Page 119 of Dancing Fools and All That Jazz
It is a real honour to be opening the show, but I wish we had a little longer. I force myself to breathe slowly as I pull back my hair into a low ponytail and put on the bright lipstick.
Ruby and I barely have time to do a few warm-up moves when an organiser arrives at the door and hurries us towards the stage.
‘Dépêchez-vous.Vous êtes les premiéres. Vite.’
We fast walk behind her down the corridors, bowler hats in our hands.
We stop in the green room and watch the TV screen to listen to Frédéric introducing the finals show in French.
Ingrida translates for us as we take the opportunity to do a few plié squats.
‘Frédéric say, he applaud all dancers, teachers and organisers. He say a lot of hard work has gone into show. He also mention the press interest.’ Ingrida pauses to listen to more. She starts to giggle, as do the audience. ‘He make joke about derrière – it mean behind – he make audience laugh.’
Frédéric’s next joke is drowned out by laughter. Ingrida did not catch it but we all smile anyway. He then starts to announce Dancing Excellence Clarissa Kirkland and we catch the words, DECK, DICK and thenzizi. The audience roar with laughter and clap.
We look to Ingrida for an explanation.
She shrugs. ‘He say something I do not comprehension.I do not know this word,le zizi, but it make everyone laugh very much.’
Frédéric then says Edith’s name and the name of her group,Corps et Ame. We all guessremplacermeans Fay’s replacement.
‘He sayjambe cassée. Is broken leg.’
‘We get the gist, Ingrida.’ Ruby smiles.
In Clarissa’s absence I feel duty-bound to fire everyone up and encourage them to do their best. I wave everyone across to me and we form a tight huddle.
‘OK, ladies. This is it. The audience should be well in the mood for “Dancin’ Fool” after Frédéric’s jokes. Let’s give this our all. Comedy, smiles, exaggerated moves, and fun. We need to make the biggest fools of ourselves yet, Clarissa-style.’
We have a group hug, and the organiser calls us to go through.
‘Mesdames et Messieurs, Barry Manilow qui chante, “Dancin’ Fool” exécutée par DICK… pardon… par DECK.’
We march onto the stage to loud applause and spread out. I am at the front, centre stage. We place our bowler hats on the floor and all assume our jazz poses.
The house lights dim to blackness. The back-light shines behind us as we are silhouetted. The audience cheers and claps. We hold our positions until they finally settle down.
The track starts. A deep male voice introduces the song with ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ and how it’s showtime at the Copacabana. Then the spotlights come on and themusic starts with loud, fast drumbeats.
The first clash of the cymbals is my cue. I’m in the zone; my focus is on nothing else.
Clash – I move, as does Edith, in a prepared kick and flick so we end in a new jazz position, our hands poised over our hats.
Clash – Ruby and Ingrida click their fingers as they drop their arms, raise one knee and change position directly behind their hats.
Clash – Cath, Bonnie and Asha all do sharp head isolations before pointing to their hats.
Then the trumpets briefly flare.
One Blast. In unison, we all drop. We hold our hats between our fingers and thumbs.
Two Blasts. We take sharp steps lifting the hats in front, elbows wide.
Three Blasts. We lift and lower the hats in staccato moves onto our heads. Our hands are paused on the hat rim, three fingers lifted high. The music then surges as we lean at a jaunty angle, take a hand up and out to the side in a huge sweeping movement and walk around in a full circle.
Barry’s words kick in about the band blasting out… and we launch into the fast-all-action routine.
We hit every beat with our bent train-wheel arms. Our hands and fingers form trumpets and trombones. We raise and lower our hats. There is a sharp isolation for every word of the song.
