Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for – opening night of In the Heights in Denver!  This winner of four 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical is a sensational new show about chasing your dreams and finding your true home. 

 

This first video features footage of the In the Heights touring cast in rehearsal. These are the folks we’ll see in Denver tomorrow night:

 

Next video, the title song performed on Broadway by the show’s creator and star, Lin Manuel-Miranda:

 

And finally, the sweet music video announcing the In the Heights tour:

In the Heights plays in The Buell Theatre April 28 through May 9.  Don’t miss it!

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Originally from Mililani, Hawaii, Colorado State,  University grad Christina Black has joined up with the national touring production of In The Heights, bound for Denver.  This innovative new musical that has met with endless critical and audience acclaim on Broadway and across the country, presents a unique opportunity for a modern dance pro like Black.  We caught up with Christina while she was in Boston recently, before the cast continued on to a stint in Florida.

Tell us a bit about your dance and theatre training.

I found dance at the age of 12 and after that I couldn’t stop. I trained with 24-VII Danceforce under Marcelo Pacleb for about 5 years. I learned everything from ballet to contemporary to hip-hop. I continued my training in contemporary with The Schiff Dance Collective in Boulder, CO and I also joined a hip-hop company, True II Form (Kevin O’Keefe, Boulder, CO), which taught me the fundamentals of breaking, popping and locking.  Upon my arrival to New York I soaked up as much as I could. I took classes at Steps on Broadway, DNA, Peridance, Studio MMAC and I joined the Broadway Dance Center work-study program to earn discounted classes. I was taught to go to every audition and every class possible; you never know who will be there and it may open up opportunities for other jobs. I embraced that idea and was invited to join dre.dance (New York based contemporary company) after I took a class from the artistic director, Andrew Palermo.

I have no formal theatre training, but I took acting classes from Deborah Carlson (Word of Mouth Studios) where I learned the basics of acting. I loved her classes because they were small and personalized. Prior to the In The Heights final audition, I began taking voice lessons to prepare myself. Depending on which direction you want to take your career, being a versatile dancer is important, but being a versatile performer is equal if not more valuable.

How did you get cast in In The Heights?

The first time I auditioned was October 2008.  I have to admit that the only thing I knew about In The Heights was that it won 8 Tony Awards…I recommend doing a bit more homework before auditions. After learning the first piece of choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler (which was to the number “Benny’s Dispatch”), I knew that I wanted to be in this show. I went home and prepared myself for the callbacks. I looked at the website, found video clips on YouTube and desperately tried to prepare a song.

Unfortunately, I didn’t book anything from that open call, nor the next one in January 2009.  However, I made an impression on Andy, because he contacted me directly to do prep work for another project he was working on. Two months later my agent called me for a closed two-day In The Heights audition in May 2009. That audition ended up being one of the most intense auditions I’ve been on. The first day we learned all the big ensemble numbers of the show and danced full out from 10am to 6pm.

The second day we learned even more choreography, sang and read sides [scenes from the show]. I was so fried from the audition process that I could barely concentrate on prep work with Andy later that afternoon. Little did I know that he was hiding the big news from me…my agent called me that evening to tell me I booked the job!

What makes In The Heights so special and why people should see it?

In The Heights is a story about love, loss, hope, community, pride and most importantly, family. There is at least one situation or character that mirrors something or someone in your life. Audiences easily identify with the show because the lead character, Usnavi, who was raised by his grandmother, is your best friend. Nina, the girl who finally broke the mold and went off to college is your sister. And Daniela, the salon shop owner who loves to gossip, is your Aunt. Not only are the heartfelt music, the seamless choreography, and the intertwined storylines of the neighborhood amazing, but you can’t see this show without having the urge to dance and sing and call your mother all at the same time.

How would you describe the style of choreography in In The Heights?  Did your hip hop background prepare you for Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography?

