Shoulder dancing and jazz hands are a daily occurrence “in the office” when I’m working. The photo above is a picture of “my office” – it’s the desk in my living room, but it’s quaint and I can listen to all the musicals I want to and as loud as I want to, too! I admit…I also use my phone as a microphone sometimes when I’m singing. I bet I’m not alone in this activity. You know who you are…you’re probably turning your iTunes on right now to your favourite musical soundtrack and you’re going to spin around in your chair or you’ll get up and dance that tiny bit of choreography that you still remember from the show! No one is here to see my silly dance moves or laugh when my voice cracks because I’m not properly warmed up, and I’m good with that!

Side note: Sometimes, when I’m working in a coffee shop and listening to music with my headphones in, I can’t allow myself to listen to musical music because I know my track record – bursting out singing the best part of the chorus. When you’re in public and you do just that, people give you strange looks and wonder who the weirdo in the corner is. I don’t think it’s as embarrassing to do some shoulder dancing or jazz hands in public though, so that’s usually what I resort to. I’m a theatre kid, and it’s ok if everyone knows!

Now I’m thinking about the musicals I was in, in high school! Ahh….this brings back some good memories. My school put on Guys & Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease and Footloose while I was there. Usually when I hear songs from those shows now….I. Must. Sing. I still remember the choreography to the line dance I learned to the title number in Footloose so when I go to events and that song comes on, I have to start line dancing… you guys know the feeling! You feel that you must show everyone the choreography you learned in your acting class! It’s even better when you have a group of friends who all know the same song – then all of a sudden, you’re the entertainment! Although my dancing skills aren’t the best, boy I sure can shoulder dance! Air guitar, anyone? When you get me on the dance floor, I’m the queen of “the lawnmower” and “the sprinkler”….don’t judge. Hey, I’m not ashamed. I’m a nerd and I know it.

I’m pretty sure I’ve been to see more musicals than I’ve been in (well, I’ve only actually been in 4, so I guess it’s not hard to see more than 4 musicals!). My absolute favourite musical BY FAR is Wicked. I’ve seen it twice and both times, I cried. It’s so epic and magical! The songs, costumes (ooh the sparkles!), sets, actors and choreography are all jaw-dropping-amazing. It’s the prequel to The Wizard of Oz and I’ve always loved The Wizard of Oz.

Secretly, I wish I could be on the stage with all of you guys – the students! I didn’t participate in any extra-curricular theatre programs when I was younger, so, as an adult, I just sing, I do jazz hands when I hear songs from musicals and I live vicariously through all of you! I love to see how much our students enjoy the shows they’re a part of and how the cast always forms such a close bond. I’m ever grateful that I am a small part of their experience in the productions and I love to see how much they grow from show to show and watch them shine on stage doing what they love!

Theatre kids unite!

You are a kid between the ages of 6 & 12. You may have been sitting in our audience watching one of our productions in the past and thought “MAN, I want to be on that stage”! Maybe you have been in one of our courses before… You probably LOVE Peter Pan, Willy Wonka, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and all things Dr. Seuss!

Oh my goodness….all of your hopes and dreams have come true for THIS SUMMER!!!!

I am the type of person who loves any excuse to dress up and look ridiculous if it’s all for the sake of the children, to make someone’s day or if it’s for a WEEK-LONG THEME AT SUMMER CAMP! That’s right, kids. I said it. Yes. We will be having week-long themes at Summer Theatre Camp this year.

I’m pumped. I can’t even wait to put on my southern accent for a week during “Wild Wild West” week. I have cowboy boots too. The funny thing about a Southern accent is that it’s hard to get rid of once you start doing it…and it’s a lot of fun to do as well. I’ll be teaching the kids a good ol’ Southern dialect during the week of August 12-16 in Streetsville. We’re starting to think of anything to do with the themes that we can teach at each week – OH the possibilities! Think line dancing, cowboys, damsels and tumbleweeds, kids!

Our other weeks have awesome themes too!
July 8-12  STREETSVILLE
Dr. Seuss – Oh the thinks you can think when you think about Seuss!
How exciting will it be to dabble in some poetry, learn how to rhyme in time with a lime while you climb?! We could learn our Musical Theatre number to a song from Seussical – It’s possible!

July 15-19  STREETSVILLE
Under the Sea – The World is your Oyster!
Ok – I’m finding a red wig among our plethora of wigs and I dibs Ariel. I can imagine a future blog about me routing through our costumes saying “Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat!? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?!”…but then again, the collection will never be complete!
Hey, maybe we can make underwater sea creatures out of our masks for the scene creations for improv! Kids, you can be ANY character you want! A crab, Ursula from The Little Mermaid, what about Dory from Finding Nemo or some seaweed that has some great body expression?!

July 22-26  LORNE PARK
Peter Pan, Pirates & Fairies – Learn REAL Swashbuckling at camp!
We are so excited about this week. We’re like a bunch of kids in a candy store – except that we’re on a ship!
We’re going to be teaching the campers some real SAFE stage combat at this week of camp! I need to find my pirate hat.
Yaaaaaar matey! Oh, and there may be a visit from Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

 

August 19-23  STREETSVILLE
Willy Wonka – A World of Pure Imagination!
As I am writing now, we’re in the middle of putting Willy Wonka together! We’re super excited to be bringing this theme to camp too! Imagine as many flavours of candy as you want in improv games like “Park Bench” or “Yes, Let’s!”. We may even get a visit from Mr. Wonka, himself! My personal favourite character in the Tim Burton movie is Violet Beauregarde. I love how much attitude she has and that her clothes always match her mom’s. Plus, who chews gum for 3 months straight?! Too bad she turns into a blueberry… hey…that would be an exciting improv scene!

 

August 26-30  LORNE PARK
Wild Animal Kingdom – Go Ape with Improv!
We totally have a lion mane that WILL be busted out at our last week of camp. And it will be epic. Now that I think about it, we have many costume bins full of animal bits and pieces….ohhh boy. This week is going to be one wild and furry frenzy, I can see it now! Hakuna Matata will be the moto of the week and we will exercise our vocal chords. I’m excited.

 

We’ve never done themed weeks like this at camp before – so you’re in for a real treat! I’ll keep you posted with the various outfits we come up with and the visitors we get at camp…

Here’s where I’m going to get creative every once in a while. I’m going to get creative and about some of the SUPER AWESOME things that we’re doing at Liberty Junction Theatre, and about things that we love.

This is a new venture…a new blog! There’s no fancy name (just, “Blog”) because we want to talk about all things Liberty Junction that are new, exciting and fabulous….and we want to talk about our INCREDIBLE STUDENTS!

We’re about to get creative. Get ready…

 Here’s part of our growing Creative Team!
(Cinderella, March 2013)

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