Patrik Gallineaux’s Cinderella story
Patrik Gallineaux was seen in the documentary My Life on the Craigslist teaching straight couples how to dance before their weddings. Earlier this year, he helped create the hugely popular Dancing with the Drag Stars that teamed professional ballroom dancers with cross-dressing local personalities. His latest project is choreographing an unconventional production of Cinderella that the African-American Shakespeare Company (www.african-americanshakes.org or 762-2071) is presenting through Dec. 27 at Buriel Clay Theatre. We recently caught up with Gallineaux.
Richard Dodds: Sherri Young, the executive director of the African-American Theatre Company, has set her production of Cinderella in bayou country. Does your choreography have a Louisiana flavor?
Patrik Gallineaux: The primary dance number that I am choreographing is a fabulous masked ball at the opening of Act II. I’m keeping with a traditional Viennese waltz, but I’m adding a dynamic that definitely breaks with the traditional.
Richard Dodds: It might seem a stretch between same-sex ballroom dancing and the fairy-tale world of Cinderella.
Patrik Gallineaux: But there is a connection. I’ve brought in two guys who dance together professionally on the same-sex ballroom circuit, and I’ve paired them with two ladies, and then there are two more couples who are primarily actors who have never done the Viennese waltz. What’s fun is creating a number that allows these very experienced dancers to perform with these two other couples, and finding a way that shows everybody off.
Cinderella’s gay appeal
Richard Dodds: Cinderella is famous as a story for children. Is there anything about the production that would make it appealing to, say, the readers of the B.A.R.?
Patrik Gallineaux: Sherri Young does an exceptional job of infusing her productions with many layers. Just as one example, she has cast the wicked stepsisters with men dressed as women, and they are hysterical. And she has done an amazing job of balancing the traditional story with some very serious elements about following your heart.
Richard Dodds: I hear you might return to competitive dancing on the same-sex ballroom circuit.
Patrik Gallineaux: I’m considering that. But by nature, I’m not a super-competitive person. I’d rather uplift those around me.
Richard Dodds: With the success of the first Dancing with the Drag Stars, I imagine you’re planning an encore.
Patrik Gallineaux: Absolutely. The plan is to hold the first semi-final early June, then one in July, and finals in August at the Cheryl Burke Dance Studio.
Richard Dodds: Cheryl Burke has gained national attention as one of the professional partners on Dancing with the Stars, and twice she and her celebrity partner have won the event. Will she be available to be judge for you in the new Dancing with the Drag Stars?
Patrik Gallineaux: The next season of Dancing with the Stars starts in the spring, so her involvement will be dependent on how long she and her partner keep moving ahead on the show. But she has agreed to judge the very first audition on Dec. 19, and the venue will be either Trigger or Lime.
Richard Dodds: Your mother ran a dance studio in the Buffalo area, where you grew up.
Patrik Gallineaux: She still operates a dance studio called Dance Arts. As a kid, there were a thousand things I wanted to be, but at the very last moment, as I was filling out college applications, I wrote in musical-theater performer. Even though I might have made more money at something else, this has allowed me the chance to flourish as a human being.
Richard Dodds: Did you ever feel the need to act "straight" as you pursued a career?
Patrik Gallineaux: I actually had a confrontation with an acting teacher in college. He warned me that I could end up at some theater run by two gay men. I was furious. I’ve turned down work because people have said, can’t you be a little more macho? That’s when I realized it was time to start creating a world for yourself.
Richard Dodds: The Dancing with the Drag Stars series certainly sounds like you’re achieving that.
Patrik Gallineaux: It’s a joy to be able to put in front of the world, look, this is a man in a dress who looks so beautiful, and look at all the joy that comes out because this person feels comfortable. Just to be able to touch someone in a classy, bolstering way such as dance can be so healing.
Richard Dodds: To finish off, let’s return to Cinderella. So, you’re a white guy working at the African-American Shakespeare Company?
Patrik Gallineaux: I do have to laugh at that, but the company is all about celebrating diversity. And I’m never more comfortable as when I’m in a room or a city full of people who don’t look like me.
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