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Feet first!
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by Ana Reisman
June 24, 2002. |
 They're
young, they're beautiful, they're full of energy and
wow, can they dance!
"They" are the youngsters who make up the
"Feet First" dance troupe that recently came
to visit Puerto Vallarta for a couple of days.
They had come from Guadalajara where
they had just finished performing at the renowned Degollado
Theater in that State Capital. Prior to that, they had
filled the Auditorio del Lago in Lake Chapala and the
gig before that was at the UNIVA auditorium where they
had put on their incredible show in front of nearly
1,000 spectators!
"Feet First" is a dance
troupe composed of 21 members - 16 dancers (plus a not-so-young
dancing father/chaperone), 3 stagehands and 2 vocalists.
The youngest is 11 and the oldest 20 something, all
are full-time students and all are extremely talented
in and fully committed to dance. And dance they do,
swing and jazz, tap dancing to make you want to get
up and join them, Celtic numbers and honest-to-goodness
jitterbug. You name it, they dance it.
The story started with John Ward
and his spouse Valerie who share a love of dance …and
a house in Ajijic. Their home base in the U.S. is Montrose,
Colorado. There, they decided to form a dance troupe
with youngsters gifted in that form of the arts. Their
warmth, understanding of youngsters and enthusiasm for
dance attracted the youngsters like magnets. "Feet
First" was born with John as executive director
and Val as his creative counterpart.
 With
their connections in Ajijic, it was not long before
John and Val were asked to bring the group down to perform
at UNIVA, the area's university campus. The local impresario
arranged everything for the kids to come down as soon
as their classes ended up north. This would be their
very first time out of their native state. The auditorium
was filled and the performance ended with the audience
clapping for more in their standing ovation to these
exciting, gifted performers.
In Chapala, the local department
of culture had promised to take over the publicity for
the group but something went awry and the Wards had
to call on their friends in Chapala's foreign community
to help out. Posters were made up and hung all over
town, everything that could be done was, and the Auditorio
del Lago was filled to capacity, 400 strong. Once again,
the performance was greeted with a standing ovation.
Subsequently came the request to
perform at the prestigious Degollado Theater in Guadalajara.
Once again, the miracle was repeated. What a performance!
"Publico", one of the top publications in
Mexico, gave the group a two-page spread in their weekly
supplement. The youngsters were flying high, but they
had one more dream to fulfill before returning to their
hometown of Montrose, Colorado: they wanted to see Puerto
Vallarta!
 The
editor of this publication had been corresponding with
her counterpart at the Lake Chapala Review for some
time. He e-mailed her to ask if anything could be done
because the kids wanted to perform in Vallarta for Vallartans
- with no advance notice. That was not going to be an
easy task, but everything would be done to make it happen.
Bottom line: the group registered
at the Molino de Agua Hotel, the one with the lovely
"Hidden Garden" restaurant by the Cuale River.
The manager set up about 50 chairs in the hotel's covered
hall and John went out into the street with some of
the dancers in full costume to tell passers-by about
the show that would take place there. In the end, about
two dozen of us were treated to the most amazing dance
show I've seen in years (except on TV), and that was
just a snippet of the full-length show they had put
on in the other places.
 Photographs
can never transmit the excitement or the electricity
in the air when those youngsters dance. Those of you
who have attended or seen a Riverdance show in person
or on TV, or one of those high-end Broadway dance shows
know what we're talking about here. It was truly electrifying.
All of us who were treated to this exciting experience
tried as much as we could to make our applause sound
like that of hundreds, just so the group would know
how much they were appreciated!
There is no doubt in my mind that
they'll be back …with all the publicity and the
venue they deserve so fully!
anna@pvmirror.com
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