A near full-house at the Lyle Victor Albert Centre had the opportunity to go back to the 80's on Friday (August 7) as the Keeping Time School of Dance performed their very own rendition of the hit Broadway musical ‘Rock of Ages'.
With a full cast of 19 locals ranging from the age of nine to 29 coming together for the hour long performance, the individual behind it all, Kasha Pinel, said she was delighted with how the show came together.
“I think this has been a huge, huge success,” Pinel told the Nouvelle. “As a group containing both dancers and non-dancers, I think we did a great job (telling the story) of Rock of Ages.”
Set on Los Angeles' infamous Sunset Strip in 1987, Rock of Ages tells the story of Drew (Matthew Muller), an aspiring rocker from south Detroit, and Sherrie (Allison Ference), a small-town Kansas girl harbouring hopes of becoming an actress.
Moving to Hollywood to chase their dreams of making it big, the pair falls in love and, with a backdrop of the biggest and best songs from the 80's, struggle to juggle their feelings and the temptations that come with living life on the strip.
While the group did a fine job telling the story of Rock of Ages, the most impressive parts of the performance came when the ensemble cast showed off their breathtaking array of dance routines. With each scene demanding its own individual act, Pinel and her group of dancers pushed themselves to the limits to put on a show for a buoyant crowd.
“I put all the dance routines together myself and then when we brought it (into the studio) it all just clicked right away,” Pinel said. “There's no real way to describe how you come up with a routine, it's just all about how you feel. The type of music on show in Rock of Ages completely inspires me, so it just seemed really natural and organic to me when putting all of this together.”
It wasn't all smooth sailing though for the group as they had one of their lead performers drop out a week before the show.
“Unfortunately, the person we had lined up (to play Drew) dropped out, so (Matthew) only had about a week to get everything together. We pretty much moved him into the studio and wouldn't let him leave,” Pinel said.
Having had less than a week to prepare for the show, Pinel praised Muller for his performance, while the man himself spoke about how much fun he'd had in the shorter than usual practice period.
“Coming in, I guess I didn't really know (how much work) it was going to be, it was crazy,” Muller said. “I had so much fun doing this though. This is an awesome group and they made it (fun) to be here.”
That was a sentiment shared by Pinel, who, despite performing in various locations across the province including Broadway, said this was the most fun she'd ever had on a set.
“Some rehearsals I almost pulled out all of my hair, but the kids that signed up for this were all really good and really enthusiastic about the show. We had a lot of talent in here and casting wise, just a lot of people who truly lived their roles and were completely believable in them,” Pinel said. “I think we all just fell head first into this and had an awesome time with it.”
She added, “I've been in so many (performances), but this for me is the most fun I've ever had. This was a great group of performers and a great group of people. It was fun putting all of this together.”
