‘I need it sturdy! Make it sharp! Take it on the downbeat and 5, 6, 7, 8!” A mass of laser-focused, high-kicking dancers transfer as if their lives trusted it – an epic battle royale, defeating their rivals spherical by spherical. Or an audition for a Broadway present, in different phrases. This one’s from A Refrain Line. It’s a musical with enduring enchantment – Nikolai Foster’s acclaimed 2021 manufacturing goes on UK tour this summer season.
A Refrain Line’s tales of performers battling troubled childhoods, sexuality, ageism, damage, breakdowns, poverty and thwarted ambition all got here from real-life testimonies of Broadway dancers that director Michael Bennett recorded in late-night confessionals. The image is considered one of an unforgiving profession, however how true to life does the 1975 musical really feel for dancers at present?
“What’s actual is that it’s a battle,” says former West Finish dancer Terence Rodia, who now runs a administration company. “It’s a troublesome life, dwelling from paycheck to paycheck, job to job.” However loads of issues do change, such because the trope of the heartless, sharp-tongued director, performed in Richard Attenborough’s 1985 movie model by Michael Douglas. “These days we’re actually attempting to make the trade a greater place,” says Rodia. “We’re attempting to be sort to one another.”
Nonetheless, you’ll be able to’t take the sting out of an audition. “I left faculty at 18 and I’m 37 this yr, and it doesn’t get simpler,” says Ashley Andrews, a British dancer primarily based in New York and at present affiliate choreographer on the US and UK excursions of Jesus Christ Celebrity. “Strolling into auditions, it’s really like A Refrain Line: Love me! Give me a job! Am I sufficient? What extra do you want from me?!”
Within the movie, a whole bunch of dancers line up down the block, nevertheless it’s uncommon nowadays to have open calls – the place anybody can flip up and audition. Most auditions are invite solely, through your agent, and the primary spherical is commonly by self-tape.
“The toughest half is getting the audition within the first place,” says dancer Georgina Clarke, 24. There are extra theatre faculties now and extra dancers, and competitors is fierce. How on earth do you stand out? It’s not at all times having one of the best approach. Andrews usually works with choreographer Drew McOnie, who, he says, is “completely pushed by feeling and vibe; he needs electrical energy”.
A Refrain Line’s well-known quantity Dance: 10, Seems: 3, about dancer Val getting cosmetic surgery (“Tits and ass / can change your life”), suggests how a lot seems matter. Nobody I converse to is aware of anybody who has had surgical procedure, though Clarke had her tooth straightened after watching herself again on self-tapes so usually. Natalie Chua, 31, who has been performing within the West Finish for 12 years (at present in Cabaret), says: “I feel completely different our bodies and persons are much more celebrated now; it’s extra inclusive.”
What concerning the cliche that dancers are always on a eating regimen? “Folks would assume it’s hilarious what we eat!” says Chua, itemizing the backstage snacks: doughnuts, bagels, sweets … “In each job I’ve accomplished, Fruit-tella has performed a giant half.” What about ageism? A Refrain Line’s Sheila is deemed over the hill at 30. “Now we’ve dancers who’ve youngsters and return on stage,” says Rodia. However you’ll be able to’t cease time. “I used to be a significantly better dancer at 30 than I used to be at 21,” says Andrews. “However my physique didn’t damage at 21.”
Does each dancer have a tragic backstory like those we see within the musical? Not a lot, though many are drawn to bounce as a result of “it’s a manner of escaping, and letting out your feelings”, suggests Clarke. “Dancers must be linked to their feelings, they must be linked to their our bodies,” says Andrews. “You need to be fully, fully susceptible. That’s if you really end up hovering.”
There are a variety of downsides to a dancer’s profession: accidents, sacrifices, countless knockbacks. “I’ve received mates who’ve accomplished a few West Finish reveals after which they’re out of labor for a yr,” says Rodia. And there’s the cash. Typically dancers have accomplished extra coaching than anybody else on stage, and so they’re being paid the least – though it relies upon the place you might be. On Broadway, says Andrews, somebody within the ensemble of a long-running present is perhaps on $2,700 (£2,200) per week, however on the equal present in London they’d be paid £700.
So why do it? At coronary heart, A Refrain Line is about dance as vocation, and that’s as true as ever. “There are days the place you’re like, I don’t know if my physique can do that,” says Chua. “However the adrenaline rush, the neighborhood we’ve, being in entrance of the viewers – you’ll be able to’t beat it. It’s like a siren name.”
