Chicago the Musical’s Australian ensemble once granted Dance Life Australia an exclusive interview since apart from the singing, most of the memorable numbers in this hit musical involved dancing – a lot of dancing. And we often forget the rigorous level of preparation involved in putting up a production such as this.
Dance Life Australia managed to get insights from 3 of the members in the ensemble included in the 2009 run of Chicago the Musical in Australia. It contained mostly insights that ranged from the interesting to the motivational especially for musical enthusiasts that needed inspiration from the veterans.
Kelly Power agreed with the interviewer that for a dancer involved in mostly musicals, getting included into the Chicago ensemble is a dream come true. But it only got realized 10 years after her first audition.
The audition process for me was actually quite surreal ’cause I actually auditioned for Chicago 10 years ago when I was in Sydney. I was 18 or 19. And I actually made it right to the very end of the audition process.
Really it was a dancer’s dream, for a person in a musical theater’s dream as a dancer. So 10 years later, I was auditioning for that show that I was desperately into. This time I was like I’m on the right age. I’m more mature.
It’s very sassy and sexy and sensual but it’s wonderful. And to be here again but it was a different feeling this time because I was more mature, you know, and had more to give, more experiences in life to be able to, you know, be into the show. And the show was, well, I cried all day.
But it was fantastic. I couldn’t believe it. And now I am living the dream.
Indeed a dream come true for her that other dancers inclined towards musical theater can draw inspiration from. Then again, a solid foundation with which your dancing talent can grasp into still helps everyone that wanted to get into hit musicals such as Chicago. Another member of the ensemble, Daniel Slater, shares details in this interview as well.
I have always found that having a strong technical background is always a really important thing because it always goes back to having that ballet training, having that ballet technique.
It [ballet] was something I focused on when I went full-time. And it has always been a good grounding for me from then on. It was quite a surprise to see so many good dancers get cut right away because they were not strong enough.
You dance like you do beginner classical. People were always yes to have fun but to work on your techniques so it’s definitely worth having that technical background.
Ballet and jazz often get mentioned as solid foundations with which to base your dancing career into when aspiring for a career in musical theater. Grace and poise go hand in hand apart from knowing how to incorporate those moves into the story, something that has always been associated with ballet for decades now.
And speaking of decades, the dance captain of the 2009 Australian cast of Chicago The Musical got interviewed here at Dance Life Australia too. Caroline Kasper was already got into the musical a decade ago, something that helped to contributions she gave to the production.
[Referring to her getting included in the previous Chicago ensemble] That goes back 11 years. I was involved in the original Australian production and we toured – I did Melbourne at late Sydney – and production went on into tour and other cities and to Asia.
When we heard that this was being slated, we got a phone call … basically saying would I be interested in a dance company in this production? They did the audition process and really blessed to be onstage to play Hunyak the Hungarian as well.
The main difference in the role she took though is that she was designated as the dance captain. What does the job of a dance captain entail?
Primarily it’s about maintaining choreography … making sure that everyone is safe. Everyone is being the best that they can be.
Your primary concern is that you’re staying true to the choreography and we’re telling the story of the show. And we’re not deviating from the director because you can imagine in the long run, people grow. They get used to the movements. And they grow and it’s fabulous to watch people clamor and particularly the show where the style is so important that we need to hone it sometimes and just make sure we’re all in the same pattern.
[About meetings] Generally we try to stay on top of it. Basically we give notes stating that we will be out front. We will watch the show of people. Sometimes it’s just traffic issues. We shift slightly on stage. Everybody have trouble getting through, different traffic things, of if you start to notice that ‘Oh we’re on stage now or now watch from the side stage?’ and stuff like that. We try to keep on top of it in notes. So warm-up, we just give notes or we just grab everyone and just tidy up a few things.
Sounds pretty rigorous and technical, the kind of preparation that really shows once you see the final product. When you run 8 shows a week in Australia and there are only 7 days a week, it’s up to the ensemble to adjust themselves into the production and make it a fun romp.
Oh, the things you learn in musical theater are wonderful. They keep you inspired once the opportunity of joining a marvelous production such as Chicago the Musical comes along. So chances are once it’s your turn to go find that opportunity, you may see them here. Just clike “Like” on our official Facebook page, MusicalsOnline.com, and follow us on Twitter @musicalsnews. Thanks for reading.
