Dancing for a good cause
A fundraising show for the Arohanui Hospice sees local musical theatre superstars bringing A Chorus Line to Palmerston North for the first time. Carly Thomas had a look at a rehearsal.
Standing on a bare stage with a critical gaze angled just at you is something every actor and dancer knows well. Auditions are an odd thing, a heart-pumping, anxietyinducing moment of all or nothing.
And in A Chorus Line the audition gets personal. As the dancers are whittled down, the questions get more pertinent. Who are they?
It’s unnerving. It’s not what they are used to – as a chorus line they are trained in uniformity. But here they are in the spotlight, being asked to be themselves and they do, because they want that part.
Sixteen dancers start to open up and through the probing questions put to them by the director, the audience gets to see behind the curtains.
It’s something seasoned dancer Paula Fredericks says she relates to.
‘‘When you are asked to talk about yourself you just think ‘oh my god’. Don’t make me talk. Let me dance.’’
Fredericks and her best friend and fellow dancer Cara Hesselin have been in so many Palmerston North shows that they say they often see strangers looking at them thinking ‘‘do I know you’’? Fredericks says A Chorus Line is like their life.
They are pros that don’t get paid, but they love it. They are completely addicted and the fact the show is to raise money for the Arohanui Hospice makes it all worthwhile, says Hesselin.
‘‘That’s the main reason why we are doing it. We really want to make this great to support the hospice. That’s what we think of when we get a bit tired in rehearsal and we want to go home.’’
They talk about ‘‘we’’ a lot. Being in shows has taught these two about being a collective, working towards something together. It’s where they became best friends and it’s where they fell into their ‘‘theatre family’’. And being able to work with those they are close to for a good cause makes the hard work worthwhile.
Fredericks says she was grateful when the hospice helped her grandparents and choreographer and director Dean Mckerras says he is also grateful for the services the hospice provided for his dad. ‘‘At the end of the day, we’ve all got stories that relate to hospice – a friend, or a family member – we all have a connection somewhere along the line.’’ It’s a big cast with all sorts of ages in there. They have been dedicating their weekends to the show and the youngest members Diego Ramos, 13, and Noah Purcell, 12, both say it’s exciting being in something this big. Diego spends most waking hours, apart from school, dancing, so a bit extra is all good with him, he says. ‘‘It’s cool dancing with the older ones. I just love to dance. I always used to dance in front of the TV, so my mum signed me up for dancing.’’
A Chorus Line has never been staged in Palmerston North and Mckerras puts that down to the fact it needs a big and talented cast.
‘‘This production is a triple threat. They have to dance, sing and act, and it’s really rare to be able to cast it. So the fact that we have an all local cast is a credit to the talent we have here in town. It’s been developed through all the secondary school musicals that are being put on and the local theatre societies. This is another opportunity for that talent to shine.’’
And a chance for the audience to see a real life glimpse into what happens on the audition stage and in the rehearsal rooms when the lights go down. Mckerras says it’s like ‘‘reality TV. You get to really look at the characters and everyone will relate to something’’. And right now what is happening at the rehearsal will be emulated on the stage.
People come and go in between numbers. A cluster of dancers in their teens talk animatedly about a computer game, the younger ones drawn into the chatter.
Hesselin gets a back rub that looks kind of painful and Fredericks stretches her oddly socked feet and looks exhausted.
But ask them if they love it and not a single one says no. This cluster of individuals has found common ground somewhere between the glare of the spotlight and the hidden spaces of the backstage shadows.
‘‘We really want to make this great to support the hospice. That’s what we think of when we get a bit tired in rehearsal and we want to go home.’’ Cara Hesselin
A Chorus Line will open at Palmerston North’s Regent on Broadway on April 19 and run until April 23..