My first theater production (I played the lead in Woody Allen's Death, and I'm not telling you when) was capped off by dancing to the Time Warp on opening night.  I didn't see The Rocky Horror Picture Show for another 10 years, so I wasn't in on the context of the song.  That opening night, I learned what I thought was a very cool dance to celebrate the start of my first theater production.  I was amazed that everybody just happened to know the choreography of a song I'd never heard of.  After learning all the odd moves, I felt I was being inducted into a special, exclusive club.  These were my people and I felt at home.  After every production at this particular place (okay, fine, it was in high school a looooong time ago), the opening night tradition of dancing to the Time Warp stayed intact.  Even better, both the Drama and Music departments put together a Time Warp number for the high school talent show in the same year I was in Death. Everyone was decked out in fully crazed, whacked-out, sexed-out Rocky Horror costumes, much to the disbelief and occasional appreciation of the cast's parents.  Dancing to the Time Warp seems to be a tradition in some theaters, but not in others, even when one is not actually in a production of Rocky Horror.  As it was an integral part of losing my stage virginity, the Time Warp and its dance accompaniment stay close to my heart. 

 

I've done many, many theater productions since Woody Allen's Death, but the Time Warp tradition seems to have mostly faded away. There were a couple of other companies that that would throw this little song up at some point during the run, and the cast would always magically synchronize themselves for a few minutes.  Still, it had been a good 12 years or so since I'd danced the Time Warp to celebrate a show.  That is, until Hey! Dancin'!, which is itself a time warp.  Set in 1986, not long before I first got up on stage, Hey! Dancin'! harkens back to the tender and excruciatingly awkward times of high school.  It does so with comedy and love.  The production itself overflowed with great comedy and love. It was also another first for me as I was a Producer instead of an actor.  Thus, I felt a great sense of joy and full-circlement when Phil, our blessing of a Stage Manager, put on the Time Warp just before the house opened on closing night.  I'm glad I was there that night on Producer business because I was with the cast when the magical synchronization happened again.  We danced together in celebration and appreciation of our work together, and I went back in time to the late 1980's again.  I remembered feeling the intimate connection with those around me, sealed by the sheer love and satisfaction of what we were doing together.  I was in a different role, but the unfiying dynamic was the same.  My past and my present embraced each other. 

 

Moments of time that layer that way are some of the best I can imagine.  I suspect I'll have the same fond memories of this show as when I opened my first show. Hey! Dancin'! was a glorious amalgamation of reliving my past, learning a new role, and still feeling the love over all the time I've put into this craft.  It makes the sense of purpose and accomplishment feel palatable.  Deep down, I feel rewarded and lucky that I could re-capture this past joy in my present time.  I feel that the joy is still with me now and hopefully will be into whatever future (warped or not) awaits.