A Chorus Line: Spotlight on Alison Thomas

After four months of intense rehearsals, A Chorus Line wowed audiences with six brilliant performances at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. A huge thank you to our sponsors, cast, production team and creative team, plus all the journalists, publications and audiences who supported us!

經過四個月的密集式排練，假香港藝術中心公演六場的音樂劇《舞步青雲》讓觀眾都讚不絕口。我們衷心感謝贊助商、演員、台前幕後的工作人員、傳媒朋友及所有到場支持的朋友！

Now that the final curtain has come down on our 2013 flagship musical, we speak to members of the cast to find out more about their experiences. First up, we haveAlison Thomas, who was one of our brilliant dancers!

2013的旗艦音樂劇圓滿結束後，我們與劇中的幾位演員及舞蹈員對話，談談他們在排練過程中的點滴。首先，我們有請其中一位優秀的舞蹈員Alison Thomas！

(scroll down for Chinese 下面附中文)

Moving A Chorus Line from the rehearsal room to the studio was…
Daunting, but also incredibly exciting. Moving to the theatre mentally confirms that it is actually show week, and soon you will be performing in front of an audience – that’s nerve wrecking! But then you get to see your dressing room and all the encouraging notes left on the walls from previous shows, and you get a real sense of belonging and excitement for the shows ahead. In terms of rehearsals, it all gets a lot more serious in the theatre because we get to see the set and lighting design properly for the first time, and there are lots of logistical things to sort out, but the whole process is really exciting! It’s where all the different elements of the show finally come together.

I have learnt to…
Take risks. A Chorus Line was my first experience with YAF and I was very scared to audition, but I am so glad I did! All I can think of now is, “Imagine if I hadn’t auditioned, I wouldn’t have had this amazing experience and I wouldn’t have got to meet all these amazing people”. So I’ve definitely learned to take every opportunity that comes my way!

Alison, Sabrina, Angel and Jemima

I am going to miss…
The other cast members. I’ve only been in school productions before, and although it’s sad when that finishes, I know that I will still see the cast in the school corridors. When working on a YAF production, it’s very different because you get to work with people of varied ages and from all different areas of Hong Kong. It’ll be very strange not seeing them all every day, but with Facebook and things we should be able to stay in touch pretty easily!

I laugh when I think back to…
I don’t know how it started but the whole cast had an on-going joke that whenever Bailey received a note after a performance we would all go “Baaaaiiiillleeeeeyyyy” at him! It was very amusing especially as Bailey is such a great dancer anyway!

Another favourite memory is getting ready for the shows in the dressing rooms with music playing – Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” was played many times and will now remind me of those pre-show preparations!

Tell us something we don’t know!
Between shows, a certain cast member often has a shower and before getting changed into his costume, he walks around in a purple silk kimono robe. It was very amusing for the rest of the cast to witness! :)

Surprise

Challenges?
Balancing the rehearsal schedule and my school work has definitely been the most challenging thing. However YAF are really great about giving you the schedule well in advance so you can plan accordingly, and most of my teachers have been really understanding. The rehearsal process can be very demanding at times with a few late nights and you can get very tired. The show makes it so worthwhile though, and I wouldn’t change it for the world!

What’s next?
Who knows? I’m in my last year of high school so I’ll probably be off to university next year, but before then I’m hoping to get involved in as many other YAF projects as possible!

My dream superpower is…
Flight! It’s a very generic and cliché answer, but I would love to freedom to feel that exhilarating rush at any given time! Think of how you could weave it in to a performance too if the dancers could fly — the possibilities would be endless!

Hin and Alison… they’ve got style

If I could meet an artist for a day, it would be…
Travis Wall. He is an incredible dancer and choreographer and has inspired me in so many ways. He has the talent of being able to tell stories through movement and really connect with an audience, as well as being able to create art that is aesthetically beautiful!

音樂劇從排練室搬到舞台上的時候，你有何感受？
艱鉅的，但同時也令我異常的興奮。從排練室移師到舞台上，使我真正意識到演出的一週已經來臨，很快便要在觀眾面前表演 – 這讓我非常傷腦筋！但當你能看到你的更衣室和過往節目在牆壁上的鼓勵筆記，你便會對即將公演的作品有種歸屬感和感到無比興奮。就排練而言，在舞台上的所有事情都變得更認真，因為我們首次看到舞台的佈景和燈光，而且有大量的後勤事情要處理，不過整個過程還真是令人興奮！這裡就是匯合所有音樂劇元素的地方。

試舉一項你從今次音樂劇中所學到的東西，並應用在日常生活上。
把握機會。《舞步青雲》是我首次參與香港青年藝術協會的演出。起初，我對甄選面試感到非常害怕，但我很高興在最後我成功了！我在想：「假如我沒有參加甄選，我便不會有這個精彩的體驗，更不能認識到這班了不起的朋友。」因此，我學會迎接每一個挑戰，把握每一個機會！

David, Riley, Alison, Katie, Jun

完成音樂劇後，你最想念的是甚麼？
我最想念的是劇裡各個成員。過往，我只曾參演過學校的製作，在完成演出後雖然也是傷感的，但我知道仍然會在學校裡碰見各位演員。然而，在YAF的演出卻有所不同，因為所有演員都是不同年齡及來自香港各個地方。現在不能再每天見面，感覺就是怪怪的，但我相信在Facebook上和其他活動中，我們還是能夠保持聯繫的！

有何趣事想與大家分享？
我也不知道從何時開始，所有演員都開始著一個笑話，就是每當Bailey灰演出後收到一張紙條，我們都會向他呼叫著：「Baaaaiiiillleeeeeyyyy」！這實在十分有趣，尤其Bailey是一個非常優秀的舞者！

另一件深刻的事，就是演出前在更衣室裡從不間斷的播放著Beyoncé’的「Love on Top」。現在每當我聽到這首音樂，便會回想起演出前的準備情況！

告訴我們一些鮮為人知的事吧
每場演出之間某位演員都會去洗澡，而他在穿上戲服之前，他會穿上紫色的絲綢和服睡袍走來走去。這絕對是所有演員最佳的視覺娛樂！

在綵排過程中有遇到甚麼困難嗎？
妥善分配時間予綵排和學校家課，其實是一件頗有挑戰性的事。幸好YAF都會預早通知綵排的時間，這樣就可以好好計劃我的時間表，而且老師們都會理解我的情況。在綵排過程中，有時需要排練到深夜，亦會感到非常疲倦，雖然我有時都想改變下這個情況，但一切都是值得的！

完成《舞步青雲》的演出後，你有甚麼打算？
誰知曉呢！我現在就讀最後一年的高中，接著明年便會升讀大學。在此之前，我希望參與更多YAF的活動！由我參與半島酒店及YAF的活動開始，這已是我的目標。我已在等待下一次機會！

Pre-show

如果你有一種超能力，你希望是甚麼？
飛行！這或許是一個非常普通及老土的答案，但能在有限時間裡自由地飛翔，這實在令人振奮！試想舞者能在表演中飛翔的話，你將如何編排這樣的演出—所有的事情都可以發生！

如果你有機會與一位藝術家碰面，你希望遇上哪一位？為什麼？
Travis Wall（美國電視節目《舞林爭霸》第二季的亞軍得主）— 他是一位難得的舞者及編舞家，我從他的演出中得到多方面的啟發。他不但能夠運用各種肢體動作說故事，觸動觀眾的心靈，更能創造美不勝收的藝術！