My tap shoes click as I dodge the piles of costumes in the small backstage of Culture House’s theatre. With my Dr. Pepper in hand, I spy an empty spot on the floor next to some other girls in my dance company. We were about to debut the dances we had been working on since Nov..
Audrey Poling sat across from me, eating her Chipotle. I can’t believe this is our second year doing company together. I feel like I’ve been here my whole life. She was my first friend when I started theatre and switched dance studios. In a time I felt utterly alone, she was there.
We met during “Annie” callbacks. During the technique portion of the dance call I heard a voice behind me: “Your leaps are high!” A blonde girl said. “What’s your name? I’m Audrey.”
“I’m Harper. It’s nice to meet you!”
During the rehearsal process, we were inseparable, the perfect duo. From then on, it just stuck. We did show after show together, and eventually, it came time to prepare for summer camp.
Camp is one of the highlights of First Act Theatre Arts, a full week of staying in college dorms with all your friends and putting on a full-scale musical in a week. The show this year was “Footloose.” I was a dancer, and it was going to be so much better than our past summer camp. Last year had been awful for both of us with homesickness, unwanted parts and lots of drama. But this year, that was going to change.
I waited for Audrey to arrive so we could head to our dorm together. After getting hugs and greetings from the other girls in our suite, we unpacked and started heading to the cafeteria to eat lunch before our first rehearsal. The long white tables were full of kids in brightly colored outfits. We headed through the line, chatting and catching up with people we hadn’t seen since spring.
At the end of the line, we picked up plastic cups and approached the soda fountain. “What are you going to get?” she asked me.
Normally I was a Sprite person, but I wasn’t feeling it.
“I don’t know. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m getting Dr. Pepper,” she said.
“That sounds good. I’ll get some too.”
The dark brown liquid poured into my mouth, the hints of cherry and other fruits blended perfectly. Dr. Pepper didn’t usually taste this good, but it felt like magic. I already felt so much better about this week.
Our first rehearsal was learning the music and choreo for “Footloose,” the opening song of the show. The music felt electric; this show was full of dance and spirit. Sometimes, during shows, you can feel a cast click together. We can bounce off each other’s energy and feed into this sense of community.
The dorms were filled with sleepy faces, except for ours. The excitement of our almost all-nighter lit us up like stars in a black sky. We grabbed our pillows, blankets, candies and chips we had brought from home. Sitting in a circle, we talked and laughed until the edges of the night started to fade into pinks and yellows.
“Ten minutes to places!”
Photos provided by Harper Ward
I was backstage with Audrey, stretching in the wings of the stage. Opening night crept in faster than I could have imagined. We were one of the first people to enter during the Overture, so we had to be prepped and ready. When the chatting started filling the theater was when the butterflies started to bubble in my chest. The lights were dimming, and it was finally time to start. The drums took off, and Audrey and I leaped onto the stage.
“Footloose” came to a staggering end; my costumes were hung up, my makeup had already been packed away and all my possessions were back home. All that was left was final worship. The whole cast gathered around the piano, and as the music started, the tears followed. This week had been so unbelievably special to me, I wasn’t ready for it to end. As the final notes of the song rang out from the piano it finally hit me that it was over. I was never going to perform this show with this cast again. Life was moving on.
But the great thing was that, in another month I would be auditioning again for “A Christmas Story: the Musical,” which Audrey was also doing. Little did I know at the time, but we would be dance captains together, and then we would be co-captains in our dance company. We would dance together in “Legally Blonde” and “Curtains.” She changed how I see dance and performing as a whole, she has pushed me to become better, not just as a dancer, but as a person. Because of her, every time I taste a Dr. Pepper I’m reminded how grateful I am to have her as a friend.
