N2 Dance is back at the Palace Theater for another unique spring semester performance Friday and Saturday.
Dancers, singers and actors at N2 Dance, a performing arts studio in Hilo, will be showcasing their skills with two showings of an original production, “Inside Out Game Show.”
Three lucky audience members, played by surprise N2 Dance actors, will be chosen to compete for $1 million through a riveting game show, hosted by a world-renowned emotions expert Dr. Dache Keltner, played by Zaira Hahn.
The Inside Out Game Show’s professional actors, singers and dancers, all played by N2 Dance performers, will depict twelve scenarios for the contestants who will need to guess the most natural, emotional response to each situation.
The idea behind the show started from a routine performed 10 years ago, according to Angela Woods, director of N2 Dance.
“For the original routine, kids played characters from the ‘Inside Out’ movie, and I thought about that again and wanted to expound on it,” Woods said. “Instead of doing a similar story, we wanted to come up with our own idea that would cater to the strengths of this cast. The idea of a game show seemed like a fun way to make this more original.”
N2 began performing a musical production every semester in 2018 as a way to tie all the performing arts together. Woods also began writing the scripts at this time with help from Waiakea High School English teacher Sarah Polloi.
She has now taken over most of the writing with help and suggestions from students and her husband, Maika Woods, assistant director of N2 Dance.
“Writing the scripts gives us more freedom to incorporate our dancing, singing and acting classes together, which is a big job,” Woods said. “Once we develop the script, the individual classes work on routines and their parts in class before coming together the week before for the larger rehearsals.”
For this semester’s production, there will be about 60 performers on stage ranging in age from 5-years old to at least 40, according to Woods.
“It is definitely a big job, but I enjoy doing it every year and the performers love seeing it come together after all their hard work,” Woods said. “It’s also fun being able to resurrect an old piece and update the choreography for our classes now.”
Audiences can find out who will be the ultimate winner of the Inside Out Game Show at the Palace Theater this weekend with showtimes at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 10 and 3 p.m. Saturday, May 11.
Tickets are currently $25 for general admission and $35 for priority orchestra, and will raise by $5 the day of the show. Keiki under 3 years old are free. Tickets are available at hilopalace.com.
The pre-registration deadline for summer semester classes at N2 Dance is Wednesday, June 14. Summer classes will be held from Monday, June 17 to Saturday, Aug. 3.
For more information on N2 Dance and its programming, visit n2-dance.com
