Comedian Jen Childs overcomes a deep-seated fear in new one-woman show, 'Why I'm Scared to Dance'
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Jen Childs explains to audiences "Why I'm Scared of Dance" in her one-woman show opening today at City Theatre.
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Jen Childs is coming to Pittsburgh to face her fears for all to see. Don't be fooled by the silly costumes and the improv veteran's knack for finding the funny in her subject. She takes dance very seriously.
In her one-woman show, "Why I'm Scared of Dance," Ms. Childs mixes storytelling and parodies of iconic dance numbers with her own dance experiences, from the joys to the pitfalls, such as those revealing full-wall mirrors at dance studios that remind you are shorter than everyone else in the class.
"In my instance, it was either comedy and dance or tragedy and dance, so I have chosen comedy," Ms. Childs said by phone from Philadelphia, where she is artistic director of the all-comedy theater company 1812 Productions.
Where: Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre, City Theatre, South Side
When: Feb. 2-12. 8 p.m. Thurs.-Fri., 2 and 8 p.m. Sat., and 2 p.m. Sun.
Tickets: $35-$40; citytheatrecompany.org or 412-431-2489.
"My natural bent is to look at things in a comedic framework. But I will say that when I first started making this piece ... I thought, maybe this was going to be my first sort of dramatic thing that I do. And the moment I put the tutu on it was, nope, there's no way. It's got a big heart, that's what I'll say. But it is also very funny."
The whole dance phobia thing started early, when Ms. Childs first took ballet lessons. "It was this sudden realization, 'I'm shorter than they are, I'm chubbier than they are, I can't do those things.' And in a child's mind, everything is, you don't know that you can't for a long time. Those moments when you learn that you can't, they have a tendency to imprint pretty heavily."
Several turn of events started the wheels churning toward dance again. Ms. Childs directed a dancer as she created and performed a modern dance with a theatrical approach. Watching her friend invent a new dance tailored to her skills "opened my mind up a little about what dance really means." At around the same time, she performed with other comedic improvisers in a piece called 'A Comic Actor's Ballet,' which used a 1960s dance vocabulary but required that the cast learn steps. She had a ball doing it.
She also turned 40 and was raising a daughter.
"I spent so much of my time telling my daughter she didn't have to be afraid of things -- the dark, monsters, waves in the ocean, sand ... and I realized I had been telling her not to be afraid and here I was a chicken myself."
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
