Since 2019, Dance TV has been workshopped, revamped, and finally realized as a bombastic stage production, but things might just be getting started. "We knew we wanted to keep going, but we didn't want to keep doing the same show," says Andy Frye, co-creator of Dance TV. "So many incredible people and artists have put so much time and energy into this that it felt like such a disservice to pack 'er up and call it a day."
Leaning into the television trope of creating holiday episodes, it was decided that Dance TV would have a Halloween episode. "The audience is walking in as if it's a live taping of this fictional hit television show," says Frye. "But this specific instance, they're walking into their very special spooktacular Halloween episode."
This time around, Frye enlisted some writing help from Katy Helbacka and Jessica Lind Peterson. "It was a unique process," says Helbacka about the writing process. "But it was really fun to basically talk Halloween with these guys for like a year."
For the music, ten collaborators were brought on board to create new tunes. Though new, many of the tunes will have a familiarity that suits the season. "Each number is kind of like an ode to Halloween eras or Halloween movies. Each one is a little nod to something that everyone, I think, will recognize," says Helbacka. "For example, we don't have a Ghostbusters song, but we do have a paranormal investigators song."
Dance TV Halloween will be performed this weekend at Zeitgeist in Duluth. More information about shows and tickets can be found on the Dance TV Studios website.
You can hear Community Connection every Tuesday and Thursday at 8am on Northland Morning. This edition of Community Connection is made possible in part by Lakewalk Surgery Center.
