Moving in New Family Directions

Anabelle is two years out of High School, but I still have the privilege to help the Danceworks Moving Company bring joy to those who can't get out to find it on their own. This is because both nieces are in the Senior Company (Aah! how did that happen), my sister is an employee, and now my nephew is in the Junior Company. When certificates were handed out, Miss Chris made a cool nod that he's the first ever male dancer in Moving Company and a trailblazer. The rest of the Company erupted in cheers because Miss Chris is awesome and fosters incredible bonds between the dancers.

Plus, I do this because getting flowers and a card signed by all the dancers just for helping them spread much happiness to those who really need it never gets old.

This year started with the traditional Farmer's Market show in November. Tradition continued as there was a record breaking cold snap. Some of the younger kids couldn't stop shivering when the show was finished. Yet, they all still impressively competed the performance. The mystery of who the sweatpants belonged to that were used to heat up one of the shaking little ones remained unsolved past the end of the season.

I missed that show, something I almost never do. The reason is contained in this extended...

 Aside-

We received a frantic call from Anabelle about five minutes after Kim dropped off my cool, monogramed Moving Company shirt the night before the Market show. (Another reason to continue doing this. One can never have too many cool t-shirts.

"YES ONE CAN!" - Rosa)  

The Villanova tap group had a trip into Radio City to see the Christmas Spectacular. They returned to the bus stop while the bus was still waiting. Since they were before departure time, but later than the "be here 15 minutes before" instruction (which is part of every appointment in the universe at this point, and ignored by almost everyone), the driver took a "not my problem" attitude, shut the bus door in their faces and drove off with all of their seats empty.

Since the company maintained a stance of "their word against ours" and did nothing to address this issue, I would like to point out it was the Megabus company, owned by CoachUSA. Please tell everyone in the known universe how much they suck.

Luckily, those with medical needs and those who had to return the rented vans that took the dancers from Villanova to the Megabus terminal were able to use their tickets to squeeze on the limited spaces of final busses for the night. The rest of the gang ran to Port Authority, where there were no more trains for Philly that evening. One group went to homes in Long Island or other nearby places. I jumped in the car, because I do not begin having my weekend drink until I know Anabelle is safely in her dorm at night. 

The beauty of paranoia is you only have to be right once for it to be worth it. 

Rosa used at least three devices to act as coordinator, and relay information to both Anabelle and I, while tracking our positions to guide me to their location. 

I got them, and crossed our home state to get them back to Villanova. Then we dropped the three people off who stayed in the City with her, and to avoid waking her roommates at Three AM, we crashed in a hotel. (In a suite no less, because when Rosa called to confirm the room she booked for us on line she was told there wasn't one, and with a bit of anger, worked out a deal. It was that kind of night.) I came home the next day well after the Moving Company performance.

With that ranting aside over (Megabus sucks!!!!) back to this season of Moving Company.

Because the audiences are very high risk, Covid and Flu still closed down the places they live sometimes, leading to a shortened season. Also, because of those reasons, the dancers all performed masked in every venue like that they visited, without a single complaint that it was hard to breathe...unlike some wimpy football players I could mention. 

The singers have not returned, meaning there remain some fill in songs for quick changes. During set up for the one pre-Christmas show, we learned a fun fact. Music came belting out while I was still going over the wire connections. I double checked the little pink iPod, and finally unplugged the powerful Bose speaker the music normally blasts out of to no avail. The tune was pouring out of "Roland" the trusty microphone speaker that also comes to the shows. Somehow, Christine's phone magically Bluetooth connected to it while working on back stage warm ups. This little factoid was massively important to have when the same thing occurred with what the kids call "a banger" from her phone during a quiet ballet number, allowing us to rectify the issue quickly.

As usual, the dancers adapted amazingly well to the constrained spaces. Also as usual (or as often anyway) my location to play the music was wedged in to the side of the stage. Aurora kicked Roland's handle in an early number, inciting me to slide him under some nearby furniture for that show and future ones.

Due to these odd layouts, there's normally a moment once a show when the dancers are squeezing into the "wings" where I am when one will awkwardly make eye contact with me. I always try to look away immediately, especially if it is a relative. No sense both of us cracking up on stage.

Again, due to closures there was an extended break after Christmas before the shows started up again. Due to their training, the dancers were able to quickly adapt to the oddly shaped spaces as soon as they returned. Granted, their definition of adapting is coupled with high levels of professionalism. The entire En Pointe line of Swan Lake bounced off the back wall. (In unison no less.) Not one of them flinched and no one in the audience noticed. It is a testament to their abilities that the lighter member of the Senior Company who got "crowd surfed" above her fellow dancers in one routine never ended up bursting through a drop ceiling or hanging from a chandelier.

A new location was a show for a home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. This was one of the few places with a stage...which they neglected to clean. Therefore, the dancing was done on the floor in front of it, except for the tap number that took place up in front of the curtain. (Adapt!)

The residents were absolutely thrilled to have visiting entertainment for the first time in three years. Even the people who had to watch it piped into their rooms with no sound passed along compliments of how impressive it was. The Nuns were also very happy that, unlike the local dancing school they took the residents to see, Danceworks has class and did not wear skimpy two piece outfits. 

Morgan is likely also thrilled by this fact.

Not only did the dancers bring happiness there through their art, they also brought enough donations there to cover a huge table. 

I can never heap enough praise on the understanding and empathetic mind set that Christine and Danceworks fosters. 

