BWW Blog: Eliza Porsella - 'Duloc' is Not the Perfect Number

This week at practice we ran through the entire first act. Most of the time there was at least thirty people backstage just talking and laughing. Our principal, who is also the show's director, was extremely angry that all we did backstage was talk. She said we have to use that time to practice our dances and lines.

A girl named Yuki, who used to attend P.S. 196 but is now in middle school, became our backstage monitor and I wasn't really sure what her role was. After this week's practice I realized she is our sound effects. Every time we need a sound, like when Pinocchio's nose grows, Yuki plays a funny note on the violin.

While we were backstage, we all got covered with silver glitter. It's from a large Winter Concert poster that's shoved on the side of the wing. We all rub against it as we enter and exit the stage so there's silver glitter puddles everywhere. It was in our hair and on our clothes. One girl kept covering her hands in glitter and rubbing it in a boy's hair but he wasn't happy about it.

In the middle of practice, some teenagers showed up and hugged our principal. I think that they use to attend P.S. 196. They began to carry in parts of scenery. I could see parts of painted wooden stands and posts. I guess they are going to assemble the scenery. A fifth grade teacher is building the scenery and our art teacher will decorate it probably with the art talent kids.

It seems that the first act was going fine until the Duloc dance that I'm in. This dance is runs over five minutes and the steps are complicated. We only have 15 minutes every practice to work on this number and since this number is longer than the others, we learned it too fast. Before we understood one combination, we moved onto the next. I think I know the steps but there are still some people who need more help learning all the pieces.

The Duloc dance has lifts which are also tough to learn quickly. Since I'm small, I get lifted and since I think it's easier to be the lifted one, I think I have it easier than my friend Jhanvie who has to do the lifting. The director said after chorus ends, they will start calling us in during the chorus rehearsal periods to work on specific numbers in Shrek. I have a feeling this number will get called for more individual practices than any other number in the show!

I was told to bring tap shoes next week and I'm excited to start the tap number! I'm the Pied Piper and I hope I'll be featured in that number. Compared to my dances at the Broadway Dance Center, most of the dance numbers I'm learned for Shrek have about the same level of difficulty as my hip hop dance number at the BDC. My hip hop dance isn't my toughest number, it falls in the middle, so that's how I see most of my dance numbers so far.

I actually watched the animated movie Shrek this weekend, which I've never seen before. It amazes me how much the movie is a lot like the show we're putting on. Isabel, who plays the Donkey in our show, is a lot like Eddie Murphy's Donkey in real life. She talks fast and is really funny. I also think Carly, who plays Lord Farquad, acts a lot like him in the movie.

This is my first school play experience and I'm really loving it. I didn't know what to expect but I'm definitely glad I'm doing it and I think it's a going to be a really good show.