H, ROBERT'S prob- ably going to say it,” ms” sighs Winnipeg-born choreographer Trudi Forrest. “Yes, 1 was a cheerleader in Grade 12. He probably tells it at cocktail parties. It doesn’t matter, though," she continues with a smirk, ‘‘because one day I'll di up his high school annual and find something out about him.”’ The ratfink Robert is Vancouver director Robert McQueen, with whom Forrest has a very special kind of relationship. When you're working as closely as this duo has for the last two months on Sweet Charity -- Theatre Under the Stars’ (TUTS) 1993 season opener —- these personal tidbits are bound to popup... {t turns out that Forrest's cheerleading days at West Van- couver secondary school, howev- er, deserve more than just a pas- sing mention. That was where she. learned to choreograph her very first dance numbers. Forrest was dancing from the time she learned how to walk and she knew instinctively there was more to it than just “boring kicks and doing the splits.” Now one of Vancouver's top movement instructors, Forrest’ maintains that choreography is largely an intuitive art form. | just started doing choreography for theatre by osmosis,” she says, sinking into an enormous leather sofa in her trapical-inspired North Vancouver living room, clad in a tight sleeveless black jumpsuit, enor- mous hoop earrings and sporting a Betty Boop-style hairdo. “One day Mallie Bowman ., {co-founder of the Actor's Workshap) said to me, ‘I need a choreographer.’ And | said, ‘1 guess I’m that.’ “Honestly, people ask me if I’d trained as a choreographer and ! haven't. I’ve learned by just sitting around and watching. | don’t know how you could train to do it”. » Watching people like director Leon Pownall in particular. Forrest met Pownall in 1984 at the Shakespeare Festival in Nanaimo, a meeting she describes as a turning point in her career. Pownall had heard about this hot new choreographer’s work on the Vagabond Players’ production of Pirates of Penzance, so he sent a friend over to see if she was as good as everyone said she was. “Leon sent (singer) Joelle Rabu fide-Away| Kvelyn Jacob SPOTLIGHT FEATURE over to see if ! had the goods,”’ Forrest remembers. “Lwent over to Leon and said, ‘| hear you don’t have a choreographer. Well, 1 want to be yours,’ “He grilled me on European choreographers, and { said, ‘I don’t know about them, but | do know about American choreographers like Twyla Tharp.’ “We had a real love-hate rela- tionship,” she continues. ‘’! credit him with teaching me. His rehearsals were always open and | sat in and watched him direct. “That’s how | learned how to choreograph — watching how directors pull things out of actors.” Forrest has worked mainly in theatre since then (mest recently on the Vancouver Playhouse pro- duction of Private Lives), but she has choreographed for opera and dance as well. She also gives movement classes at Capilano and Malaspina College and is just starting to get back into sculpture. (Forrest spent three years at the Vancouver School of Art and credits sculpting for help- ing her “create living sculptures” on stage.) — So This summer marks her second season with TUTS and her third collaboration with McQueen. The nice thing about working with McQueen, she says, is that they share a remarkably similiar vi- sion of what musical theatre REPRODUCED OR RESTORED. E AFTER ® Photo Restoration © Instant Colour Portraits B® Canada’s First , f THE MAGIC CABOOSE Hon Grails Island ouside Kids Only Market}- Enjoy summer dining on our 40 seat patio Fresh Gourmet Pasta, large portions - small price! 0/, OFF e Early Bird Special 4-69m Open 7 days a week ® Seniors - food only #3 Lonsdale, N.Vancouver 984-3337 should be. Both believe in the adage that less is more. “We really dovetail. People remark on it all the time. They Say, ‘Ooh, you guys are velcroed.’ ”’ But Forrest doesn’t pretend that their version of Sweet Charity, Bob Fosse’s Broadway smash hit based on the Fellini film The Nights of Cabiria, is going to be earth-sh- attering — just fresh, she hopes. “4! didn’t watch the movie 1,000 times,’’ she explains, ‘I just listened to the music a lot be- fore | read the book and didn’t make any decisions. “| wanted each number to be distinct, arid | tried not to use the same steps so that each scene lives On its own.” Creating dance moves for an ac- tor who has waltzed maybe once or twice in his or her life is proba- bly the toughest part of the job, but Forrest says she’s learned to mellow over the years. “In the beginning, if anyone did anything different I'd just freak, Now | think there’s so many people who know they'll give me the information. You have to be willing to go with that. See Huge page 22 ON HunterDouglas NORTH VANCOUVER 1226 Marine Drive 984-4407 %: —_ ” NEWS photo Mike Wekeflald TRUDI FORREST has worked with a lot of actors in her time but has never had the urge to take centre stage. r] Sigel ao ADD A TOUCH OF CLASS WITH DUETTE™’ WINDOW FASHIONS. The unique honeycomb pleated shade. * Energy efficient. « Choice of pleat size: 3/8", 3/4" or 2". © Soft, durable fabrics. « An exciting range of designer colours in sheer, translucent and blackout fabrics. ¢ Functional beauty with no seams, fraying or sagging; no visible cords or cord holes. , ; * Customized to your most exacting needs. Let us put the beauty Ff and practicality of Duette shades into your life. F ©)