The work continues as the Milagro team prepares for our next show, the outrageous and irreverent “post-911 race farce/lesbian romantic comedy (with dance breaks)” that is “Learn to Be Latina”. Last week we got to see the F.A.D. Girls shake their stuff, and choreographer Chip Sherman shared with us a little of his experience in Portland and at Milagro. Today, in the second part of his interview, the young mover and shaker takes us through the musical (and dance-ical) journey that awaits our wanna-be pop star. Read below to see how “rhythm is gonna get you”, and get your tickets for the show, opening May 2 (preview 5/1).
VG: You are trained in a lot of different styles, from ballet to butoh and a lot in between. Can you tell us a little bit about what we’ll see in “LTBL”?
CS: What I love, love, LOVE about this show is that the music is so
diverse: you’ve got ‘N Sync, then Missy Elliot on to Shakira and Jill Scott, so it goes
through a lot of genres. You’ve got pop going into hip-hop going into Latin
going into, basically, gospel mixed with a jazz infusion.
diverse: you’ve got ‘N Sync, then Missy Elliot on to Shakira and Jill Scott, so it goes
through a lot of genres. You’ve got pop going into hip-hop going into Latin
going into, basically, gospel mixed with a jazz infusion.
The dance is going to
follow the lines of the songs: with ‘N ‘Sync you’ve got the B-Boy moves of the
late 90’s, early Millennium. Then with Missy, more street, hip-hop. And then
going into [Shakira’s] “La Tortura” and J-Lo’s “Let’s Get Loud”, there’s more
of a Latin-infused hip-hop. For me the whole show is in a pop/hip hop style,
but with Latin influence. The show is about making this girl into a Latin pop
star, so it’s got to have that pop/hip hop base, but with that Latin flavor and
fire on top. We’ll be seeing hip hop mixed with Jazz, mixed with some merengue
and cumbia, and there’s even some stomp that I put in there, from my background
in tap and African dance. We do a beautiful little tango/Flamenco/stomp dance
duel between [the characters played by] Nicole Accuardi and Olga Sanchez.
follow the lines of the songs: with ‘N ‘Sync you’ve got the B-Boy moves of the
late 90’s, early Millennium. Then with Missy, more street, hip-hop. And then
going into [Shakira’s] “La Tortura” and J-Lo’s “Let’s Get Loud”, there’s more
of a Latin-infused hip-hop. For me the whole show is in a pop/hip hop style,
but with Latin influence. The show is about making this girl into a Latin pop
star, so it’s got to have that pop/hip hop base, but with that Latin flavor and
fire on top. We’ll be seeing hip hop mixed with Jazz, mixed with some merengue
and cumbia, and there’s even some stomp that I put in there, from my background
in tap and African dance. We do a beautiful little tango/Flamenco/stomp dance
duel between [the characters played by] Nicole Accuardi and Olga Sanchez.
VG: The play itself is very farcical. How do you keep the dance from being simply another comedic element in a play like this?
CS: The dance starts out big. Huge. ‘N Sync is pop, and it’s
the first number you see, and I’ve choreographed that to be larger than life.
And then it goes into “Let’s Get Loud”, which gets even bigger, and brings in the
Latin aspect. So it’s about showing off, and an escape from realism and moving
into the farcical aspect, showing how much fun you can have with the dance. As
you go on with the show, the dance starts from a place of over-exposure and
then it goes into this place where it becomes seamless with real life with Aimee
Mann’s “Wise up”. It slows down and goes into a more lyrical base of movement.
It becomes more pedestrian before getting into “Malagueña”, which brings us to
the tango/Flamenco. Flamenco is all about machismo and the triumphant matador,
and here we’re working with Kristen Munn, a fight choreographer around town,
and we’re going to do a little “Vulcan mind meld” to mix in the stomp dance
style with her fighting style.
the first number you see, and I’ve choreographed that to be larger than life.
And then it goes into “Let’s Get Loud”, which gets even bigger, and brings in the
Latin aspect. So it’s about showing off, and an escape from realism and moving
into the farcical aspect, showing how much fun you can have with the dance. As
you go on with the show, the dance starts from a place of over-exposure and
then it goes into this place where it becomes seamless with real life with Aimee
Mann’s “Wise up”. It slows down and goes into a more lyrical base of movement.
It becomes more pedestrian before getting into “Malagueña”, which brings us to
the tango/Flamenco. Flamenco is all about machismo and the triumphant matador,
and here we’re working with Kristen Munn, a fight choreographer around town,
and we’re going to do a little “Vulcan mind meld” to mix in the stomp dance
style with her fighting style.
VG: So even though it is a farce about the world of pop, there is authenticity underneath?
CS: That’s the arc of the dance in the show: it
starts out very stereotypical, plastic, very presentational, and it ends up
very real. It’s driven by [the protagonist] Hanan’s heart instead of her mind… It goes from your
mind to your heart. That’s life. You start out thinking “it’s cool, fine”, that
you don’t have to do anything, and everything will fall into place; as you
start maturing, you realize you have to put up a fight, especially people of
color, we have to put up a fight and actually find our place in life and claim
it.
starts out very stereotypical, plastic, very presentational, and it ends up
very real. It’s driven by [the protagonist] Hanan’s heart instead of her mind… It goes from your
mind to your heart. That’s life. You start out thinking “it’s cool, fine”, that
you don’t have to do anything, and everything will fall into place; as you
start maturing, you realize you have to put up a fight, especially people of
color, we have to put up a fight and actually find our place in life and claim
it.
Get your tickets today and don’t miss the movement and mirth of the most hilarious lesson coming to Milagro Theatre this May. “Learn to Be Latina” opens May 2 (preview May1) and runs Thursdays through Sundays until May 31.