Rehearsal #1: Dancing with the Stars

We had our first rehearsal for Let It Snow! last night. Having not been able to attend the auditions, I had no idea what the cast would be like. I’d heard names bandied about as possible cast members, but due to my being bad with names, I had no idea who was being considered, really, except for such old friends as Scot and Derek. I must say I was thrilled to meet everyone. We have a great cast, with a wide range of ages and types that should bring a wonderful richness and breadth of characters to the show.

It’s great to finally have Derek in this show. Of all the show’s we do, this always seemed the one he was made for. And Scott finally joins the cast after narrowly missing in years past. I didn’t realize the “Dave” that was cast was the same Dave I had played with during the BATS Company auditions earlier in the year, so that’s exciting. We have two wonderful new women in the cast who’ve never played with us before. I’m looking forward to playing with both Karen and Molly. They bring a wonderful energy to the show and were a dream to dance with. And of course there’s the lovely Trish, returning after playing in the run of Shakespeare. I can’t wait to hear her sing.

But we did not sing last night. No, we danced. We went over the basic dance vocabulary which I talked about during the Great Puppet Musical, and added some work in partner dancing. Even though we’re forbidden from having proms or holiday dances in the show, after an over-reliance on the convention back in 2004 (thanks to Christian), partner dancing can be brilliant as back-up dancing or in dream ballets.

We learned the two step (one two three, one two three), the foxtrot (long long side step), and the cross-step waltz (long short short, long short short) which for some reason I have a fondness for crossing backwards (a perfectly common variation). I’ve always wanted to get better at partner dancing and hope we practice it more. I can already feel myself getting better even after last night, but I have a long way to go if I’m ever to be like Derek, who was immediately flinging Molly around the stage like he should be winning Dancing With the Stars.

All I can say, is dancing is a workout, and I need to get in shape and make sure I practice my dance moves outside of rehearsals. I may only be in three shows, but I’m going to go all out for those three shows.