Benicia High School spring dance show puts fame under microscope

(Originally published in the 2/28/16 edition)

   As the late David Bowie once remarked “Fame puts you where things are hollow.” It is hard to resist the temptation of fame, but living the glamorous life has its downsides, especially when it comes to starting on the path down the rabbit hole of fame. This topic is the subject of Benicia High School’s spring dance show “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” 

   As Benicia High’s newest addition to the dance department, director and choreographer Marisol Almaguer said she wanted to do a story about royalty but was not sure how to approach it. 

   “I thought of celebrity royalty,” she said. “It was an idea I got from my sister whose daughter is a dancer, and we came up with ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World.’ I developed a story of two girls who wanted freedom.”

   The show is a coming of age story about two girls named Lila and Scarlett who are triple threats. They are both very talented singers, dancers and actresses and want to become successful, a thought that is shared by their parents. However, as they grow older, their managers start sending them in different directions. Lila is more naturally liked by the public which annoys the more driven Scarlett who wants the public’s adoration.

   Almaguer says a big challenge has been putting the show on in a short amount of time. 

   “In February, we had four less student days,” she said. “That was a real challenge because that was four less days of getting the production together.”

   However, Almaguer is impressed with the students she is working with.

   “I have never worked with a group this big,” she said. “To put a whole class of dancers together where I’m letting these girls where I’m letting these girls explore dances they’ve never done before is something I’m very proud of. They’re excelling in it, they’re doing well and they’re open to it.”

   This especially excites Almaguer who does not see herself as a technique dancer.

   “Even though I’ve been in dance and have choreographed dance since 2004, I don’t have the technique that they have,” she said. “For them to take my piece and make it look so amazing is a huge accomplishment.” 

   In addition to the main plot, Benicia High’s dancers will be performing to more than 20 songs— over an hour’s worth. The track listing ranges from Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s EDM hit “Lean On”— which Almaguer says  will be performed with Latin and hip-hop dances as well as a little bit of bellydancing— to R&B singer The Weeknd’s “Devil May Cry.” The production will also showcase songs from New Zealand alternative pop singer Lorde, including her brooding cover of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”— the inspiration for the show’s title— and Kanye West’s remix of her song “Yellow Flicker Beat.” 

   Almaguer believes the show will provide a lot of entertainment as well as a strong message to audiences about what is more important than fame.

   “It’s a phenomenal effort from these students,” she said. “They did an extraordinary job with the music, and they worked closely more than in other years.”

   “It’s gonna be very entertaining,” she added. “There’s gonna be a whole lot of passion in the dances and a lot of fun. “

   “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” will be performed at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 10 and 7 p.m. Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12. All shows will be held in the Benicia High Performing Arts Building, located at 1101 Military West. Admission is $8 for students and children and $14 for adults, with a $2 discount for tickets purchased online. Tickets can be purchased at BeniciaHighPerformingArts.org. For more information, contact BHS Performing Arts at (707) 751-2338. 

   

Three BHS departments join forces for winter production

(Originally published in the 12/2/15 edition)

   Three prominent performing arts programs at Benicia High School—the dance program, the drama program and the band program— will join forces for Panther Productions’ “Alex in Wonderland: Through the Performing Arts Looking Glass” next weekend.

   The story takes inspiration from “Alice in Wonderland” and blends it with a frequent nightmare that performing artists have: being in a production you don’t remember being in. 

   The premise centers around Alex, played by junior Hamish Dinsdale, who finds himself in a production he has no knowledge of. As he tries to figure out whether he’s in a musical theater performance, dance show or band concert, he comes across several Wonderland-inspired characters, including the Queen of Hearts as a stage manager who tries to make things harder for Alex, and the White Rabbit who tries to help him out. 

   “There’s a very common nightmare of finding yourself in a show that you don’t know anything about,” drama teacher Christine Mani said. “You don’t know the music for it or the words for it or the costuming or blocking. It really is a common situation that happens in dreams, and performers deal with it a lot, but non-performers have it as well.”

   According to Mani, the production came together as an opportunity to showcase the capabilities of all three of Benicia High’s performing arts departments. 

   “A lot of people will go to a band show because they have band students they know, and they’ll go to a dance show because they have dance students they know,” she said. “The nice thing about this is it’s going to cross those boundaries a little bit. It’s going to show people what the different shows they wouldn’t see would be all about.”

   The traditional dance show, featuring Benicia High dancers doing choreographed performances to recordings of popular songs and held together by a storyline, has been a BHS hallmark for a long time. Many of the elements will still be in place, but the addition of band director Patrick Martin and dance instructor Marisol Almaguer will bring in new creative components.

   “This is my first year not being in charge of the dance program,” Mani said. “It’s been interesting having three instructors involved rather than just myself. I like the fact that it’s showcasing all the different talents of our performing artists here from acting to singing to dancing to instrument playing.”

   Rather than the musical sequences just having dancers, there will also be orchestrated pieces from the band program and  song and dance numbers from the musical theater class. 

   “It’s kind of an all-encompassing view of what we do here at Benicia High School and what we’re really known for,” she said.

   The musical theater class will be singing songs from popular musicals like “A Chorus Line,” “Reefer Madness” and “Annie” as well as a number from next spring’s production, “Seussical.” The dance program will be performing to world music pieces as well as more popular songs like the rock piano ballad “My Immortal” by Evanescence. The band will be performing several self-composed instrumental pieces, and the show will conclude with the entire cast performing Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ funk-throwback smash hit “Uptown Funk.”

   Mani hopes the production will bring a lot of entertainment to the audience.

   “Audiences can expect to laugh, feel emotionally drawn, have a visual spectacle and find some overall enjoyment in the storyline and talent in all these great youths,” she said. 

   With the combined efforts of all three programs, Mani also hopes the show will draw a much bigger crowd than usual.

   “Because it’s only two days, we’re really hoping to sell out,” she said. “We’re hoping to get people out there from all different walks of life to see what we can do as a whole department.”

   “Alex in Wonderland” will open at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 11 and 12, at Benicia High’s Performing Arts Building, located on 1101 Military West. Tickets are $8 for children and high school and college students with identification and $14 for general admission. People who purchase tickets through BeniciaHighPerformingArts.org will receive a $2 discount. For more information, contact BHS Performing Arts at (707)-751-2338.