The show is infused with hip-hop, salsa, a bit of contemporary, plus a tap step thrown into the mix. The great thing about Andy is that he himself has a versatile background in dance and theatre so his choreography embodies all of it. He is very specific about what he wants and he can give you a detailed story to embrace the feeling behind the movement. My dance background prepared me for Andy’s choreography, as well as helping me understand body placement and the meaning of the moment.

How is life on the road?

Life on the road is what the cast likes to call “not real life.” Moving from city to city – especially if we’re there only a week – makes it extremely difficult to get settled. I absolutely have to unpack the first day because I want to feel like I’m living out of my room not my suitcase. On the complete flip side, traveling can be absolutely amazing. We’re currently in Boston and although it’s cold, it’s gorgeous! I’ve always wanted to visit Chicago and Boston and now I’m getting paid to do so! I’m drawn to the bigger cities, cities that have a history to them and also cities with unique architecture. Also, some of my extended family members who have never seen me dance before will get a chance to see the show because I’m coming to their hometown, and that’s something that is priceless in itself.

What is your average schedule in a given week?

My schedule is not nearly as bad as those who are understudies; actually it’s pretty great. It’s a normal Broadway schedule (one show a day Tuesday-Friday and two shows on Saturday and Sunday), but it gives me the chance to explore every city during the day. It’s cold now but once we get to Florida, you will find me on the beach every single day!

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Dan Sullivan, a frequent contributor to the Denver Center’s Applause Magazine, has written a preview on just what makes In the Heights so special.  You can read the full article in our program, but here’s an excerpt:

 

[The phenomenal success of In the Heights] may be a little more than the show’s composer-lyricist, Lin-Manuel Miranda, had dared to hope for when he started writing the show in college. Neither, though, could he have imagined how labor-intensive the project would be. Being an actor, Miranda’s goal was to “write the kind of show I’d like to be in.” A natural setting would be the neighborhood where he grew up and still lived, Washington Heights. Eight years later In the Heights—starring Lin-Manuel Miranda as Usnavi (Kyle Beltran heads the national touring company)—finally reached Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

 

The real Washington Heights has traditionally been a “neighborhood in transition,” from Irish to Jewish to Hispanic to, in our day, gentrification. In the show, though, almost everyone’s Latino. Nina, home from Stanford for the summer, and maybe forever, is Puerto Rican. Usnavi was born in the Dominican Republic and longs to go back. Claudia, Usnavi’s surrogate abuela (grandma), remembers being a girl in Havana 50 years ago—not a happy memory, but it was nice to feel hope. Vanessa works at the beauty shop—for the moment. Next stop: downtown.

 

We get glimpses of everybody’s story, but Usnavi holds center stage, not out of arrogance (he’s too shy to date Vanessa), but because he’s the show’s caregiver as well as its caretaker, a big brother unconnected by blood to his pseudo-familia but responsible for everybody at considerable cost to his nerves.

 

It’s not just the show’s dance beat that he jumps to. He’s neurologically driven to help out his neighbors and to help the audience understand what’s going on. He does this in his native tongue: rap; the most elegant rap you’ve ever heard. Listen to his underthoughts as he makes change for the customers in his corner bodega:

 

You do rapid mathematics

Automatically

Selling maxipads and fuzzy

Dice for taxicabs and

Practically

Everybody’s stressed, yes, but

They press through the mess

Bounce checks and wonder

What’s next…

 

Print alone can’t register the exuberance of this. Wouldn’t it be funny if the American theatre’s long search for viable modern verse drama had finally discovered its proper metric base? And think of what it could do for opera! Visually and sonically then, In the Heights reflects the real Washington Heights or a slice of it. Miranda and his librettist, Quiara Alegria Hudes, show us the neighborhood as one might remember it ten or 15 years later, not as a TV camera would see it, but as it felt on a sizzling afternoon in July, with everyone out on the street and a radio blaring on every windowsill. It’s a moment in time and everybody knows it’s not going to last. Local businesses are going under, people are moving up and out. So, enjoy. It’s a carnaval under threat, but happily the show doesn’t overpaint the neighborhood’s dark side. The dialogue is salty enough, the dance moves tough enough to show that you have to be street smart to survive here. Having established that, the show foregoes the violence that we’ve unfortunately come to expect in barrio stories.

