>>PREVIEW
MATING DANCE
Runs July 19 to 22, 26 to 29
Leacock Theatre (Mount Royal College)
The term mating dance is often associated with peacocks and prairie chickens. Rarely do highland dancers and hip hop B-boys spring to mind, but that was just part of the thought process for creator of the new comedy dance show, Mating Dance, Colin "Steamboat" Bloudoff.
"When you’re young, you either A: got the cool car or B: you’re the quarterback on the high school football team or something like that. You have your little niche. I started dancing. Not necessarily just because I liked it, but because it was a way to meet girls. Now that I think back on it, we did meet girls. But, anytime if you go to a nightclub or something, and you see somebody on the dance floor, you ask them to dance, that first dance is kind of you’re your own mating dance," he says. "It’s kind of funny how we meet people and remember what that first dance is like."
Nicknamed "Steamboat" for his fancy footwork, Bloudoff has been dancing for 14 years and says transforming this show from thought to stage has been a lengthy process.
"Originally I was going to do it with my buddies from the States, Pop’n Pete and Skeeter Rabbit, which are guys I’ve danced with before for many years. I couldn’t do it that way because I couldn’t bring them up for long enough to make the show, so I ran an audition and I got a bunch of dancers and started putting this show together. It took me over a year because I not only had to teach the dancers the choreography, but I had to teach them how to dance it. It was a whole different style for them," says Bloudoff.
Bloudoff says the show is not only entertaining but will also teach audiences about dance and some of its origins. "In the show we take it from the 1400s all the way to current. We go through highland, we go through swing and we go through rock – all the different styles of music and dance that go with them."
While many styles of dance are performed within the show, the focus is on one called locking and popping, that is near and dear to Bloudoff’s heart. "Locking is a style originally developed by a man by the name of Don Campbell. It’s a good, fun style. It involves pointing and rhythm. Locking is a funky style of dance. Popping, some people look at as being more robotic – tensing your muscles in beat to the music. It’s like tap dancing with your body," says Bloudoff.
The show features four dancers: Emma Forman, Kerri McLean, Bloudoff himself and, most notable, Pop’n Pete. Originally part of the Electric Boogaloos, Pop’n Pete has worked with Michael Jackson and the Black Eyed Peas. Bloudoff says Pop’n Pete is not only an originator but a master at what he does. "Pete’s the guy," says Bloudoff. "You know in L.A. or New York, if Pop’n Pete is doing a show everybody is there. Everybody." |
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