CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Daniel Everitt is a long way from his Prince Albert, Sask. home.
He graduated from high school last June and wanted to take a year off to travel.
But he didn’t want to take a year off from school, so he decided to do both.
“My solution was to come to Newfoundland,” he said.
He arrived this past fall and is enrolled in the first year of the nursing program at the Western Regional School of Nursing at Grenfell Campus.
So, for the next four years — except for the summers — he’ll be calling Corner Brook home.
Since he’s been here, he’s wasted no time embracing his new home, starting with being a part of the chorus in the Off Broadway Players production of “Rock of Ages” in November.
His friend and roommate, who is studying theatre at Grenfell, convinced him to go to the auditions.
“And after that I was kind of hooked in,” he said.
Everitt, whose theatre experience comes from performing in musicals while in high school, said he loves to perform.
“The part that I enjoy is being able to go in front of people and share my talents, and hopefully they enjoy it as much as I enjoy it,” he said.
“Because they don’t get to see the three months or however long it is leading up to the actual show where the entire cast and crew gets to kind of form a bond.
“And so, when we’re performing, it’s a show, but it’s also like a connection through all of us.”
This Friday and Saturday he’s returning to the stage at the Arts and Culture Centre in Corner Brook as Paris in Dance Studio West’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
“First, I was really excited, and then I remembered I couldn’t dance, and I was a little bit scared.” Daniel Everitt
Not bad for a young man who doesn’t consider himself much of a dancer.
Amy Andrews disagrees.
“The boy has natural movement. That boy was meant to dance,” said Andrews, owner of the dance school and director of “Romeo and Juliet.”
“He just has natural ability.”
Andrews met Everitt while working on “Rock of Ages.”
With her own show coming up, she paid close attention to him, seeing if he could master the dances and feeling out if it might be something he’d like to do more of.
She approached him about the role of Paris on the closing night for “Rock of Ages.”
“First, I was really excited,” said Everitt, “and then I remembered I couldn’t dance, and I was a little bit scared.”
That feeling didn’t last for long as Everitt got to the rehearsals, met the cast and started learning the dances.
“It’s been definitely a learning opportunity through learning, first, the moves and the motion, and then also having to turn my facial expression not to look extremely worried all the time,” he said with a laugh.
Andrews’ take on “Romeo and Juliet,” is not like the play Everitt studied in Grade 9 English class.
“It’s pretty modern,” he said of the music she’s used and the dances she’s created.
“Romeo and Juliet” is a show Andrews has wanted to do a full-on dance version of ever since she choreographed a party scene for Theatre Newfoundland Labrador’s (TNL) youth program’s production of the play in 1999.
It’s something she has done before with “Cinderella” and “Alice in Wonderland,” taking the stories and putting them to modern music.
“I’m talking radio music,” she said, “current music, and put that together to make up the story in a more current way.”
Still following the story, she said, but telling it just through dance.
That’s something that can be tricky and why a synopsis of the story will be in the program.
“And I also put my own twist on it,” said Andrews.
In this case, she has a group of dancers who represent love and another that represent hate.
“Otherworldly things.”
There are about 50 dancers in the show which starts each night at 7:30 p.m.
When it’s all over, Andrews may just have a new student for the studio as Everitt will be looking into taking some dance classes.
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
Cast
Romeo Montague — Josh Connors
Juliet Capulet — Kate Sanders
Mercutio — Daniel Tucker
Tybalt — Anna Barrett
The Nurse — Amy Andrews
Friar Laurence — Mike Payne
Lord Capulet — Carl Barrett
Lady Capulet — Jessicah Blanchard
Paris — Daniel Everitt
Escalus, Prince of Verona — Aubrey Sanders
Rosaline — Maria Leonard
Lord Montague — Joel Burke
Lady Montague — Joanne Martin
Balthasar — Jack Jacobs
The Apothecary — Josh Shears
