The Shaw Festival Theatre Review: May I Have the Pleasure?
By Ross
“Why is the urge to dance so inside us?” asks one of the four standing before us. There’s music everywhere, all around us in The Shaw Festival‘s sweet engagement with the evolution and adoration of social dancing over the last few thousand years. Moving in a squared-off circle inside the festival’s Spiegeltent, the most perfect magical venue for this deliverance, May I Have the Pleasure? shines like the sun and moon, drawing forth the tide coming into the proverbial shore. “Dance,” we hear, “literally, changed my life,” from each and every one of those who leads us through our paces on a hot and humid late Saturday morning in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and even as we feel the heat hang over our heads, the power of music and dance makes us all feel alive, like we have “gone to heaven“.
Admittedly, I was initially hesitant to attend, as this isn’t your typical theatrical experience—more of a lively group activity and dance lesson designed for fun and learning rather than traditional performance. But after a sweetly delivered introduction by the cast of four Shaw Ensemble players: Jason Cadieux (Shaw’s On The Razzle), Sharry Flett (Shaw’s The Secret Garden), Taran Kim (Shaw’s Anything Goes), and Allison McCaughey (Shaw’s One Man, Two Guvnors), each an energetic delight, we’re coaxed, with gusto (but no pressure) to join in. We are asked to formally invite and square off, in preparation for the “meat and potatoes” of this union and a lesson in movement and engagement that will enter our souls and enliven our musical senses. “Give it a whirl,” they suggest, as almost all leap out of their seats, like students at a lively high school dance class, and we dive into the progressive claps and dance moves we are taught, thanks to the structural stylings of movement director Alexis Milligan (Shaw’s Witness for the Prosecution).
We gather the harvest, as they call it, and do the hustle, as these four teach and encourage us through some of the best music and dances ever created: jigs, reels, waltzes, and many others – each show a different two. So whether you “get up and have a go, or simply watch and marvel“, this show is a complete charmer, and although it’s nothing close to the typical show we generally see at the famed and revered Shaw Festival, this one will definitely put a deep, sweet smile on your face “that only dancing can bring.” So slip on those dance shoes (leaving behind your flip-flops and slide-on sandals), and join our truly delightful hosts and teachers for a soul-stirring sensation that will leave you wondering whatever happened to our own internal need for a dance celebration. And perhaps, most unexpectedly, you’ll have learned, not just a new move for the dancefloor, but a new secret to hold tight: that dancing isn’t just fun—it’s necessary.
