Musicals with non-singing roles for dancers?
Musicals with non-singing roles for dancers?
iamrhythmnow
Swing Joined: 11/20/18
#1Musicals with non-singing roles for dancers?
Posted: 11/20/18 at 9:04am
Hello! Our community theater group is divided into two types of performers. Great singer/actors who can't dance and great dancer/actors who can't sing. Our singers get a lot of exposure but I feel like our dancers are hard done by. We give them ensemble roles where they get to dance in numbers and then let them show their acting with bit parts throughout the show. I would love to find musicals that have real featured roles for performers who can act and dance but not sing.
I know a few musicals that have one dancing/non-singing role: Louise in Carousel or Jean in Brigadoon, for example. Is there any musical that has several speaking roles for performers who are strong dancers but not singers?
#2Musicals with non-singing roles for dancers?
Posted: 11/20/18 at 9:15amIvy in On The Town. She sings a bit in Carnegie Hall Pavane, but it’s not really supposed to sound good- she’s studying singing, but is doing a poor job at it.
#3Musicals with non-singing roles for dancers?
Posted: 11/20/18 at 10:05am
Hmm hard to think of a show with several of those roles, most just have one. Ivy in "On the Town" was the first to come to mind. Susan in "Finian's Rainbow" is another, she communicates solely through dance.
There are several shows with opportunities to create great featured dance roles from ensemble characters (though they would require a bit of singing. "Beauty and the Beast" first came to mind for this option: I did a production where the actress playing the rug was an excellent tumbler and got many featured moments and the Napkins are frequently stylized as "can-can" girls and were given the most impressive bits of the choreography.
Does it have to be a musical? I don't know what types of choreographers and directors you have on hand, but a play such as "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" would allow you to showcase everyone's acting. It's filled with stylized movement, and while that's not quite "dance" per se, it still requires strength, agility, and physical awareness that dancers would bring to the table.
