Putting It Together
I am happiest when I am Dancing and Performing. When I dance at Abilities Expo I have such joy sharing my emotions and telling a story through movement. The connection with an audience is like no other feeling I have experienced.
The Choreographer I worked with on this dance called “Fall For You” is an artist, and I am honored to work with her. Her name is Tam Warner.
The episode of Donna On The Go called Rehearsal shows how I use a scooter to get around the Abilities Expo where we work shopped this dance. I occasionally bump into things and you can see the challenges I have operating this cumbersome machine. I am 4’5” tall and approximately 90 pounds, sometimes the scooter doesn’t acknowledge my size.
Viewers of this episode get a personal view of the dancers working as a team and Tam going through details making sure our arms, spacing, choreography and emotion are fine tuned and performance ready.
As we perform on the Los Angeles Convention Center floor, with no raised dance floor and many things going on behind us, the rehearsal helps us focus on what we are about to do and how to engage the audience to focus on us. We need to be that good so the audience is not distracted on what is going on around us. Rehearsal is the time to check on how slippery the floor is and if we need to accommodate or change shoes. Scott Hislop, my dance partner, who worked on La La Land and the Oscars, had to adjust how to put me on the stool I use for the dance. I was slipping on the stool and my feet were sliding. It was decided that I would be shoeless and Scott would pick me up in such a way that I would be placed on the bench. Scott simply said “That’s what we’ll do.” I loved that! Whew, it all seemed to work, and we did it as rehearsed.
Peggy Lane filmed this glimpse of dance preparation, and amazingly timed it to the music Putting It Together. We were both so ecstatic when the arms stopped perfectly with the end note! She finished editing this completely in 2 days. It was a LOT of work getting it to time exactly with the music. The whole piece is so entertaining and should not be missed!
Enjoy!
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