10/29/2019 1 Comment Choreographing for "Into the Darkness"
For the first I’m creating an in-your-face drag-show tour-de-force for one of our leading ladies: the Troll Queen, played by Leif Jurgensen. It’s a good and tasty challenge for me, as in my own work in the realm of drag, I tend to veer away from the typical drag queen shenanigans. Creating something that would strongly refer to that genre while still feeling fresh and serving Leif’s character was a satisfying exploration, and I think we came up with something that will be a delectable diversion for audiences. Rehearsal was lots of fun as I got to use some, shall we say, “colorful” language in my coaching that would be wholly inappropriate for any other kind of dance. And Leif brings his own “je ne sais quoi” to it that will surely make it all totally sickening (in a good way, I assure you). And you’ll all be like “fierce bitch werk queen” and all that jazz. The second dance closes the show, so we knew it would be important to get it just right. Accompanied by the sublime Rachmaninov “Vocalise,” the actors, Kayla Dvorak Feld and Boo Segersin, essentially go from being best friends to falling in love. Realizing the weight of the material, we set aside extra rehearsal time to develop it. To develop the duet, the performers would need to try things out with each other in the space, rather than me coming into the first rehearsal with a set plan for exactly what it would be. To our surprise, the dance sort of fell into place, largely thanks to Kayla and Boo, who were brave and adventurous. Their actual friendship served the intimacy of the process, and we found moments of subtlety and power that will make for stunning conclusion to what is sure to be a fascinating show. Into the Darkness will be performed November 15-24 at Shakespearean Youth Theatre (550 Vandalia Street, Suite 306, St. Paul, MN 55114). More information can be found here.
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August 2020
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