Dance Exlosion Blog – 7-26-11
It’s crunch time! With only a few days left before opening night, Dance Explosion is really taking shape.
Longtime AMT bass player Mike Wittrien told us that the band has spent the last several weeks in the basement rehearsal rooms learning the music for the show. They’ve also been rehearsing with the show’s four singers and working hard to make sure the music and vocals meet the Directors’ high standards and vision for the show. The band has been working through charts, ironing out the kinks, and making sure that musically, everything is correct. In the latter part of last week, the band was on stage, getting familiar with their new bandstand components and starting to provide live music for the dancers who had previously been rehearsing to CDs.
Carl Rajotte, Dance Explosion’s Co-Director/Co-Choreographer said that he and Andrea McCormick, the show’s creator, had completed teaching all the choreography last week. Now they’re bringing the band, the dancers and the singers all together on stage to assemble the show from beginning to end. As the show begins to gel, Carl will be looking at tempos and musicality, and helping the dancers become familiar with dancing to the live music. “This is my favorite part of the process,” Carl said. “Up to now, we’ve been rehearsing the singers, dancers and musicians separately, and now is the time we start to form the team that the audience will experience.”