Friday Dance Party: The Panza Pirouette

If you occasionally drop by these pages, you know that I am currently working in a lovely production of Man of La Mancha at Wayside Theatre. Sancho Panza is well-remembered by anybody who has ever seen a production of the show, as a comic sidekick (though he has some tender moments as the play progresses, which I hope I fulfill). He gets lots of laughs and two throw-away comic songs; I'm enjoying the heck out of playing him.

In our production, Sancho also acts much like a stage manager, helping to set the various scenes, passing out props, etc. These instances have been choreographed just like dance numbers, and as I have very little formal dance training, I believe I'm doing only moderately well in this department. Here is one of the sequences when I'm setting the stage by handing out props (in this case, cups). I was so lucky to have someone in the audience last weekend with a Flip Camera who captured this brief moment on film, enabling me to share it as this week's Dance Party. If you have trouble spotting me (my make up transforms me completely), I'm the guy in the blue tights: