LAKEPORT — During the 2009 Lake County Fair, the Lake County Dance CoOp will be presenting its inaugural performance, a surprise public dance event inspired by a cellular phone commercial, now known as “The T-Mobile Dance.”
Auditions, open to anyone who is 15 or older, take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 1 at the Lakeport Yoga Center (across from Bruno”s Shop Smart). No experience is necessary. Can you count while you move? Do you like to boogie? Most importantly, can you keep a secret? Join organizers in an exciting, unusual and surprise dance event to be sprung on an unsuspecting Lake County public at the upcoming Lake County Fair.
The impact of this event is in sheer numbers and unity, not fancy footwork or choreography. Organizers want you and your husband or wife or significant other and your friends and family for this one.
Rehearsals will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays for the month of August. There are a total of 14 rehearsals; you must be able to commit to at least one weeknight rehearsal and all Saturday rehearsals.
The dance coop”s directors are recruiting 40 or more local dancers and residents to participate in this unique production. At some point during the weekend, fairgoers are going to be surprised with an unannounced dance event that will engage the crowd with a spontaneous and exuberant celebration of music, movement, and people. It will all be recorded for posterity on hidden camera.
Coordinators, choreographers and dancers are all donating their time and effort simply to share their joy, enthusiasm and passion for dance and music. Ted Helminski, a well-known Bay Area videographer (Beach Blanket Babylon, SF Ballet), has volunteered his services and the resulting video is to be broadcast on local media outlets as well as used for educational and promotional purposes.
Organizers are searching for sponsors to help defray the costs of producing this event. The dance coop will incur significant costs in studio rental for rehearsals and auditions as well as for the engineering of several music clips into one coherent track, for the printing of handbills containing a schedule of dance classes and for DVD production.
The dance coop is also searching for a fair exhibitor who might be displaying a large screen television at this year”s fair. It”s possible that a DVD can be produced quickly enough to play it for the remainder of the fair”s run.
Immediately following the performance, volunteers will be circulating a handbill with a schedule of dance classes that displays sponsors” advertising.
Sponsors” names will also be displayed on the DVD produced from the event, which will be broadcast on Lake TV8, the county”s public access station, and may be shown at the fair during the remainder of its run. A copy will be given to each sponsor for promotional use.
A press release and DVD, with sponsors” names, will also be sent to local news outlets for possible replay on Bay Area and Sacramento area news programs. All sponsors will be prominently thanked on LCDC”s Web site with links to their own Web sites.
Organizers request a minimum contribution of $75. For information, contact 995-2942 or thedancecoop@gmail.com. Contributions, with business card sized-ad copy may be sent to the Lake County Dance CoOp, PO Box 936, Kelseyville, CA 95451.
