|
 Musical
Theater on the March
By Nancy Wozny
Training the triple-threat dancer
What is it about a song and dance act that makes people want
to jump onstage? At the Texas State Thespian Festival, after
watching kids in dancewear tote heavy dance bags and noting a
schedule that included hip-hop, jazz, and choreography for
musical theater, I wondered if I had mistakenly driven to a
dance festival. Apparently musical theater is hot in high
schools right now. I dare you to find a teenager who can’t hum
a tune from Wicked, the show that single-handedly made
musicals cool again. After watching the finals in the
musical-theater competition, with number after number of
triple-threat performers, I wondered where all these students
are getting trained.
The answer is that many dance studios are jumping on the
musical-theater bandwagon. Some offer fullblown programs with
private voice lessons and acting classes along with a full
schedule of dance classes. Beware, big-thinking types—this
approach takes considerable added space. The good news: Acting
and voice classes do not require any special flooring. But you
might want to invest in a piano and some soundproofing for a
vocal studio. As for specialized teachers, yes, you will need
them, and good acting teachers are not so easy to find. Other
studios prefer the more modest approach of including a
musical-theater class among their dance offerings. According
to many school owners, musical theater is a great gateway
class into other dance genres. As for the end-of-year show,
expect to find some musical numbers there as well.
The people who are doing the triple-threat approach have
musical theater in their blood. All of the school owners
interviewed for this article believe that musical-theater
training is somehow
 essential
to their offerings and that it changes their students’
dancing. According to these teachers, when students train in
acting and singing along with dance, their performance skills
go sky-high. They are more able to connect with an audience;
they develop stage presence; and they gain a fuller command of
expressiveness in dance. Apparently there is something about
opening one’s mouth and belting out a tune in a believable
character that is good for straight-up dance.
The connection between these three performing arts is
something that MaryBeth Smith, a Houston-based vocal and
somatics coach who works with young singers, understands
firsthand. “When a singer is given the opportunity to act and
dance while singing, it integrates all these means of
expression with the voice,” she says. “Good musical-theater
programs help the students make the links, with the end [goal]
of creating the most expressive performance possible. They
also create the reality and necessity of a student to get up
to speed in all three areas.”
The Humphreys School at Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) in
Houston runs a full-service operation with two tracks, the
Studio (open to all) and the Academy (by audition only).
Academy students train five days a week after school and on
weekends, and the results are impressive. They get to audition
for some of the shows in each TUTS season as well. Several
former TUTS students have performed on Broadway and in touring
shows; alumnus Austin Miller was the runner- up for the role
of Danny in the NBC TV show Grease: You’re the One That I
Want!
“As a boy growing up in Alvin, [TX], I really had no idea that
this magical, theatrical place existed. I had my breath taken
away every time I walked into the studio, feeling the sense of
hopefulness and creativity in the air,” says Miller. “I was
nurtured as a singer, an actor, and a dancer and encouraged to
marry them into one solid performance.”
“Sometimes students just want to sing, or act, or dance,” says
Shay Rodgers, the Academy’s manager. “Unless you’re Matthew
Broderick,
who is a natural mover, you need to do it all to be
competitive.” Rodgers thinks it’s
fine to have a specialty but advises students to put in time
on the other two skills. “As for singing,” she adds, “it’s a
learned behavior. Anyone can learn to sing.”
Singing is what you are likely to hear when you walk by Cathy
Skidmore’s studio in Jefferson, GA. “I get all my little ones
singing,” says Skidmore, who believes that the younger kids
start, the better. “They are going to do something with
their mouths; it might as well as be singing. Plus it really
helps them remember their steps.” Skidmore’s 4-year-old
students have been known to belt out those songs; they haven’t
learned to be afraid or shy about their voices, unlike some
older dancers who are shy about singing for the first time.
Although Skidmore’s studio is only 2 years old, she’s been
teaching musical-theater classes for 15 years. Her studio’s
name says it all: Broadway Arts Center. “I did not want to
name my studio ‘So-and-So School of Dance,’ ” says Skidmore.
“I wanted people to associate the studio with more than dance.
When I was a child I could sing, act—I loved to do it all.”
She enjoyed musical theater in high school and at Westfield
State College in Massachusetts, where she choreographed
musicals as a student. Her favorite shows are Rent,
Chicago, and anything Fosse. But, she claims, “I’m still a
dancer before I am anything else.”
No one in Skidmore’s area was teaching musical theater when
she opened her school, and she wanted to offer something
different. A modest start of one class has blossomed into two,
both with waiting lists. A class called “Triple Treat” allows
students to get it all in one class. They learn how to warm up
their voices and bodie s
at the same time, then do some improvisation and character
development. Often, she says, her musical-theater students end
up taking more dance classes.
Skidmore agrees with Rodgers that anyone can sing, especially
in a group. Karaoke tapes work especially well in breaking
the ice about singing. “Anyone can improve,” she says. “We all
have our gifts. Some are more talented in one area, but we all
strive
to be the best we can be.” Both singing and acting share the
stage with dance in Skidmore’s showcase-style recitals, for
which she writes original stories. Acting is the thread she
weaves through everything her students do. “Acting is an
essential part of dance,” she says. “I try to incorporate it
in all my classes.”
