Acting and Dancing

Erin Bevan invited me to her blog to write about what I do in my spare time. 😀 

Last year I had a chance to act in a movie (that might be a bit of a stretch. Hey – Liesa Cross, who is featured on Sharing the Awesome was there too!) and dance in a flash mob. It was my take on ‘Do something every day that scares you!’  (Check out the video – that’s me in the back right!)

Two things I had always wanted to do were be an extra in a movie and dance in a flash mob. And last year, I had a chance to do both!

In August, Kingston filmmaker Anthony Mann shot the final scene of the Phantom of the Opera and put out the call for extras. He wanted a big crowd for the masquerade ball scene. We had to wear cocktail party attire and bring a mask. The filming took about three hours and was a lot of fun! We mostly socialized and enjoyed the food and refreshments. We did a bit of acting – gasping and looking with horror toward the sound of a scream – that was fun! For some takes, we had to pretend to talk, but mouth the words silently. I didn’t find that hard to do – I just figured that’s how I usually appear to my kids. If you look it up, I’m the one in the purple mask!

Last fall, The Grand Theatre in Kingston organized a flash mob to advertise a Sing-a-Long Sound of Music production, and I said sign me up! There were about eighty of us altogether. We met twice and the 2-minute routine was posted on YouTube so we could practice at home. I probably had to watch it about ten times – surprisingly complicated moves, but luckily short! The flash mob was held on Sept. 20 during the Princess Street Promenade when they close one of the main streets in Kingston to traffic. The song starts out with Maria’s traditional Do Re Me and then jumps into the energetic Jackson 5 ABC song. It was really fun to see the surprise on the faces in the crowd. And they had a draw for free tickets for the flash mob participants and I won! So I’ll be singing along to the Sound of Music on Saturday night (and maybe doing a little more dancing). Here’s a link to the video:  Sing-A-Long-Sound of Music Flash Mob.

I’ve never acted and haven’t had any formal dance training, but that didn’t stop me from getting involved. There’s a saying: Do one thing every day that scares you. I don’t think it means get out there and be reckless. I think it means that life is a lot more fun when you’re not afraid to try something new!