At first you too might have the flash thought— Which one is Gene Kelly?
…We’re eight numbers into the joy infusion titled Gotta Dance, already feeling that the subtitle for this fun night could very well be Gotta Love It. We hear those so fun lyrics from Singin’ in the Rain of the Moses Supposes song — a primer on elocution— flow from the two dancers before us as smoothly as their toes tap. Tall and lanky Brandon Burks is paired with shorter and stockier Jess LeProtto. As they effortlessly glide across the stage it is as if their bodies are shouting This is what suave looks like! Body type be damned— even when you are channeling Gene Kelly’s ghost.
What we’re seeing in Moses Supposes and in all of the 17 numbers total in the Gotta Dance program are the invisible hands of the stagers. In this case it is Caleb Teicher, one of the thirteen stagers moving the dancers the way they should be moving. It’s more than any labanotion or equivalent could capture. So much je ne sais quoi is in the stagers’ secret sauces. We are getting to see Broadway dances as they were originally seen and should be seen for ever more thanks to American Dance Machine and its co-directors Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner.
American Dance Machine Bottles Jubilation
The diverse and spirited crowd watching Gotta Dance had seemed to forget the numbing cold as soon as they hit the auditorium. There clearly were more than a few dancers in the audience— old friends— making the snatches of conversation during intermission sound like a happy homecoming game. You are in a sea of wall-to-wall happy.
In no small way, it is the ever constant smiles of the dancers that propels us into elation. You too might especially notice swing dancer Samantha Siegel’s ear-to-ear beam, whether she is upside down after a Lindy throw by her partner Anthony Canarella or just doing her part in the Chorus Line snippet we walk in the door expecting. When the few dances have an emotive landscape sans smiles you too might find your more critical mind swooping in to note the too-small-stage challenge in West Side Story’s Cool or the pairing glitches in Wheeldon’s American in Paris Pas de Deux.
Truth be told, there is little room for reflective judgement in this tsunami of happy called Gotta Dance. GOTTA LOVE IT Indeed!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
CAST:
STAGERS:
Tome Cousin, Kelly Gleason, Robert LaFosse, Brian Lawton, Dustin Layton, Baayork Lee, Donna McKecknie, Stephanie Pope, Sean Quinn, Lars Rosager, Pamela Sousa, Caleb Teicher, Alexis Wilson
CREATIVE TEAM:
WHEN:
Thru December 28, 2025
WHERE:
Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s
150 East 76th Street
New York City
TICKETS:
$29+
For more information and tickets visit the American Dance Machine website.
Photos by Bjorn Bolinder
Find more Picture This Post dance reviews in the latest roundup — CHOREOGRAPHERS WE LOVE. Also, watch a short preview video here —
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
