Their lives in dance
The concert portrays women's experiences, and 'a moment of hope'
Freshman Paige Tomala sat in the wings of the stage, watching as her fellow dancers lined up for the last song of this year's University Theater Dance Company Concert. Onstage, a single spotlight haloed tap dancer Olivia Verdusco, before broadening to reveal the line of dancers in brightly-colored dresses behind her.
Dancers separated and flowed across the stage, as a warm pink light shone around them.
In the wings, Tomala watched her fellow dancers. She concentrated on counting down to her entrance onstage.
Tomala danced in the final song of this year’s Concert: a fifteen-minute jazz piece, titled "On the Record."
The piece had four songs: "The Bannered Mare" arranged by Jeremy Soule, "Segundo" by Pink Martini, "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield and "The Song is You" by Beegie Adair.
“A big part of that dance was bringing the joy after all the heavy pieces we had before,” Tomala said. She said the last song was about “positivity, lifting up each other, and acceptance.” Eleven dancers in brightly-colored clothes smiled as lighting changed to warm pinks and yellows around them.
The second song in the concert was about women's experiences in a Lunatic Asylum. Following songs were interpretive, and the concert ended with a 15-minute piece choreograhed by Heather Trommer-Beardslee.
The Concert was staged April 18 through 21 in the Bush Theatre.
Tomala's first dance
Looking back on her lifetime in dance, Tomala reflected on her earliest performance as a dancer, and found humor in previous performances.
She started dancing when she was 2 years old and went to Mary Ellen studio in St. Clair Shores as a child. She did all sorts of styles: jazz, tap, lyrical and contemporary.
Tomala also taught at the Studio and was in several musicals in high school.
“I have a whole lot of dance experience, not even just dance but performance experience in general, doing this since I was 2," Tomala said. "My first dance went great.”
During her second dance ever, Tomala said she spent the entire show waving at the audience.
“I knew my parents were in there somewhere,” Tomala said. “And I was like, ‘I forgot to say hi to them in my first dance that night,’ and I wanted to get the chance to make sure that they knew I was saying ‘hi’ to them. And so, I spent the entire dance -- I kid you not -- waving at the audience.
“And I did a single hip shake, like I was supposed to, and I went back to waving. And you know what? Performance. I made those waves look great even if it was not the choreography.”
As an adult, watching videos of performing at that time, Tomala said it feels surreal.
“It was also funny," Tomala said. "I get to look back at bad, bad performances and laugh at those too, and maybe feel a little hint -- or a lot -- of embarrassment. But you know, mostly try to look back at it through a new lens, older perspective of, ‘Well, that was something that happened.’"
Tomala said that the biggest challenge of moving from high school and Mary Ellen Studio to a minor in Central Michigan University’s school of dance was adapting to the choreography of Trommer-Beardslee, with whom she first worked in this year’s “Cabaret.”
The director has a very “expressive” style, Tomala said. The challenge was breaking old habits and moving to fit her descriptions.
Tomala said that Trommer-Beardslee gave dancers a lot of space for individuality. Instead of conforming to the dance, as Tomala had experienced before, she favored “putting yourself into the dance.”
There were some challenges dancing for this show. The main one was endurance, Tomala said.
The final dance is a 15-minute routine, and even without many leaps, it was “still straight cardio.”
So she said that the greatest challenge was, “keeping the energy up from beginning to end” and “not letting it show that you are dying on the inside.”
In fact, one of the critiques from Trommer-Beardslee during rehearsals was, “You look so tired.”
Working on the show
Two hours before opening night, Tomala said she called Trommer-Beardslee and asked for help with a personal problem that would affect the show. Her response was “All right, I’ll get it fixed.”
“She comes off so strongly, but I promise you she is also one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet,” Tomala said.
Tomala said she had rehearsals on Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m, and Thursday from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The final rehearsal for the Concert was “awful,” she said.
“Last rehearsal, right before opening night for this performance, this entire show was being recorded, it was being photographed. … We’re doing the dance. And ... I tell you this is the worst I have ever done the dance in my entire life."
Tomala said she was in line doing the dance, then accidentally started leaving the line eight counts of music earlier than her choreography.
“I didn’t mean to, but I ended up looking Heather [the choreographer] directly in the eyes, and that’s the moment I knew, ‘Oh, oh this could not have gone worse," Tomala said. "And again, this is being recorded. This is the version of this show that is going to exist for eternity, and it has me leaving this straight line a full eight-count early.”
But then after what she called an "abysmal run" came opening night, which Tomala said went great.
“Looking back on these things is just a part of being a dancer, seeing how you’ve grown, even if it was two days ago, you know?”
As a music theater major, Tomala said she gets to combine the three areas of her life that she loves the most: singing, acting and dancing.
“Being an artsy person is very odd because you never grow out of it,” Tomala said. “Every time you say it’s not good enough you’re tearing down someone who is that and lives that.
“Acting, singing -- It’s who I am, even if it's a little strange sometimes.”
The second song of the concert, “It all started with good intentions: 86 Reasons,” was choreographed by two directors. Keeley Stanley-Bohn and Trommer-Beardslee both talked with the artist Kimberle Chapman, who wrote “Eighty-Six Reasons for Asylum Admission.” The song focused on women’s experiences at West Virginia’s Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
Trommer-Beardslee also choreographed the last song in the concert. Three students each choreographed a song for the concert: Rhiannon Seiser, Olivia Verdusco and Isabella Silos. Trommer-Beardslee said that students from the Department of Theater and Dance participated in rehearsals outside of classes so they could perform in the show.
Students also designed costumes and some of the lighting. They worked with faculty members Paul Collins and Ann Dasen.
The faculty choreographers are James Wallace, Stanley-Bohn, and Trommer-Beardslee, according to an email from Trommer-Beardslee.
