Jazz hands and spirit fingers left and right!
Aspiring dancers joined the Independence district choreographer Ms. Rebecca Justice on November 4th in the IMS auditorium to work on their Fosse technique, Chicago’s demanding style of dance.
In March, IHS will be performing Chicago: Teen Edition, and Justice’s dance clinic was offered to prepare students for the dance call on December 8th.
Justice explains that it requires a lot of attention to detail because it’s, “very intricate and very stylized, where every movement of the pinky and every blink of the eye was a moment.” In the hopes of providing adequate preparation for the Chicago dance call, the choreographer provided warm ups including stretches and isolations, exercises with some basic dance moves, and lastly, a short routine from the opener “All That Jazz.”
Freshman Alexis Brody admitted that she was expecting something a little more classical and rudimentary, and was pleasantly surprised to find the choreography to be more textured. Furthermore, she explained that she “really enjoyed it. I did dance for a while and I liked getting back into it.” She said she has high hopes for the choreography in Chicago!
Justice explained that the Fosse style texture is due to the movements being isolated and minimal, and that the more skilled an ensemble, the more breathtaking the synchronicity.
In addition, she described the choreography in Chicago as a major component in the storytelling. Examples of this storytelling style will be featured in the song “Razzle Dazzle” where the ostentatious lawyer Billy Flynn tap dances in the courtroom to “make a show out of the law and convey the whole farce of it all.” Audiences will also see this when Hungarian inmate Katalin “Hunyak” Helinszki narrates her reason for being arrested. Justice explained that Helinszki’s storytelling becomes extremely reliant on movement because, unless the audience happens to understand Hungarian, they have to comprehend her “movement” through gestures and body language.
Justice suggested that students who audition should pop in on a community dance class to learn about their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of coordination and memorization. Gianna Londrico, IHS Shrek and Mean Girls Dance Captain, advises stretching on audition day before performing, practicing improvisation, and listening to music likely to be chosen to “get a feeling of the musicality” and to feel prepared.
The Chicago dance call includes choreography learned in the clinic, and actors can find a recording of it on the Chicago Google Classroom. Separately, Director Mrs. Gretchen Obrovac explains that one will find “information about the show, characters, audition, and rehearsal expectations and basic timeline of the rehearsals” in the audition packet that will be released promptly.
Students can look forward to auditioning on December 8th. Those interested in auditioning for a dance lead should watch for a place to add their dance call videos in the IHS Drama Club Google Classroom!
