Hope everyone is enjoying the dog days of summer. It is amazing how quickly the summer months pass. The clearance sales are in full swing, and believe it or not, I have already seen a back-to-school ad.
An indication that summer is here is the Dance A Lot Annual Showcase — this year it had a fun Broadway theme and I was also so happy that we’re back performing at the Fair Lawn Community Center.
For me, it is the time I reconnect with the other dancers and friends that I haven’t seen in several months, meet new friends, watch the fantastic dancers, and finally get to dance my showcase I have been working on for months. This year my showcase was on the song “All Star” and it was choreographed by the 5 time Show Champion (besides many other awards) Maxim Kozhevnikov. He is a surperb, creative choreographer, and I have had the pleasure of having Max work on several show routines. With my teacher, Georgi, we worked hard to perfect the steps. We got to also work with Georgi’s wife, Adriana, who helped us clean up the steps. I’m truly blessed to have such an amazing team of professionals working on my dancing and continually shaping me as a better dancer.
Of course, one of my favorite participants is the MC (the voice of Dance A lot) Mr. Joe Serico, who keeps the audience entertained. You may consider me a little bias because he is my husband. 🙂
The audience was so encouraging and really appreciated the students’ hard work. “Dancing Stars” show is typically divided on three acts and the last act “The Best of the Best” showcased Adi, Georgi, and the next generation of dancers, and it was such fun to watch. The quality of dancing gets better and better with each annual show and I can’t wait to see what they do next year.
Last year, I blogged about all the pre-showcase preparations, and this year was not any different. I had my standard check list and seemed to go over it daily. The planning and checklist are a throwback from my project manager days, and I am glad for that discipline because Joe (aka voice of Dance A lot) is not a planner and would be searching for his suit on the day of the show.
Of course, we had some minor planning hiccups. The moths had a feast on Joe’s tuxedo, so a change of wardrobe was needed which meant a different shirt, tie, etc. My brand new custom made dress by Jordy International was ready only two days before my stage performance, and some of the Swarovski stones still had wet glue, but no one noticed the glue smell (I hope).
Thankfully, we didn’t forget anything but after the show, which was another story. Somehow, Joe’s shoes ended up in my suitcase along with his clipboard, and his favorite shirt was left at the Community Center — good thing Georgi started a lost and found. 🙂
As I have mentioned earlier, we were back at the Fair Lawn Community Center, and it was nice to be back in a familiar place. Last year we performed at the YMCA in Wayne. Although the theatre is much bigger, I personally prefer the George Frey Theatre better.
One of the new and very beneficial additions Dance A Lot had this year was that we had a dress rehearsal during the week prior to the showcase. It helped me to get my bearings and not worry about falling into the first row. It is a recurring nightmare that I fall off the stage and face plant into the first row of the audience.
After practicing my showcase for so many months, I get to perform it again in August, so the practicing doesn’t end, and we somehow need to get started on the Christmas showcase. It’ll be a very funny show. We will also be working on the showcase for next year, and Joe is also going to dance with me. Adriana is a fantastic teacher and will have her hands full getting Joe back into “ruby” level shape. Joe like to improvise and create his own ruby level steps. 😉 I am looking forward to it, even though we’ll be dancing together for less than a minute in the whole dance.
Lastly, I would like to thank Adi and Georgi for their attention to detail letting every dancer shine and show their individual personality in this year’s Broadway edition of “Dancing Stars”.
As usual, I had my camera and took a few (okay a lot more than a few). Here are a few behind the scenes pictures. There are more to come.
Enjoy your summer.
