Sherry’s Dance Workshop is Branson-bound.
Today, about 15 girls and women from the Emporia dance studio are heading to Branson, Mo. for a weekend engagement. The troupe opens its performance tonight at the Pierce Arrow Theater then movies on to the Dixie Stampede on Saturday.
It’s meant a lot of work for the dancers, particularly on an as-late-as-it-needs-to-be dress rehearsal on Thursday. But it’s worth it. While it may not be Broadway, it’s still pretty darn big time for a studio like this.
“If we like it and have lots of fun, it’ll be something we can do every year,” said Sherry Davidson, who runs the dance studio at 829 Commercial St.
Davidson first got the idea from Sondra Burden of Sondra Burden’s Studio of Fine Arts, who had taken local performers to Branson in the past. A few phone calls and a few more e-mails later, everything was a go.
Since this is a debut performance, Davidson’s dancers — which include four college students — are throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. There’s a “Chatanooga Choo-Choo” tap dance, performed on wooden suitcases. There’s a Las Vegas-style routine complete with brilliant red capes and feathered headdresses. There’s ballet. Street dancing. Light-hearted Broadway routines.
“It’s a very broad spectrum for just 20 minutes,” Davidson said.
Twenty minutes? That’s right. Cramming so much into so little time raises the ante a bit, but it also gives the Emporia dancers a chance to really show off what they can do.
“It’s cram-packed,” Davidson said. “Each dance is very unique and very different from all the others.”
The troupe returns to Emporia on Sunday.