The Delaware Theatre Company is looking for a few young dancers with rhythm.
The Wilmington theater company is holding auditions for kids age 6 to 16 to tap dance alongside Maurice Hines for their season opener, “Maurice Hines is Tappin Thru Life."
The show kicks off September 16th and takes the audience on a tap-dance journey through Hines’ show-biz career.
DTC spokesperson Andy Truscott says the theater company is looking for dancers that are more than just technically proficient.
“Do they make it part of their own?” he says. “Do they really own the routine or are they just kind of doing it? I think that’s a big thing there; can you own the moves or are you just executing them.”
Truscott adds the show pays tribute to the dancer’s brother Gregory, and uses song and dance to take the audience on a tap-dance journey through the dancer’s life.
“This is really Maurice’s autobiographical story on stage with nine beautiful ladies behind him called the Diva Jazz Orchestra,” he says. “Those individuals accompany this musical tribute to Maurice’s life, to how he grew up with Gregory, as well as some music from his favorite singers from Frank Sinatra to Lena Horne.”
Maurice and Gregory Hines performed professionally as the Hines Kids in the 1950s, tap-dancing onstage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Auditions for “Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life” take place at the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington Thursday, August 20th beginning at 11 am. Each performer will be asked to perform a routine without music. Maurice Hines will then teach the group a small routine.
Dancers who audition must be able to attend all performances of “Tappin’ Thru Life” and up to a week of rehearsal prior to the first preview.
More information is available at the Delaware Theatre Company website.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.