Meet Lunaria's "Oh My Goldness" Dancers

Oh My Goldness! Coming up on April 14th, the belly dance cabaret company that I dance with, Lunaria Dance Theatre, will be producing and performing its second annual full-length cabaret show. 

Premiering once again at Hale's Palladium, this year's theme is Oh My Goldness, and boy, do we have some fun numbers in store! 

Prepare to be transported to a night spun from golden dreams, where glitter and glitz abound around every corner. Classic pinups will sizzle in the golden glow of the beach. Cleopatra and her consorts will captivate with their skill at balancing candelabras and candle trays. Dark denizens will dazzle and dominate. Sexy showgirls will drip liquid gold, while bawdy burlesque will leave nothing behind but golden delight. This show is sure to be nothing but 24-cabaret gold!

Intrigued? Then let's take a moment to meet the Lunaria company dancers! This month's post is an chance to learn a bit more about each dancer, as well as what numbers they are looking forward to the most!

For each dancer, I asked the following questions:

1.  What is the one thing that has been most challenging for you in getting ready for Oh My Goldness?

2.  What piece in Oh My Goldness are you looking forward to the most?

3. What's a little known dance fact about yourself? 

Amalia

Challenge: For this production I was given the opportunity to manage costuming. To get the look we wanted for a few of the dances, the costumes had to be constructed from scratch. I'm really enjoying designing and creating costumes, but with my limited experience in sewing, I'm discovering very quickly that I really have a lot to learn! (Comment from Alessandra: She's lying! She's great at it!)

Piece: I'm really excited about our Hey Big Spender piece. I think the 60's themed costuming, and big, fun wigs will be really entertaining. The choreography features such a contrasting spectrum of energy, from very still and intense, to wild and over the top. I think the audience will get a kick out of it.

Fact: I have a lifelong love for theater and have always wanted to get involved in the creative work that goes on behind the scenes. So while on break from our Last Lunaria production; Moon Over Manhattan, I began volunteering at Red Curtain Foundation, which is a small and fantastic community theater in Marysville. I started with set painting and assisting in the costuming department, and recently was given the opportunity to head costuming for their production of Body Awareness, which ran in January. 

Genevieve

Challenge: The most challenging thing has been pacing myself given the other things that I have going on. I just performed in Kat Welsh's Horrific 3, which required many months to get ready for; on top of having a 15-month old and two small businesses.

Piece: I'm most looking forward to seeing how my solo performance ends up looking. It is still a bit on the drawing board. Regarding group, pieces, probably Country Girl, as it takes me into new costuming and character territory.

Fact: I'm very excited for when my son turns two, because then I can take the mom-kid duet ballet classes with him at PNB!

Gevene

Challenge: The most challenging part of getting ready for Oh My Goldness has been becoming the character for each piece. This is an exciting challenge for me that I'm working on at each rehearsal. 

Piece: I am really looking forward to performing the Chair piece. I've never performed with a chair and I love the music!!

Fact: I started learning classical ballet at age seven and have loved every style of dance since then!! 

Jada

Challenge: This year has brought about a lot of change for the ladies on our team...a baby, moving, family death, relationship changes, and work crisis! Life can throw unexpected things our way that make it difficult maintain consistent rehearsing and artistic vision for the show. I'm so proud of all us for the dedication, time, and commitment we have invested.

Piece: I LOVE our Gold finale piece! It's fun, retro, and high energy. And oh, those gold costumes!!!

Fact: My new dance passion is learning how to dance with a partner. It's such a challenge learning to connect and follow a leader when you're used to directing your own movements to the music.

Mellilah

Challenge: Creating the choreography for our finale piece, Gold, has been the biggest challenge for me! I did a lot of research and rewrote parts of it several times before coming up with the finale version. Having a full-time job with a horrid commute, on top of producing, marketing, directing, and choreographing, adds a whole other challenge! I'm pretty thrilled about the dance and can't wait to share it on April 14th!

Piece: I'm really looking forward to Heatwave from the movie There's No Business Like Show Business, sung by Marilyn Monroe! It was a tough piece for me to choreograph, as the music is challenging and I had to get really creative in how to incorporate the parasols with seven dancers on a small stage! 

Fact: I was a belly dance instructor for over eight years, teaching three classes a week and running a student dance troupe before throwing in the towel to make more time for Lunaria Dance Theatre. I was also a die-hard traditionalist, preferring authentic Egyptian style belly dance over anything involving fusion. I guess I let that one go too; well kind of. I still perform often as a belly dance soloist at private parties and with the live bands in the area. 

Shannon

Challenge: Probably the biggest challenge for me in getting ready has been finding a balance to practice all our different material. We have a variety of dances, and it's easy to get stuck working on one or two "zones" and forget to spread the preparation around. Luckily, I'm feeling pretty caught up now.

Piece: There are a lot of fun, varied pieces in Oh My Goldness, so choosing one is tough! But I might be most excited to see how Blood in the Cut turns out. I'm not in this piece, but I'm loving watching how it develops. It's going to be hot! I'm also really excited for our show-opening piece, Country Girl, and the Gold finale piece. Both really different, and I think the audience will love them!

Fact: For my first year or so of bellydance classes, I never practiced outside of class (and, shockingly, didn't really get much better). But finally my teacher announced that we would be having a student recital, and the fear of public humiliation forced me to practice. Without that first recital I might not be here today!

And finally I asked myself...

Alessandra

Challenge: To echo what so many in the group have said already, the biggest challenge for me as been the time-commitment of trying to practice and perfect eight different numbers. Like most dancers in the company, I have a full-time job, as well as other family and community commitments, so it can be a real challenge to find the time to rehearse so many different pieces.

Piece: I'm really excited for Blood in the Cut. This is a piece by the singer K.Flay, who is an artist that I really love. The piece is going to be dark, sexy, and edgy. I also have to say that I'm pretty excited for my solo. I have a special surprise "trick" incorporated, plus the music selection for my solo is a very familiar piece that really touches the heartstrings for many people. So I'm hoping it's a crowd pleaser!

Fact: I love the performing arts and my life is really structured around that passion. For my day job, I'm the Controller for Seattle Theatre Group, which the non-profit that operates the Paramount, Moore, and Neptune theatres in Seattle; and produces 600+ shows a year. I'm also a board member for Velocity Dance and Sixth Day Dance. And in my free time, I love to continue with the creative theme: modeling, playing the violin, crafting, and of course, more dancing!

Ready to see our upcoming cabaret? Tickets can be purchased here. Get yours today before we sellout!