If someone were to ask me who the hardest working, most driven and dedicated artist in the area would be, I’d have to reply: “James Santos.”
That’s not to take away from so many others in the region who push the boundaries of their talents and creativity to the absolute max. It’s just that in watching what Santos has done with The Dance Project over the past several years, I’m really in awe.
The company’s newest show, “Exposed!,” opens at 7 p.m. Friday at the Cascade Theatre. It continues at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and is also performed at 7 p.m. April 3, and 2 and 7 p.m. April 4. Tickets are $10-$25 and available at the Cascade Theatre box office (243-8877) or online.
Leaha Hernandez and James Santos. Photo by Michael Burke.
I’ve raved many times about the overall production value of The Dance Project shows. Consider this year’s “A Cascade Christmas,” with its spectacular choreography, dancing, singing, costumes, backdrops, lighting design and music.
As viewers, we take for granted in a show like that, because we’ve seen professional productions before. We expect them to look like that. But Santos hits (or at least comes damn close to) that professional standard with nothing close to the resources available to the shows we’re comparing his with. He sells a vision to those who work with him and, boy, does he push them for everything they’re worth.
When it comes to “Exposed!,” here’s a little peep into what people don’t see:
• Most of the cast and crew puts in 10- to 12-hour days between work/school and rehearsal.
• The minimum time someone puts into preparing for the show is 150 hours. Most are well above that.
• Santos’ feet bleed every night from dancing.
• The cast started rehearsing for “Exposed!” in December.
• One of the dancers broke her foot during rehearsal.
• Most of the cast, in order to stay in shape, takes three additional dance/fitness classes a week.
• One of the dancers will be three months pregnant when the show opens.
• Santos eats dinner at 11 p.m. each night after coming home from rehearsal.
• Seven of the cast members have children that wake them up every day at or before 7 a.m.
You better love it, in other words, because although there is some monetary compensation, it never comes close to matching the hours that these artists are putting in.
The reward for Santos and his cast is something other than money.
“This fills the place in my heart that I think nothing else can, and I am not sure I will ever be fulfilled without it,” Santos told me recently in an e-mail. “Dance and theater are my functioning, dis-functional relationship. We all sacrifice so much as artists. You miss family events, birthdays, graduations, friendships, and so many other things just to continue practicing your art.”
When you do art, you are completely exposed. You put it all out there for everyone to see. It’s an incredibly vulnerable place to be. Often, the audience doesn’t get that piece of it.
Artists do this because they have to. It’s what defines them.
We’ve got so many musicians, actors, dancers, painters and writers in our area who are putting everything they have into their craft.
Santos and his company are right there at the top of the list.
