Point Park dancers ready to make debut in new theater
How do you build a show for a brand new theater? With an allstar group of choreographers, hard-working dancers, hours of rehearsals and a few prayers, of course.
That is what’s been unfolding in rehearsal studios inside Point Park University’s GRW Dance Complex in recent weeks as its Conservatory Dance Company prepares for its “Winter Dance Concert.” The show, which opens Friday and runs through Dec. 16, will be the first full-fledged production by any Point Park company on the PNC Theatre stage in the new Pittsburgh Playhouse.
The venue at 350 Forbes Ave., Downtown, officially opened in October with a dedication ceremony and a ticketed gala. The Conservatory Theatre Company christened the Highmark and Rauh theaters inside the Pittsburgh Playhouse with performances earlier this fall.
“We wanted to open it up with as big of a splash as we could, and we wanted to showcase the theater,” said Ron Lindblom, artistic director of Point Park’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and the Pittsburgh Playhouse. “I thought it would be particularly appropriate for the first official production [in the PNC Theatre] to have the dance company open it with a big dance show.”
The PNC Theatre has 550 seats and backstage “just about every kind of rigging that a student would encounter in the real world,” Mr. Lindblom said.
Dance department chair Garfield Lemonius worked to create a mixed repertory program that would impress and appeal to audiences and student dancers. He started by brainstorming with
other dance faculty members to come up with a list of choreographers, which was then narrowed based on their availability.
The result is a two-act program with works by Edwaard Liang, artistic director of BalletMet Columbus; Aszure Barton, founder/director of international dance project Aszure Barton & Artists; Tyce Diorio, guest judge and choreographer for the TV dance series “So You Think You Can Dance”; and Nacho Duato, artistic director for Staatsballett Berlin in Germany and resident choreographer at Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“We pulled the right individuals who we knew would create something magical in the space,” Mr. Lemonius said, adding that the program has an arc and “captivates the audiences and takes them on a journey.”
For student dancers, the “Winter Dance Concert” is a chance to collaborate with choreographers who primarily work with professional artists. In fact, Point Park is the first university permitted to dance a work by Mr. Duato, a famed Spanish choreographer, according to Mr. Lemonius.
Mr. Diorio — who’s choreographed and performed for Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin — said he was impressed by the caliber of Point Park’s dance program, which was ranked No. 5 on OnStage Blog’s yearly list of top 25 college dance programs in the country.
“The dancers and I bonded and connected quickly. They are super good,” he said before a recent rehearsal.
He choreographed an 11minute piece for 19 dancers that explores what silent film star Charlie Chaplin might be like today. “Usually I’m fulfilling the vision of something or someone else or creating for a producer or a network. This was something I created — the music, the look, production values, all of that. That’s what sparked my interest.”
Having a mix of choreographers is key to bringing a broader audience to the new Pittsburgh Playhouse, Mr. Lemonius said.
“Tyce has a celebrity status with ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and in terms of dance he’s a household name. That shows that we’re being current. Then, once we get [audiences] through the door, we can expose them to other aspects of dance and other people who make the profession what it is today.”
Despite these thoughtful preparations, there’s still pressure that comes with staging a show in a new venue.
“In that old playhouse [in Oakland] we knew exactly all of the eccentricities. That playhouse was held together with duct tape and determination,” Mr. Lindblom said. “It’s going to take us a good year to two years to really grow into this and have that kind of understanding of this facility.”
Nerves aside, the Conservatory Dance Company’s debut in the venue is a chance to be part of Point Park’s next chapter.
“There’s an added excitement,” said junior dance major Shawn Cusseaux, 20, of St. Petersburg, Fla. “Dancing in the new playhouse, we’re in the making of history. We’re setting a new bar for dance in Pittsburgh and at the collegiate level. It’s the opening of a new era.”
Tickets for Point Park’s “Winter Dance Concert” are $20-$24. Performances are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Dec. 7-16. Information: pittsburghplayhouse.com or 412-392-8000.