Decades of stage spectaculars

IT’S GOT rhythm, it’s got vibe, it’s smooth, it flows and it’s been happening over a few decades, making it one of the world’s longest-running dance shows.

The next Shall We Dance stage production, a fixture at the Playhouse Theatre for 30 years, swings into action between September 13 and 15.

The organisers, the South African Dance Teachers Association in association with The Playhouse Company, believe they have once again strung together an ensemble of dance acts to get audiences swaying to the beat.

The mix of dances will include ballroom and Latin American dancing, a feature of SWD shows since 1991, as well as modern, ballet, Irish, tap and Bollywood routines.

Seven-time Danish professional dance champions, Nicolai Bouet (Denmark) and Anna Shagalina (Ukraine) are the headline acts, making their third SWD showing.

Latin American specialists Egor Kondratenko (Russia) and Mie Funch (Denmark) are set for a debut.

Local dance studios there for the sheer thrill of it make up the rest of the programme.

In spite of having been with this production since its inception, Caryl Cusens, the show’s co-director along with Neville Letard, says it’s customary to feel a bit anxious as they move closer to showtime.

“It is scary times now… it wasn’t a big show in the beginning, we only had about 30 people in it. It’s grown significantly with time.”

Cusens said the key to SWD’s longevity was their “think-tank’s” ability to pull together riveting content and the loyalty of their patrons.

“We find that some people have been to every show. People living in retirement centres find it a thrill to watch.”

Cusens said it was rare to have a show with so many different groups from different dance studios, who might be rivals.

“It’s virtually unheard of around the world.”

She fondly remembered the first show in 1991 that drew a full house of 1 200.

In the days of no internet, Cusens said the advert they ran on the old Radio Port Natal “What’s On” feature, which offered free advertising of community events, hit the right note with listeners.

Cusens worked at the SABC at the time.

“I guess people were starved for entertainment back then... nowadays, they are spoilt for choice.

“I was astounded that it was packed. We did it again and again and made it onto the Playhouse’s annual calendar, bar a few years because of Covid-19.”

Cusens said she grew up in a family with a strong attachment to the arts: her mom was a tap dancer and her father a singer.

“We’ve attended shows from a young age at The Criterion, in the CBD.”

During her teenage years she joined the Durban Operatic Society, a local group that put on musical shows.

“My sister Dianne and I did ballet dancing and performed in old musicals.”

Cusens took up ice skating and joined the previously well-known Marge Chase’s ice shows at the Durban Ice Rink, in the 1960s and 70s.

Her next dance moves came as a competitive ballroom dancer, which she did for about 20 years.

“When I joined, they put me into a formation team, which is a group of couples that dance the same steps at the same time.”

After returning from a trip to Australia, Letard, who was Cusen’s dance partner and longtime friend, told her about the dance show he would be staging at the Playhouse (1991), and she was to be the stage manager.

Letard said the CEO of the Playhouse was impressed having watched his dance production at the Workshop Centre and requested the staging of a dance competition at his venue.

Letard convinced him that a dance show with various acts would be more effective.

That was the first hosting of SWD.

Cusens said audiences lapped up the ballroom and Latin American dances with enthusiasm and also enjoy the wide variety of dance types, including Bollywood, that had been introduced over the years.

Cusens said neither Letard nor she had ever danced at SWD, apart from her once making a cameo appearance on stage during a rendition of Phantom of the Opera.

“As a stage manager, my job was to say when the curtains go up and down, queue the lights and the music.”

But after a few years in that role, Cusens joined Letard in spearheading the production that had given her great joy.

Cusens said she couldn’t imagine what life would have been like without SWD, even though there were some hair-raising moments, like when Joseph Clark was performing Queen’s hit song Barcelona with Thokozani Mkhize.

There were columns and pillars as props on stage and one of them caught alight.

“I gasped when I caught sight of it because I couldn’t intervene from my position and we didn’t have cell phones back then.

“Thankfully a black-gloved hand (assistant stage manager) flicked it off. It could have been catastrophic.”

Cusens said once their remote-controlled smoke machine was turned on by itself.

“Smoke kept billowing onto the stage and the audience couldn’t see the dancers and they couldn’t see themselves.

“The audience knew nothing about what was happening, but you have to wing it in this industry.

“It is a huge plus when you can and that comes with experience: the show must go on,” she said.