Dance - And Confession: Pepper Von's "Let's Go"

Left: Shortly before showtime at the Crest Theater Saturday night.


Pepper Von's "Let's Go" is a music and dance revue based on a theme of a friendly competition between singers and dancers. It's simply a mechanism to get the best of both, of course. (And dancers rule, in any event, so....)

And the show delivers! Lots of very high energy performances, with soul-bracing uplift. The only criticism I had was that the show lasts a long time, but since it's so good, why not let it go on and on?

Excellent performances from everyone's favorites:

Hannah Collins, Sequence Rashad "Q" Grisby, Shanta Robinson, Carla Fleming, Cory Betts, Keith Turk, Michelle Makela, Misty Barker, Jake Montoya, Gabrielle Perez, Tyler Drewitz, LOCO, etc., etc.

In particular, "Q" Grisby just seems to be getting better and better! Very dynamic performances!

Hannah Collins' opening dance seemed oddly disjointed - it was the music, mostly. Her red-hair theme is great, and those skin-tight leather pants just slew me!

Shanta Robinson is so cute and powerful a performer! Cory Betts is a power on stage. Carla Fleming commanded attention with her powerful gospel singing. Gabrielle Perez was sure-footed and graceful. Misty Barker, Talissa James and Keith Turk put forth their best!

I asked a Step One student seated behind me (the one who was shouting and applauding so heartily) who the new white girl dancer was, and she said Michelle Makela - a fine performance!

But then, just as most shows would normally end, Pepper introduced six more-or-less randomly chosen cast or staff members for a soul-baring look at what brought these people to singing and dancing. Oftentimes, performing on a public stage serves as a way to cope with traumatic events in personal life; a way to strengthen broken people. This exercise - what amounted to confession - sailed into TMI territory, and then far, far, beyond, into the deep blue yonder....

Myself, I was shocked - particularly since I know all of these people by reputation and know some of them as acquaintances too, but I was also deeply moved. Pepper conceives dance as far more than entertainment. Dance moves the spirit, and can heal the spirit. Dance is a mystical way to approach religion; a way to approach God. A dance show is much, much more than a pleasant way to spend a Saturday night....

In some ways, the way this show ended reminded me of "A Chorus Line", except that in that show, the show is mostly confession, with a performing finale, whereas this show was solid performance, with confession reserved for the end.

With one difference - imagine that in "A Chorus Line" you already knew Val, and Paul, and Al, and Judy Turner, and the rest - maybe not well, but at least a little bit. And imagine how shocking those revelations would be.

Pepper asks much from his cast and audience, and delivers much too....