

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeanMcFlicker
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/deanmcflicker

Half of the Overtures students strike their first pose in Dean's dance sequence.

We hope to see you at the Overtures Student Showcase, this Saturday, the 28th at 11 AM in the MAX Theatre. The event is free and unticketed. The doors open at 10:30 AM.

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Overtures - Beginning With a Bang

Cristina is getting her steps down.

Signature Theatre's Musical Theatre Institute, Overtures got underway yesterday and is off to at stellar start. The program, dedicated to nurturing and training emerging musical theatre artists, will be running for the next two weeks. Over the course of the intensive the students will go through classes and special masterclasses in singing, dancing, acting and finding their place in the professional world of modern theatre.

Lawrence takes flight in dance class.

Our first day got off to an exciting and slightly nerve racking start as each student auditioned before their peers with selected songs by the faculty. After seeing and hearing some of these students for the first time during this "audition" let me just say that this is one of the most talented groups Overtures has had in a long while. (I am very excited to see where they end up following their two weeks here.) Once that initial hurdle of nerves and first impressions was over and past, the students got to enjoy a quick tour and info session with the dashingly handsome, talented, and intelligent Education Department at Signature. Rounding out the day the students were put through the ringer with a dance class with the talented Karma and Brianne Camp as well as a group music rehearsal with Darius Smith.

In the coming days we will be updating the blog to feature moments, classes, and quotes from the program that we found particularly interesting and fun. We hope to have you join us on June 28th, when the Overtures students will take the stage in the Max Theatre at 11 am to perform in a free final showcase, highlighting all of the work they have done over the past two weeks.

Ian's getting into it towards the end of class.

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Getting Personal

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our many talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates and come to the Overtures showcase Saturday at 11 AM in Signature's MAX Theatre!

Overtures students work on blocking for "King of New York," one of the group numbers they'll perform at the showcase.

In the past week and two days, our Overtures company has worked so incredibly well together. We have made great strides as an ensemble, making beautiful music and putting together tricky choreography. But at the end of the day we all go home with our individual homework and challenges to overcome. Whether running lyrics until all hours of the night so we won’t flub a word the next day or daring to stretch our emotional range in order to perform a more truthful monologue, we all recognize the work that must be done is, ultimately, personal.

Overtures has been like a buffet table; we are given multitudes of approaches to the work, ways to find vocal placement, ways to act a monologue, ways to connect to text and lyrics. Then we must pick and choose which approaches fit best. My swimmer’s shoulders do not drop into proper posture as easily as others, a fellow company member may have old knee injuries and alignment difficulties, and still another might simply psych themselves out every time a pirouette shows up in choreography. But we all still need to land that double, so we practice in our down time and when we return home at night after our eleven-hour days. We push past our own fears and inhibitions in order to be better the following morning.

During this evening’s staging rehearsal I was reminded just how personal and individually meaningful the work is and must be. Though we all sang the same words - “I pull myself together, I’m focused on the prize” - they clearly meant something different to every one of us. Our prize could be Broadway, maybe a Resident Artist contract with a company here in DC, or perhaps just graduating high school and heading off to a stellar collegiate theater program. We gave meaning to those words with a knowing smile, a flicker of hope in our eyes, similar enough but still personal.

Performing requires ruthless bravery: the willingness to take risks, to push ourselves beyond boxes of “type”, to test our presumed limits is integral to our training and development as actors. While we can be technically proficient, there are skills beyond the physical that we will not learn from manuals or how-to videos. Instead, we exhaustively search our souls in order to better bare them under the bright lights of the stage. And thankfully, at least for another four days, we are surrounded by an encouraging and truly caring group of fellow artists all going through the same process of discovery and personal perseverance.

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Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. Again!

For the next two weeks, Alexandra, one of our talented Overtures students, is taking over our blog. Check back for daily updates!

Choreographer Karma Camp works with students on their tap technique.

Thursday, June 20

Someone once told me that a dance call for a non-dancer is just a good workout. While I have six years competitive ballroom on my resume and am certainly more than just a mover, I have often felt apprehensive when called in for choreography. Not unlike fellow Overtures company members, I was wary of stepping up to a ballet bar for the first time in two years and doubly unsure of the racket I would make when I laced up my hardly-worn tap shoes. But then again, working on my dance and choreography skills was one of my reasons for applying to Overtures in the first place.

Enter Karma Camp, Signature choreographer-extraordinaire. This past Sunday, I joked about our first warm-up being enough to potentially scare away the faint of heart and Karma herself warned that we would be screaming her name when we woke up in the morning sore. But after a week together, our groans brought on by aching muscles and moments of frustration are nearly gone, replaced by points of clarity, confidence, and can-do attitudes. And that warm-up (even the ab workout that goes along with it) is fun; especially when stretching to a Norm Lewis original while Karma records an iPhone video to send to her friend, Norm Lewis!

The choreography is certainly nothing to scoff at either. Our big showcase number, “King of New York” from Newsies (including an 8x8-count dance break) is definitely testing everything we are learning. And expectations are high. While we may slow something down briefly, we are constantly asked for more. We are learning to attack choreography, rely on our “buddy system” with our fellow company members to run phrases in our downtime, and trust in what we have already learned in just a week while also pushing ourselves to be better. We are discovering the mechanics of a double pirouette, working out the sounds in a shim sham (or at least most of the sounds for the non-hoofers), and breaking down the story of the dance. We are realizing that we are perhaps dancers after all.

Martha Graham once said, “No artist is ever pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” With midterms tomorrow, followed by a well-deserved day off, I have a feeling the 2013 Overtures company will “keep marching” - running lyrics while folding the laundry, checking tap sequences in the aisles of the supermarket, and we will be ready and eager to jump right back into the work on Sunday morning.

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