Dancing a cachucha

I'm very much enjoying rehearsals for The Gondoliers: so much that I haven't had time to post all that frequently lately! Last week we learned our blocking for the first song. This number includes my solo, "For the merriest fellows are we". I start downstage (ie. front) centre, and don't move from there until I've finished my solo singing for the evening (I do have a harmony line all to myself at various places later in the show, but that doesn't count, and I'm pleased to discover that Giuseppe will be sharing it with me where possible). Unfortunately, the two days of rehearsal were the two days I was sickest with my cold, so I was not feeling particularly merry, and I gather from the directors' comments that it showed. I need to do more with my arms, and hopefully that will be easier when I can get more into the feeling of the song (eg. actually be singing, not lip synching!).

On Tuesday we had our first choreography rehearsal, for "Dance a cachucha". If you don't know this song, I recommend you check out the first two video hits on a google search. I assure you that we're going to be performing it "straighter" than either of those: no stuffed dancers or purple octopi. Learning the dance was heaps of fun. There isn't room on the stage for everyone to dance at once, so we start off with only four couples and get down to two by the end, but I'm dancing the whole time (no Xeres, Manzanilla, Montero for me - those not dancing are at the back drinking).

The dance was the type I prefer, and just as challenging as I thought it should be: we were working hard for the three hours of the rehearsal, and that was sufficient to learn it. By type, I mean that we have an assigned sequence of moves, and our job is to perform them cleanly and in time. There's no need to be creative and think of the next move (remember the next move, yes; decide what it is, no). I'm not so good at "thinking on my feet", and dancing salsa could get a little boring because I wasn't really able to string moves together as they were meant to go. It also helps that Kelsey (once the two lead men choose their brides in the first song, the rest of the men pair up with the women -well, some of them, as there are substantially more women - and I get Kelsey / Antonio gets Giulia) is well within the dancing skill range with which it is fun to dance (ie. between 75% and 400% as good at dancing as me!).

We have a practice session on Tuesday, and the challenge will be learning to sing while dancing: previously we were just dancing to the music. I suspect that will make things far more difficult. Fortunately we just have to do a bit, and let those not dancing provide the bulk of the heavy lifting in terms of articulation, etc.

On Wednesday we had another fun rehearsal, this time of the scene in the royal court of Barataria. My main role is to play chess with Rob/Giorgio. Baratarian chess has the variation that all pieces capture like checkers, with multiple captures if possible. One novelty is that I am singing while sitting, a first for me as a performer (well, everything I'm doing is a first really - Mikado was my first show, this show has my first solo, first onstage girlfriend - despite my best efforts with Tiffany in Koala Bears - first time dancing onstage, the first time I'm required to sing F above middle C... but this first seems particularly significant). Singing low is easy, but it's a challenge to sing high while sitting. This isn't the song with the F, but it has the E flat that I have to sing on my own (hopefully Giuseppe will be around and singing) that comes in an awkward sequence. Honestly, I suspect people won't notice even if I do mess it up. But I will notice!