Stratford Road to Opening Week 2: Matt Armet on Dance Floors, Renovations, Costumes, and More!

Thirteen Weeks until Opening Night . The Festival has done some amazing things for us this season that will help make the transition from the rehearsal hall to the stage much more seamless .

First , they've done some renovations to Rehearsal Hall # 3 ( a large hall in the basement of the Festival Theatre , tucked away in a back corner by the sewing rooms ) . They've also added full - length mirrors to the front of the room ( which would be the centre section of the audience ) and laid out a Marley dance floor ( a vinyl , slip resistant floor ) that is exactly the same material as the top layer of the stage they have built for the show .

As dancers , having the correct floor to practice on is essential , especially when we are wearing everything from LaDuca heels to Adidas runners . Another amazing thing the Festival has done is provide two pairs of the shoes we wear for the majority of the show . After having quick shoe fittings early this week , most of us now have a brand new pair of dance shoes to wear in rehearsal . We will be getting a second pair of the same shoes to break in once we move to our first onstage rehearsal on March 2nd .

A lot of us , including myself , had our first costume fitting this week for our " audition look . " All of us are in some form of 1970s dance wear and a lot of it could be purchased from a dance wear company , but here at the Stratford Festival , we have an incredible team of cutters and sewers to build everything from scratch . Personally it's one of my favourite parts about working here . My mom was a seamstress in her spare time and used to make a lot of my costumes for dance competitions and recitals . I spent many hours in our basement with her working on designs and , in the process , learning how to sew . It continues to be a hobby of mine and I can't help but wander into the sewing rooms every week to see what everyone is working on .

Ok where was I ? Right , building costumes from scratch . So, our designer Michael Gianfrancesco picked out fabric for every shirt , pant and bodysuit in the show , and everything is being built to fit each of our bodies perfectly . I don't think the feeling of having a costume tailored exactly to me will ever get old . I've included two photos this week . One is of me with the team , building my audition look for Greg . ( You can see our set and costume designer , Michael , in the mirror . ) The second is of my feet standing on " the line " in the rehearsal hall , wearing my beautiful Italian leather LaDucas .

Now for my favourite section of the blog ... " Quote of the Week! " If you are A Chorus Line geek like me , you will get the lyric reference which was sung aloud in rehearsal by Galen Johnson ( who plays Frank ) before our first day off : " I got ... a scholarship to Bentley's ! " ( a local watering hole that we were planning to visit for our first cast outing that night ) . That's all for this week . I'm off to buy stock in Epsom Salts . You can do that , right?

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