So you think you can dance?
Le Grand Continental recruiting amateur dancers for show,
“OK, from the top … and turn. And back. Arms. Drama. More drama! DRAMA!!”
It’s a snowy weeknight downtown. A smelly herd of boots is leaving cold puddles in the hallway outside an NAC rehearsal studio. Inside, about 100 people shuffle and sweat to a driving beat, while a greying, slender man in a blue sweater, hipster glasses and sock feet barks orders, loudly but kindly coaxing them into following his choreography.
But this is no company of lithe, well-trained bodies. Some, clad in tights and jazz sneakers, clearly have a serious dance background. But the rest are of all shapes, sizes, ages and occupations: government workers, grandmothers, high school students, soccer dads.
Welcome to audition night in Ottawa for Le Grand Continental.
About five years ago, Montreal choreographer Sylvain Émard — the guy in the blue sweater — wanted to create a piece that would bring contemporary dance to the masses. Inspired by the Continental, a social dance popular in Quebec in the 1960s, Émard came up with a fun, 30-minute line dance that combined both popular and theatrical idioms, set it to a catchy, eclectic soundtrack of techno, country, swing and salsa, and recruited 60 amateurs and nondancers to première it at the 2009 FTA festival in Montreal.
Part dance craze, part flashmob, part social experiment, Le Grand Continental became an unexpected hit. Émard has been invited to recreate it in New York, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon) and Mexico — in some cases with as many as 200 performers, none of them pros. This summer’s edition of the Canada Dance Festival will see the Ottawa première of Le Grand Continental, with 100 people taking part.
Each performance of Le Grand Continental begins several months prior to opening night, with informal auditions. Anybody is welcome to try out.
At the first night of the Ottawa tryouts, volunteers snapped Polaroids of each hopeful and asked them to fill out a short information sheet. They were split into groups and were taught a short excerpt from the piece, which they eventually performed to music.
For this project, enthusiasm, energy, personality and the ability and willingness to religiously attend twice-weekly rehearsals between April 22 and the June 15 and 16 performances are more important than dance experience or ability.
Still, the moves, while not at all difficult, demand a certain level of fitness, coordination and rhythmic sense.
If you think you can dance, and would like to participate in the 2013 edition of Le Grand Continental, you have one more chance to audition: Saturday, Feb. 23, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Rehearsal Hall B at the NAC (enter through the stage door).
Wear comfy clothing; no street shoes allowed.
To register or for more information, call 613-947-7000 ext. 576 or email cdffdc@nac-cna.ca.