The Top 5 Best Things About Being In the Theater

This week, the Dance Department moves into the theater as tech rehearsals for our annual Power Center show begin. These next two weeks are a time of intense rehearsals, long days, and tons of homework. Moving into the theater, though, makes everything worth it. Here’s why:

1. Feeling like a diva. It’s such a rewarding feeling when we first sit down in our assigned dressing rooms, one lightbulb lined vanity mirror per person. Seeing our names laminated and taped against the glass, switching the lights on so that they illuminate our faces. Even if it’s just for a couple weeks, getting to sit in front of those mirrors is so incredibly validating. Getting ready for the show is almost as fun as performing itself!
2. Spending hours in the theater. Technical rehearsals and cue to cue can be long and tedious, but each moment spent in the theater on the stage is a blessing. Standing at the front of the stage, looking out into an empty house, imagining the performance nights ahead. There’s something magical about just standing onstage, something that is irreplaceable.
3. Getting to hang out with your cast for hours. Because our department is so small, we are all pretty close. However, during Power tech week, we spend so much time together between technique class, rehearsal, warm-up class, getting ready for the show, and performing that it’s basically a two-week sleepover with your favorite people.
4. What we work all semester for. Even if the dance is one that we’ve rehearsed countless times, doing it in front of a sold-out house makes every movement new again. The energy is higher, each gesture more precise, the intention more clear. The high that comes from audience applause and self-pride is one that cannot be reproduced.
5. Knowing that you’ve improved. Each show comes with its own set of distinct challenges and responsibilities, and each show pushes every performer to discover something new within themselves. The knowledge that after you’ve closed a show, you’ve pushed yourself to a new place in your dancing is priceless.