You Are The Light Of The World

I am, thankfully, surprised.

It all started about a month ago, Jeremy is putting on a Broadway Rock concert at his school, Meridian, and asked me if I would like to come and do some simple choreography for the kids. BOO YEAH! I love dancing, and love teaching dance, so I thought it would be easy, right? Eh...maybe not.

That first day was so much fun, but a little concerning. We started with my favorite number- Xanadu. Oh, I love that song! I came up with steller choreography and ideas for places and roller bladers, to say the least, as I saw it in my head, It was so cool! We started dancing it- 28 kids, middle school and high school aged kids, and I started to worry. It looked like a mess. It was nothing like what I saw in my head. I worried, but figured it would press itself out. Most of those kids had NO dance experience or exposure to dance, so I kind of brushed it off and tried not to worry too much about their technique.

The next day, we worked on "Everybody Fits" from Altar Boyz (so funny, by the way! I need to know more about that show!), and I almost died inside. While coming up for choreography for that number, I danced around my living room while deer watched me from the backyard, I watched music videos from BSB and Nsync and I was so pumped that I could do all of these cool moves and totally have 4 boys be receptive. We started out just fine, but it started to get shaky, and remembering what came next and transitions were difficult for them to remember. I have to hand it to them though, not one of them complained that first day, even though I could tell that they were scared spitless. Leaving that number the first day REALLY scared me, and I left that rehearsal knowing that I was just going to change it and have them step touch the entire time. I was sad.

On that same day, I helped with little bits and pieces of "Magic Dance" from Labyrinth and that went over just fine. They are cute, goofy goblins, and I assumed that they would remember it.

The day after, we worked on "I'm Alive" from Xanadu ( I LOVE THAT SHOW!). In this number, I had all of the ladies that were in the show, and if any of you have seen the opening of the movie Xanadu, Greek muses are painted on the side of a concrete building and suddenly, they just start coming out of the wall and dancing around. So! Awesome! I had this boss number all choreographed and I thought that all the ladies would easily pick it up. They did, for the most part. Again, they had trouble remembering what came when and where and with transitions. There were only a handful of ladies that were giving me dirty looks because they didn't want to do the song because they thought it was dumb, but for the most part, I was happy with how we left that first day.

The next rehearsal, I had all of the high school aged kids doing "96,000" from In The Heights. I brought in my little brother, Nick, to help me out with movement for the men, and that rehearsal went without flaw. Those kids looked so good! I was amazed by how much dedication all of the kids were putting into the number and finding their own characters and having fun. It was so awesome!

The next day we worked on some small movement things for "Hair" and that was super easy and then we worked on "What I've Been Looking For" from HSM, and that dance is cute!! We have a brother and sister doing that one, and they cheese it up. So proud of them.

Then came our review....everything was forgotten.

We hadn't finished all of Xanadu, and so I figured we could run what they knew once and I could finish teaching the rest. Not the case. I was heartbroken. We spend over and hour running and trying to remember Xanadu and I was not at all pleased. That song is so cheesy that you need to show it in your face, and most of the kids looked like they wanted to kill me. We started to run all of the big group songs and everything fell apart. Not one girl remembered all of "I'm Alive" none of the boys remembered one thing we did from "Everybody Fits", the kids in "Magic Dance" forgot everything and were threatened that their number was going to be pulled from the show, and the boys didn't remember the 16 counts of choreography that they had from "Hair". The only two numbers that were so-so were "96,000" and "What I've Been Looking For". It was a sad rehearsal. Jeremy told them that the show needed to be better. It wasn't where it needed to be and that practice was needed. Most of them took it to heart, but some of them still rolled their eyes.

We arrived at the school on Saturday morning for an all day rehearsal, 9-5. Jeremy worked with soloists for an hour and then everyone (mostly) came at 10. It was a cleaning rehearsal. That's pretty much all I have to say about that. The kids were good, antsy, but good. We reviewed everything, polished it up, but they were still lacking a sense of fun. Every number we did, it looked like half of them were in complete pain. I felt better about all of the numbers except "Everybody Fits". I changed a few minor things, but they just weren't getting it. I didn't want to cut all of the choreography out because there were a few of them that were trying so hard, but then again, a few of them weren't trying. At the end of the day, I told them that if not all of them commit to the dance and learn it, I would reward the few that were doing it full out and the few that weren't trying, I would place in the back and have them step touch.

That next Monday was a full run through, and I was scared. It was sink or swim time. We started the music and the opener was cute, the next number was cute, and so on and so on. The show was better! I was shocked! When the kids weren't on stage, most of them were reviewing dances together. I was so proud of them! However, the moment that almost knocked me out of my chair was when those 4 boys from "Everybody Fits" came out and danced for their lives. It was amazing!! They were all committed and I could have not been prouder of all of those boys. The show was now good, but they were lacking the "WHOA!" factor. The kids were singing and dancing for the most part, but you could see in their faces that the fun wasn't there. I left that rehearsal feeling a little better about some numbers, but wasn't completely convinced.

On Tuesday (yesterday), the show hadn't improved. Also, still, some kids that didn't like certain numbers were acting like little punks and ruining it for all the other kids in the number. Instead of asking Jeremy if we could just get rid of it, he threatened them that if they were little dorks about it and didn't do they best that we knew they could, he would just start yanking them from numbers. We started another run, and it was a complete night to day difference!! They found their groove and they looked so happy to be performing.

Their performance is tonight at the Scera. I can't believe how far they have all come. I thought that some kids would refuse to rise to the expectation, but they are all now ready to go out there and have an audience and have the response that only and audience can give. I am so proud of each kid that is participating in Broadway Rocks this year, and I am confident that this will be an amazing show. Break a leg you guys!!