Jennifer Dell runs a voice, acting, and dance studio located
in Bedford Hills, just outside of New York City. And if that’s
not enough, her school, The
Pulse Performing Arts Studio, also has a full schedule of
dance classes, a competition
team, and several preprofessional dance companies.
Dell majored in theater at the University of Michigan and
spent time onstage in touring shows. “I’m a singer who
dances,” she says. “I wasn’t born with the body type to go the
pure dance route, so I gravitated to the dance captain
position.”
These days Dell is parlaying her unique background into a very
successful operation. The proximity to Manhattan ups the
stakes; she has some serious students who arrived with agents
in hand and careers well under way. “In this area, you need to
have strong skills in all areas,” says Dell. “The days of
being a chorus girl are over.”
The Pulse has a flexible program. If acting is all a child
wants to do, it can be arranged. The school even does a
straight play once a year, along with several musicals.
Private and group vocal classes are offered along with help
with the
busin ess
side of developing a career. Need help finding an agent? Dell
points
parents in the right direction.
So how does all this activity fit under one roof? It’s a big
roof—12,000 square feet. Dell expanded her original school
into an adjoining space,
and it now has five dance studios, a vocal studio, an acting
room, and a performance space. “I don’t do
things on a small scale,” she jokes. “I’ve modeled The Pulse
after a fully functioning
performing-arts academy.” Currently she has 26 teachers
helping her run the show: 2 for voice, 4 for acting, and 20
for dance. The voice studio is soundproof and comes complete
with a piano. The acting studio has a sprung floor and mirrors
that can be covered.
Having an in-house theater is key to the school’s success. The
shows are well attended and are a great selling point for the
school. “Kids show up to support their friends,” says Dell.
“Our enrollment goes up after a show; it’s the best
advertisement for the school.”
Dell knows that making it on Broadway is a dream for many and
a reality for few. “I know what it takes to succeed, and it
takes a 150 percent effort,” she says. She regularly brings in
professionals to speak with the kids about a career in the
industry. Whether or not her students pursue that kind of
career, Dell knows she is providing the best training she can
and that her students are having a great time in the process.
Melva Stelzer-Zavisa, owner of American Dance Academy in South
Lyon, MI, got the idea of offering musical-theater classes
when the Rockettes came to a nearby town and auditioned a
local dancer for the role
of Clara in the Christmas Spectacular. The catch: Clara
also had to sing and act. At the time, few if any studios were
offe ring
both acting and dance classes. So Stelzer-Zavisa began
offering musical-theater classes in one of her two studios,
though teachers were difficult to find. She persevered, and
today she has a strong program with two acting teachers and
two voice coaches on her faculty. She supplements her staff
with guest artists like Broadway veteran and renowned New York
City–based teacher Bobby Clark.
Stelzer-Zavisa doesn’t have a musical-theater background
herself, but she understands the benefits completely. “I found
that when the students start earlier, they are much more open
and uninhibited,” she says. “Musical-theater training gives
them a certain performance spark.”
Some of Stelzer-Zavisa’s students compete at Access Broadway,
a company whose competitions and workshops are specifically
aimed at musical theater. (More and more competition companies
now offer a musical--theater category.) To give her students
even more performing opportunities, the school owner also
regularly collaborates with local children’s theater
companies, high schools, and even marching bands, which she
says is a great way to share resources and stay connected to
the community. And she likes to go all-out for the end-of-year
show: fog machine, nice theater, an impressive budget. “We
call it a showcase, not a recital,” she says. “We incorporate
acting and singing and it’s more like a real show.”
Dance is about storytelling, even when it’s abstract, and
practicing telling those stories helps dancers learn to
communicate through movement more effectively. So whether you
want to go for the whole triple-threat package, liven up your
year-end show with a musical number, or try one musical
theater class next season, there’s a song to be sung, stories
to be told, and fun to be had. On with the show!
Photo captions (from top to bottom):
Humphreys School at Theatre Under the Stars offers two tracks
of musical-theater training. The Academy classes are by
audition only. Photo courtesy Theatre Under the Stars
Students in Broadway Arts Center’s “Triple Threat” class as
Jellicle cats from the musical Cats. Photo by Tammy Weyrich,
Stills of Life Photography
Liam Nelligan and dancers in a summer production of Songs for
a New World at The Pulse, which offers voice, acting, and
dance classes. Photo by Richard Moller
At Broadway Arts Center the storybooks come alive, with
student Emily Eager as Snow White, Kylee Clay as the Dwarf,
and Alexya Sanchez as the Witch. Photo by Tammy Weyrich,
Stills of Life Photography
Classes at the Studio at Theatre Under the Stars’ Humphreys
School of Musical Theatre are open to all students. Photo
courtesy Theatre Under the Stars
Emily Eager is a student at the 2-year-old Broadway Arts
Center in Jefferson, GA. Photo by Tammy Weyrich, Stills of
Life Photography
Send
Page To a Friend
|