 

This was a deliberate choice. “People always ask, ‘Why aren’t there more drugs and crime in the show?’” Miranda told The Boston Globe as the musical went on the road last fall. “That’s because the only time they hear Washington Heights is on the radio. But that’s not specific to my neighborhood. And it wasn’t my experience. The only things I know about drug-dealing are from rap music. I’d be writing a fiction if I tried to make my show about that.

 

“I wanted to represent a side of life that’s largely unrepresented. Which is not the dude selling drugs or hanging out on the corner, but the guy who owns the small business on the corner. The dude on the street corner is still there. But we’re gonna tell this other guy’s story.” Miranda is paying tribute to the people he grew up with, not as they were at every moment, but at their best—loving, staunch, principled. That definitely includes the mothers and fathers. “What are my parents gonna say” is a serious question in this show; and the parents have plenty to say. If this contributes to our sense that we’re on a slight time-delay, it also reminds us of how little we know about immigrant families. Respectability is a major goal in this ’hood and it’s not linked with hypocrisy. Try dignity.

 

What it adds up to is the American musical at its best, a beautifully crafted show with a dozen influences (West Side Story, Rent, Hair, even, Fiddler on the Roof) that is never anything less than itself.

 

Watch IN THE HEIGHTS videos on the show’s YouTube Channel.

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This weekend we will be at the Denver Dance Festival promoting In the Heights, which will play The Buell Theatre April 28-May 9. The Denver Dance Festival is a three-day dance festival held annually in Denver featuring live performances from some of Denver’s best dance talent. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to reach out to a community that may not know that not all musicals are jazz hands and kick lines. 

 

In The Heights tells the story of a vibrant community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.

 

Propelled by the rhythms of hip hop and Latin music – uncommon sounds in musical theatre – In The Heights ’ invigorating beat belies a musical steeped in Broadway tradition.  Plus it won four Tony Awards in 2008 for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Orchestration and, more importantly for this weekend, BEST CHOREOGRAPHY! Catch a glimpse of the dancing in this video of the song “96,000″:

 

We took some time to chat with Denver Dance Festival’s creators and directors Sarah Schachterle and Ken Jiminez about the Denver Dance Festival (DDF) and how it connects with In The Heights.

 

Denver Center: What made you start DDF?

 

Sarah & Ken: We wanted to display the talent of Colorado choreographers and dance companies and give them an avenue to unite with other artists and expose the greater community to the abundance of talent in the area. We wanted to gain recognition and popularity in dance within Colorado and to be known throughout the country as an up and coming prestigious dance festival offering a world-class dance experience. We wanted to include the most accomplished local and national dance talent in the festival, exposing the Colorado community to an even greater dimension of dance entertainment.

 

DC: Exposing them to a greater dimension of dance entertainment, that’s great and much like what we are trying to do with In The Heights! Tell us about some of the crews and companies performing.

 

S&K: We have everything from breakdancing to swingdancers. A couple of our groups were accepted on  MTV’s hit show “America’s Best Dance Crew” and we have guest performers from New York City whose main performer and choreographer, “Stretch,” has choreographed for Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and won awards for his choreography for Will Smith. In addition to these acts there is Salsa dancing, jazz, contemporary, and more. There will definitely be something for everyone.

 

DC: Many people don’t know how rich with culture the dance scene is here in Colorado. What would you say to help educate folks about it?

 

S&K: We would say to look into it! There is more than meets the eye. These days there are countless ways to get information…take the time to look it up. You will be amazed at all the culture Denver has to offer – a hint – some of the most interesting things are somewhat “underground” and spend their time and energy on product not advertising or decorating, so you may need to do some digging!

Here’s a video preview of the Denver Dance Festival:

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