In Preparation for the arrival of 2024, I decided to clean up my home office of much of the detritus I had accumulated in the past 12 months. Near the top of the pile of papers on my bookshelf, I came upon the following announcement for a Grand Opening.
It looked interesting, but alas, in my delays at the time, I had missed the opening. And yet, I wondered how this upstart theater was doing after a couple of months of operation. After I contacted Sagia, she and Dollystar.piers, a prior student of hers, graciously agreed to update me on the status of this particular labor of love.
Josh (Thomas1 Bellic) (JB): So, tell me, Sagia… Just what is ShowStyle Theater all about?
Sagia: ShowStyle
Theater provides entertainment. It provides people a means of relaxation, and
enjoyment, and escape from their daily routines. This can help reduce stress and promote
mental health. We put on monthly dance
shows. I know many dance choreographers
who put on different acts for each show monthly. It is fun entertainment. Usually at the finale of these shows, the guests
are invited to come on stage and dance with the chorus.
JB: How did you two meet? And how did you decide on a partnership in
the performing arts?
Sagia: I was a
teacher at Audace Modeling School where I also managed Audace ShowStyle dance theater. Dolly was a student at the
school and became a dancer for the shows. She started to assist me until RL
difficulties required her to take a leave of absence.
DollyStar: I was a student at the modeling school for two semesters - spring and summer of 2022. Sagia was my teacher for two different subject classes. I helped with a build on a stage and started dancing for Sagia's sets for upcoming shows. Sagia taught me how to Theater Dance and showed me how to create my own stage sets and I became a dancer and dance choreographer until I had to leave SL for a while at the beginning of this year.
Sagia: We give opportunities
to all choreographers to work with us, whether they are beginners or highly
skilled professionals. This allows us to produce a variety of shows with
different levels of abilities and everyone is satisfied.
JB: I have heard
that you sometimes draw as many as 80
people to one of your shows. How
do that many people find out about your productions?
Sagia: Our sim can
go up to 100 guests but we usually cut it off at 70. We make invitations and
send them out along with many notices to various groups.
JB: Do you plan
to host Special events here? Weddings?
Funerals? Rezz Day Celebrations?
Bar Mitzvahs? Blues Festivals? And how
might someone learn of any scheduled activities here?
Sagia: No special
events as you named will be scheduled here. We do a monthly variety show, put
on by choreographers, or we can plan a
one-choreographer, one-hour show. We are
doing that with the McPol Show and we
call that type a special. Our activities are published by invitations and group
notices.
JB: It must take
quite a staff to run an operation like this.
How big is your staff, and who are some of the key players here?
DollyStar: Sagia manages all aspects of theater from organizing, booking, and invitations to groups to wardrobe malfunctions "dancers missing" and even DJ organizing. So much to do even Sagia has her set early in the hour to sort anything that arises.
JB: What has been your greatest challenge in building and running ShowStyle Theater?
Sagia: Organizing
the monthly show takes time in coordinating all the choreographers and their
time. I would say getting 6-8 choreographers with acts ready to go,
particularly with a common theme, is a monthly challenge.
JB: How would you
advise someone who wants to get into your line of work What would it take?
Sagia: You need to
spend time making friends with members of the second life dance world. The more
friends one has who are choreographers, the easier and more fun this line of
work is.
JB: Who do you
hope to attract to your shows? What special group of people might find MCPOL
and the Amazon Dancers especially appealing?
Sagia: We attract
guests who enjoy entertainment that has beautiful sets, costumes and dancers
with awesome dancing.
DollyStar: Sagia
booked that show for her theater for a special event featuring an artist to show that person's
talent in stage set design, and theme, and to show costumes and amazing choreography
and the person's dancers' artistry
JB: It must take
quite a staff to run an operation like this.
How big is your staff, and who are some of the key players here?
Sagia: I do this on my own. I organize each monthly show and the choreographers do their performing for each show. It takes about 7 choreographers for an hour show, along with about 15-20 minutes of the crowd dance.
Sagia: Yes, it is
very popular to guests who enjoy dancing and dancing on the stage. We have
dance devices all set for them to stand and dance with us alone with our music.
This is usually the finale and the dances and music runs for about 15-20 min.
DollyStar: The
"Crowd Dance" is the end of the show. When it’s time for the "Crowd
Dance" all our guests are invited to walk on stage to dance and enjoy the experience
in sync with the other dancers. They get
to dance with and mingle with the artists and other invitees.
JB: I understand
you also own or are involved with a couple of other businesses. Would you care to comment briefly on those
other enterprises?
DollyStar: Sagia is
also a choreographer, dancer, builder, teacher and an all-around woman of many
hats including DJing at some larger venues.
She does private DJ parties as well
Sagia: I am also a choreographer and I perform not only at ShowStyle Avenue, but at other dance theaters as well. One is the Empire Theater known as Elysium. Additionally, I do two sets a week as DJ at Runaround Sue's.
JB: Is there anything else you want to share with our readers today?
Sagia:
Certainly. For those interested
in learning more, about ShowStyle Theater and some of the projects we are
involved with, I recommend they please check out the following links:
BLOGSPOT: http://sagiaresident.blogspot.com
FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sagiaresidentcom/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TvI68BH8Ok&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuhJGH886dc&feature=youtu.be
Gyazo: https://i.gyazo.com/d91d60ac17309013b21421958d19280b.mp4
https://i.gyazo.com/450b6be9c0aa67453a1f9e29d6b8a17b.mp4
https://i.gyazo.com/033e0113191143985e959b99d99fccf1.mp4
DollyStar: If I may Josh, Sagia is a bit too shy about touting her own accomplishments. For eleven and a half years, Sagia has owned and operated Showstyle, also known now as ShowStyle Avenue. She just moved to her new location recently. ShowStyle Theater is a theater of Dance and arts. Once in a while, she will host an individual to make up around 6 or 7 sets for an hour-long show. She directs 7 different choreographs, and each artist/choreographer designs and creates a theme, dances, and set about that theme. This hard work and painstaking precision showcases the excellent talent she has in making each set stylish and centering around a given story. Costumes help with the theme and background. Sagia gives the artists a place to establish their creations and show the results of their hard work. To prep for a show takes a full hour to cache each set, the costumes, and final fixes and the DJ has to have a steady hand for on-time intervals before the curtain call show. Artists make it seem so easy and if it wasn't for Sagia holding the entire show together, the dancers and routines would fall apart. She has a keen understanding and the knowledge to coordinate and deliver an awesome show with well-known artists from around the Globe. She is so humble and to be housed at her new home on 5th Avenue is a great honor.
So there you have it folks.
Start your New Year on the “right step”
by catching one of these amazing performances at the Showstyle Avenue Theater. The next extravaganza, MCPOL AND THE AMAZON
DANCERS SPECIAL" GIPSY KINGS" will be performed at the Showstyle
Avenue Theater SUNDAY, JANUARY 7 @ 1 PM SLT
SURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Avalon%20Cove/191/79/23
It will help set the tone for the New Year. And when you get there, tell ‘em Josh sent ya. You’ll be glad you did.
Be there! Aloha!
JB
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