The final weekend contained three shows, starting off in an assisted living space area that required adaptation yet again.  A couple of Junior Company members were missing, and the Senior Company (including my nieces - Aah! how did that happen), as always, took the lead in helping them choreograph around the missing members and weird shaped space. Due to vaccine age restrictions last year, it was the first time in Moving Company for the ENTIRE Junior group. They did fantastically, helped along by the older dancers, with Seniors Arianna, Lily and Miranda taking pointe. (Ha ha! I am hilarious!)

The dancers entered from the opposite side of the room than they used to this year which worked better for everyone, and I'm not just saying that because I got to set up the music on a shelf I could stand next to, instead of squatting to hide behind several fake plants.

The tap dancers came to the door and stared at me like I was an idiot. 

This is because... 

I am an idiot.

They were the only dance that entered to the music rather than starting in position. They did this in every show I played the music for. 

I knew this fact... 

Except for this night.

Perhaps I was distracted trying to figure out why the shelf I was leaning on had no evidence of other food, except for a one gallon Ziploc bag filled with Tartar Sauce packets.

Assisted living folks aren't the most reactive of audiences, but you can see from the twinkle in many of their eyes how much the show meant to them.

The unassisted living space next door is always reached via a mad dash run up the block. This night was worse as they shortened the time between performances. As a back up precaution I had my juggling bean bags in my coat pocket to conduct an emergency stall.

I should have known better. The Danceworks crew pulled everything together and was ready to go on time. The same woman introduces them every year they perform in this location. She always gets really worked up about doing the introduction, then sends for technical help as their house wireless microphone battery is dead. Once it is replaced, she reads the back of the program in a way that sounds like she has never heard of Danceworks before. That content also copies almost exactly what the company members say who introduce the show. 

Traditions are important.

While this place does have a stage, it is a tiny one. The dancers admitted they were terrified of falling off throughout most of their numbers. Due to their constant professionalism, the audience had no idea.

I was having my own moments for this show, being out of practice after a year off, and last year being kinda weird and in a different room. For the double show, in the past I would bring a charger cable and plug in the little pink iPod while setting everything up to give it a boost. I forgot, leading to some frantic texts to Kim backstage asking about the back up player. Luckily, even after the run through the cold, which always drains the charge, it kept a sliver of power all the way until the end. (I did skip one of the quick change songs, leading to an awkward staring contest between me and the audience before the beautiful senior dance performance.) My texts asking for the back up were not noticed, because they were buried in a flood of texts indicating I could not see the side of the stage where the tap dancers entered. My idiot moment in the previous show had made me sensitive to this. Fortunately, a voice from the heavens (or perhaps back stage) came out of nowhere to let me know "They're ready."

The final show, on a full sized school stage, was teaming up with the Girl Scouts for the local food bank. This one unmasked performance was likely their best with a decent amount of space and after doing all the other shows. (I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing prepares one for live performing like live performing.) For a nice change of pace, this show was the one that got filmed. 

They filled up over 125 seats, and four large two and three level carts (plus several more bags) with donations that came in for the food pantry.

Christine and Danceworks setting out to prove, "You're never too young to make a difference," is a beautiful thing. 

After the show, the costume return and cast party happened at Danceworks. 

Watching the video of the show is always special for the dancers. 

It is also special for us adults to watch how much they enjoy cheering for and supporting each other.

Then came the highlight of the dancers supporting each other, where any dancer NOT in that number tries to perform it as they run through the whole show. 

It was clear that there were some Junior Company members who had been watching their elders the entire season with the goal of impressing them at the wrap party. The cheers they got were ridiculously sweet.

It was also clear that the Senior Company members have the ability to pick up choreography insanely quickly, but sometimes get a bigger charge out of goofing around to the shouts and groans of the younger members.

Miss Marissa was over on the side, joining in on almost every dance. At one point during a Junior Company number she had choreographed, one of the kids yelled out, 

"Don't you know your own dance?"

And with the comedy timing she demonstrated in high school plays, 

after pausing for the perfect amount of time yelled back, 

"NOPE!"

Miss Chris began dancing along to several of them, and Miss Luke joined in for the tap dance. 

Dance is in these people's blood and they cannot help but participate. It is a state of mind and evidence of being really alive that I greatly envy.

As the finale was coming closer the dancers were pointing out that they all were in that number. Therefore, they believed that we adult helpers should have to attempt performing it. 

(The suggestion that it be a duet of only Mr. Carl and I demonstrated Mr. Carl understands these situations far better than me by shooting it down before I could form a syllable.)

My nieces were very keen on my trying the theoretically basic routine. When they tried to get Morgan on board by asking, "Don't you think Uncle Jeff should dance?" He quickly answered, 

"No."

What a good boy. 

It was an infectious moment, and I still had my bean bags in my coat from the other night. 

So I juggled instead, because my feet lock in place  to stabilize the pattern when a tune starts. That's how I react to music. 

Kim thanked Raquel for joining her, the Dancers and the teachers in doing the dance, who replied that she'd seen it so many times she knew it well.

I answered, "Must be nice to have a part of your brain that remembers choreography...

Three years of ballroom dance lessons and all I remember is there was a lot of counting, but without the numbers one and five for some reason."

Before one more amazing season of bringing joy to people is in the books, I need to make a confession and clarification.

In Christine's always amazing end of the year thank you email, she mention I had graduated to "Dance Uncle."

She also stated about my playing the music, "This is another job I was happy to hand off to a cool, collected dad who does not panic. "

Au Contraire, mon frer.

With these dancers giving their all to display an outstanding amount of talent and bring such happiness to people in true need of it, I am in a CONSTANT STATE OF PANIC throughout every show.

However, I am a highly functional panicker.  

And I think stress may be aerobic.