Literally Dancing
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I went to watch a production “Literally Dancing”, which was show in the Jackson Theatre at the Gary Soren Smith Center. At the beginning of the show the big red curtains were opening up and a screen flashed the different types of dances and the title “Literally Dancing” appeared. It was emphasized so people would get an idea of the theme of the production and also know the different names of the dances that was about to be performed.
When the performance started, different dances interpreted the story. The costumes, lightings, songs and the projected images gave the audience a better sense of what was going on and made it more realistic. There was a dancer on the side who narrated the plot of the story as a series of dance would be based on. As the play went along, I realized that the story was told through the lyrics of the songs and the dances. When either the character or the plot was having a happy moment, the songs were at a faster tempo and the dancers were cheerful and lively. During the sad scene, the music tends to slow down more and the dancers expressions also made it clear that they were sad. When it was the newspaper suite, the tempo and the beat of the music and tap dancers brought the crowd to live as it was not as boring. As for the fairytale scene, the battle music was loud. When the princess was saved, the music was joyful and peaceful.
Three different suites were showcased during this production. The first was the Diary, then the newspaper and followed by the fairytale. The newspaper suite was my favorite out of the three as there was tap dancing and break dancing. I have never seen tap dancing before and I really enjoyed it. The black and white images were shown on the screen and smoke was all over the stage and the tap dancers on stage selling newspapers caught the attention of the audience. I thought that the director did a good job showcasing the talents of the students and the costumes were colorful and it fit the theme. It also matched the style of the music. During the first suite, costumes were more scandalous but as for the second suite. Tap dancers were in checkered pants and the whole black and white theme suited the scene.
I went without having a high expectation as it was a school production but I hoped it was good as I did not want to sit there watching by myself and not enjoy it. It was not an amazing production but it was not a bad production