Patti Wilcox's Hour and a Half of Brilliance

Adrienne Fisher | Jun 30, 2008 | 0

Patricia Wilcox

A teacher who can truly shapeshift an eager student is one that will continue to shapeshift themselves. Up up up up-this is the only place to go when constantly feeding off of each other. What a great reciprocation. I can only hope to be this kind of admirable icon one day who constantly gives back to the hungry student dancer, the teacher being the hungriest and the most well fed.

The first time I saw Patti Wilcox was at an audition when I first moved to NYC. It was for Aida. For those of you who know the show, you know that there really is no place in Aida for me except maybe Princess Amneris, but I usually go for the ensemble roles, so I was not getting cast in this. Amazingly, she ended up keeping me to sing! It was only a year after the fact, when I saw pictures of a regional cast of the show that I realized I was definitely not ethnic enough to be in the ensemble. (I didn't know a lot about musical theater when I first moved to NYC!)

I remember going into the room to dance for Aida, and Patti was on fire as she taught the choreography. She shot it at you like a bullet and expected it to be implanted not only in your skin but in your soul within minutes. I loved this! I think a dancer should always be challenged, especially at an audition. I feel like choreography is dumbed down at a lot of auditions to cater to people's nerves among other things. But, there is so much competition in NYC, and dancers need to be able to step up to the plate and show the world everything that they've got at an audition.

Dance is an art form that needs to be maintained. It is an art form that involves constant discipline just like other arts. If you stop practicing, you become dull. This dullness reflects on the audience, and then, musical theater dance gets a "blah" reputation. I have heard people say that sometimes intensely technical dance in musicals just doesn't "make sense."  Come on folks, this is the imaginary world of musical theater. We burst out into song in the middle of the street  while everyone stops to listen and everything that happens in the street, from the guy selling newspapers to the three friends on the corner eating ice cream, is all of a sudden in time with the music.

A lot of this doesn't necessarily "make sense" because you wouldn't do that in "real life." The reason that we do theater is to do away with "sense" and sing and dance because we want to express our emotions for other people to see, which makes everyone feel more free spirited and less tense because you are constantly getting the weight of emotions off your shoulders by dancing, singing and existing in an imaginary world.

Imagine what NYC would be like if we just broke out into song and dance when we felt like it. I mean, seriously, I know there's been a time on the subway on the way home after an amazing day when one of your favorite songs starts playing on your iPod, and all of a sudden, you get that tingling sensation that starts off as a foot tap, but really could be a full blown dance if, as adults, we weren't so closed off.

Look at kids on the train. They are happy and stress free because they are constantly expressing themselves in their imaginary land...This is musical theater, and it is fun! It is one of the few excusable moments that we have in life to indulge in non-sequitors and explosive dancing and singing. Dance has a place in every musical. People expect to see dance and song when going to see a musical, so let's dance it up! We are definitely singing it up in many shows, but I am craving more dance in shows. Not only more dance, but more put on the line in the dancing. There are so many turning points that are expressed through song and dialog, and then the dance is just fluff on top or icing on the cake. "Here you go, here are some showgirls or a nice entertaining 42nd Street type number to give you some good, clean, old fashioned entertainment for the first act."

I want more than this! I want the climax of the show to be expressed through dance, and I want the dance to be extremely dynamic and poignant, breaking all boundaries stylistically and wrenching emotions not only out of the dancers but out of the audience. I know that this kind of dancing isn't appropriate for all shows. I am just saying that it has the potential to exist in more shows because dance is a very powerful art form that can say just as much as dialog or song.

Now, back to Patti Wilcox. All of this talk of intense, meaningful choreography and imaginary worlds comes from the Patti Wilcox class that I took last night. The combination of the choice of music, her choreography, her energy driving into each of us as we executed her work and the fast rhythm of my heart (her class will kick your butt!) put me in another world when I danced. It doesn't happen very often that I actually can leave my day and my worries "at the door" when I walk into a room.  It is a very specific chemistry, and this recipe for "other-worldliness" is very hard to find.

Just like at the Aida audition, Patti shot bullets of valuable, dense information at us and expected nothing less than for us to emote buckets of sweat and tears as we danced her dance.  It is as if while we were in the studio taking class, Patti was not only at work to teach a class, but this was her hour and a half to stand in front of her easel with all of her paints and come up with something brilliant. The final product is as important to her as it is to the student. She never fails to accomplish this. It is as if, every night,  she is told that she has exactly one hour and a half to produce the work of a lifetime with  a group of dancers. She does this each and every time.

Steps on Broadway

Monday Tuesday Thursday 6:00-7:30 PM
Saturday 1:30-3:00 PM

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Jazz, Broadway, Teacher, Studio, audition (all tags)