Hey all– Alta here.

I can’t believe that tonight will be my last Tech/Dress rehearsal for Starship’s The Magic Toyshop. I’m getting ready as we speak (I know it’s early, anything to avoid studying for my huge AP Economics test tomorrow…) and going through my pre-show rituals I feel as though nothing has changed. I could be eight years old right now, excitedly preparing to be a Baby Doll.

Earlier today I swung by CVS to pick up some false eyelashes for the show, and you should have seen the look on the woman’s face as I checked out. “Are you wearing false eyelashes now??” she asked. Not many people buy false eyelashes, I suppose. But that’s one of the fun parts of performing. It’s like Halloween; you get to dress up in way you never get to, and be someone you aren’t. Everyone dreams of wearing big tutu’s and dancing about en pointe, so it’s bizarre to realize that, if only for a moment, you are living what most little girls dream about.

After last Sunday’s rehearsal, I’m not quite sure what to expect tonight. Between Isaiah’s laughing and Alicia’s giggling and my own chuckles, all of which occured throughout the Sad Dance, (and Cheryl’s shouts of “Isaiah! Alicia! We don’t want a repeat of last year!! — they laughed on stage during their pas de deux last winter) we had quite a night. One always get the giggles at the worst times! Something is just irrepressibly amusing about acting sad. When you’re actually performing it’s different, for you’re so into the dance that you don’t think to laugh. But during rehearsal’s I now force myself to look at Alicia’s hair or halter straps, and at Isaiah’s hat instead of at their faces. Eye contact is a sure-fire way to start a laughing fit…

But they always say a bad tech rehearsal is a recepie for a good show, so I’m not really worried. The Magic Toyshop always seems to come together for the show somehow. Maybe it is magic afterall.

You may or may not have noticed a small sign hanging up in the corner of the studio reading, “Students must take at least three technique classes a week to perform on pointe.” While this may not seem very important, it really is. If you do not take a decent number of classes a week, you can easily become injured. This should be taken very seriously, as no one wants to be hurt. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.

Credit:

The Denise Winmill School of Dance (photo)

Alta Dupont, Lead Can-Can in 2007’s Magic Toy Shop is pictured here with Abigail Geshwind, as a baby-doll.  Abigail was also featured in 2007 as Baby Bear.

Gigi Clark performed in the Magic Toyshop show in December of 2007.  She filled each child and teen role in Magic Toyshop over the years she danced with Starship, from Baby Bear to Ballarina Doll (2007).  Here she is shown after the last show of the performance weekend with 2007’s Baby Bear, Abigail Geshwind in her first Magic Toyshop experience.  Who knows?  Maybe we’ll see Gigi back in an adult role one day?