Ya Gotta Dance
Dec. 15th, 2017 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayFor several years, during their pre-teens, my two oldest daughters were members of a local dance company called Studio M Performing Arts. The man who founded the company, along with his partner, had contracted with several area schools to provide dance classes for interested students.
Then, using these schools as feeders, he recruited the most promising kids for classes in his downtown studio and, from among those, selected the performance group which he called The M&Ms. As the company grew, he recruited parents as volunteers to construct staging and scenery and to act as stage crew for transportation and setup of increasingly elaborate shows in area shopping malls.
Eventually, the kids performed at the revered Landmark Theater in downtown Syracuse and competed in the first annual New York State Dance Olympics in Rochester. By that time, staging, scenery, costuming, sound equipment, and lighting filled two of the largest available Penske trucks and I had become their fulltime technical director.
As a studio parent, though, I ended up watching hundreds of hours of rehersals and unwittingly became a marginally-astute observer of the dance arts. So, when I came across the following YouTube clip from Brian Friedman Choreography, it was a given that I'd post it here.
It's their interpretation of Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" and it SO has the feel of the studio environment, with the not-so-casual-onlookers awaiting their turn to show everyone what they've got. I especially love watching the younger kids who are about the age of my own two girls when they were so passionately involved in the "movement arts." Friedman calls them "The Kiddos," which made me laugh.
You might also notice Maddie Ziegler, of "Dance Moms" fame, (2nd from left) and Caitlin "Kaycee" Rice, the YouTube sensation, (3rd from left) in the screenshot below and dancing with "The Outlaws" in the first group. So Friedman's video begins with "The Outlaws" and ends with "The Kiddos." Which, when you think about it, is sort of like life, lol. (Note to my son: if it goes the other way for you, you've probably gotten it wrong.)
As always, watch it full screen and at max volume on YouTube, where it was originally posted.
LPK
Dreamwidth
12.15.2017
Then, using these schools as feeders, he recruited the most promising kids for classes in his downtown studio and, from among those, selected the performance group which he called The M&Ms. As the company grew, he recruited parents as volunteers to construct staging and scenery and to act as stage crew for transportation and setup of increasingly elaborate shows in area shopping malls.
Eventually, the kids performed at the revered Landmark Theater in downtown Syracuse and competed in the first annual New York State Dance Olympics in Rochester. By that time, staging, scenery, costuming, sound equipment, and lighting filled two of the largest available Penske trucks and I had become their fulltime technical director.
As a studio parent, though, I ended up watching hundreds of hours of rehersals and unwittingly became a marginally-astute observer of the dance arts. So, when I came across the following YouTube clip from Brian Friedman Choreography, it was a given that I'd post it here.
It's their interpretation of Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" and it SO has the feel of the studio environment, with the not-so-casual-onlookers awaiting their turn to show everyone what they've got. I especially love watching the younger kids who are about the age of my own two girls when they were so passionately involved in the "movement arts." Friedman calls them "The Kiddos," which made me laugh.
You might also notice Maddie Ziegler, of "Dance Moms" fame, (2nd from left) and Caitlin "Kaycee" Rice, the YouTube sensation, (3rd from left) in the screenshot below and dancing with "The Outlaws" in the first group. So Friedman's video begins with "The Outlaws" and ends with "The Kiddos." Which, when you think about it, is sort of like life, lol. (Note to my son: if it goes the other way for you, you've probably gotten it wrong.)
As always, watch it full screen and at max volume on YouTube, where it was originally posted.
LPK
Dreamwidth
12.15.2017
