Let us read, and let us dance; these two
amusements will never do any harm to the world.
Voltaire
A short
while ago, Hitomi
Tamatzui, an old friend in Second Life (SL), (By old, I mean in terms of
how long I’ve known her not how old she is. Thanks to Significant Other for
pointing this out to me!) reached out to inform me that she was now performing
in a dance company inworld and invited me to drop by to see the show and see if
I’d be interested in blogging about the company.
Hitomi is
one of my more creative SL friends and her tastes have always been eclectic
inworld. She’s invariably engaged
with similarly talented individuals and their collaborations show the
potential for creating original artistic forms whether art objects or
performance art. (Significant Other
wants to know why Hitomi hangs around with me then.)
Always
looking for a new story to bring back to my loyal readers (All three of you.),
I head off with a friend who wishes to remain anonymous (Significant Other
cites this as proof that SL residents only hang around me out of morbid curiosity.)
to see the show!
But, first a
little bit about the company!
Paramount
Grand Theatre is the dance company and Paramount Players Dance Troupe is the
group that all the performers belong to.
Management consists of Lotta Difference and Pathmaker Campbell. Married inworld and business partners as
well, they bring together all the parts that make up a Paramount show. Lotta is the stage manager and plans show
themes well in advance of their performance dates. She’s also art director, choreographer,
dancer, and co-owner. Pathmaker is
producer, dancer, DJ, and co-owner. Lotta
and Pathmaker were both kind enough to respond to my written queries as I was
preparing this story and I include their responses herein.
Lotta and Patmaker formed
Paramount because they were creatively constrained at other dance venues. They opened their own to be able to
"stretch our Creative Wings" as they put it and to give other
performers the same opportunities.
Paramount is both a training and performance theater. Non-dancers who
have an interest in dance are taken in and given an opportunity to be part of a
dance troupe. As members of the
Paramount Players Dance Troupe they may learn, or just enjoy helping and being
part of the troupe. Several people came
to Paramount with neither knowledge nor experience and advanced to being
Headliners, not only at Paramount but at other venues as well. Every month, the dancers are given a theme.
They are required to find a song that pertains to that theme, be it in the song
title or the dance performance itself. They are given the theme early in the
month for the following month, so they have time to prepare.
The nature of Paramount’s
shows is mainly, having fun! The troupe
tries very hard to put on an entertaining show for their audience. They strive to make their productions
"slick" and smooth. To do
this, they have a dancer on stage at all times for the audience to watch and
enjoy, to give them no chance to leave without missing a thing! Performers have a lot
of leeway to exercise
their creativity in the acts.
Full
frontal nudity is encouraged but not required.
Shows are normally ten acts, comprising an opener, a closer, and eight
acts in between. The stage setup/costume change time between acts is almost
always used by a performer to do a "Filler" Act - so that almost
always a dancer is on the stage performing.
Paramount has quite a few dancers
and quite a few "extras.” There are around a dozen headliners, along with
half a dozen extra dancers. The extra dancers are the people that want to
dance, but are learning the process. Therefore they are helpers, for those lead
choreographers that need a group to dance with in their routine.
In addition, Paramount also has
a second theater called the Night Players Theater. It is an entertainment venue where performers
can experiment with dance and performance art without fear of censorship.
Quality of performances is required but Lotta and Pathmaker do not censor
content.
And now for the show!
My companion and I arrive
early to get good seats and to check out the theater. There are two levels of seating, orchestra
and balcony, in front of the stage.
While not filling
all the seats, a good sized crowd, especially by SL
standards, begins to arrive.
Tonight’s theme is Fab – U – Lous and indeed it was a
fabulous evening!
The dance performances are of
a very high standard and the action is non-stop. No sooner does one act end then the next
seems to appear out of thin air. The pop
music which was chosen was lively and appropriate for the intricate dance
routines. Spectacular use of special
effects and props such as light, smoke, and flying dragons held our
attention. The colorful and elaborate
sets made for interesting backdrops to the talented performers on stage. Set changes were quick and seamlessly moved
into the following act.
The acts were great fun to
watch and to listen to. Whether it was
the cheerleaders in the opening act, the Wizard of Oz routine, the Mad Hatter, or
the dancing clothes in the enormous washer and dryer in the laundromat scene,
the action was non-stop and my
companion and I never regretted for a moment
spending our Saturday evening at the performance.
Unfortunately, I crashed just as Hitomi was
coming on for her
Splish, Splash, I’m
Taking a Bath! number.
I’m told I
missed a great performance and hope to catch it again sometime!
The emcee,
Annie Panties, did a superb job
as well!
We had a great time and I
strongly recommend going to a show or more!
For all those looking for a
fun evening in SL with someone special, a groups of friends or all alone even,
go to the Paramount Grand Theatre and catch the shows! You’ll be glad you did!
The theater is located here
and shows occur three times a month.
Paramount Grand Theatre also maintains
their own blog with a show
guide on the calendar page with at least one month’s shows listed.
I’d like to thank Lotta and
Pathmaker for taking the time to answer my questions as well as for producing
these magnificent entertainments! (Can
you tell I was impressed?)
I’d also like to thank Hitomi
for reaching out to tell me about her recent activities inworld and I wish her
every success in all her future endeavors!
(I can’t wait to see what she gets up to next!)
My thanks to my anonymous friend
(You know who you are!) who accompanied me on a whim and who took the
magnificent pictures included with this story.
Additional ones can be found on this flickr
page.
Finally, thanks to all the
members of the Paramount Players Dance Troupe, whose hard work and preparation
are shown in their exciting and immensely entertaining productions!
As
always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to
talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives!
My Twitter handle is @webspelunker. Please feel free to follow me and I’d be
happy to follow you.
I can be found on Google+ as
webspelunker Ghostraven.
My flickr Photostream is
located here.
On Skype I’m webspelunker
Ghostraven.
Open roads and kind fires!
