Community adults refined and expanded on their performance skills at the Take It From The Top workshop at the Wharton Center Wednesday. Broadway professionals instructed the three hour class with dance, singing and acting exercises.
Residents and area community members — ranging from ages 21 to 86 — headed to the Wharton Center Wednesday night for the Take It From the Top adult class.
With high energy and the enthusiasm for the craft, they took to one of Wharton Center's stages to attend the workshop and expand or hone in on their performance art skills.
The three hour long workshop was led by broadway performers Ellyn Marsh, ensemble member of the musical "Kinky Boots," and Skye Mattox, who danced on the TV series "Smash."
Mattox acted as dance instructor for attendees while Marsh assisted in singing and acting techniques.
Associate director of the MSU Federal Credit Union Institute for Arts and Creativity Kris Ouellette said she hoped the class would energize the community and recharge its batteries.
Ouellette said she realized there was a need in the community for adults to learn and perform.
"It's kind of a transformative experience," Ouellette said. "We’re going to help coax you out of your comfort zone rather than shove you out of it."
The group began the night with several rounds of improv-style games, including one game called "pass the sound and movement." In this game, the participants stood in a circle and performed a sound coupled with a movement, which they then passed on to the next person, creating a variation on the whispered game "telephone."
Okemos resident Hayley Mulcrone, who earned a degree in musical theatre from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, attended the workshop to be around fellow enthusiasts.
"I think it's always good to meet people in the industry," Mulcrone said.
Scotland native Kieran Morris came to the class on his first trip to America after studying musical theater at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to experience "the American side of things."
"(I wanted to) see what it was like ... the experience of being over here," Morris said.
Manager of Public Relations at the Wharton Center Bob Hoffman said that the class speaks to the idea that the MSU community is varied.
"I think that it says that our community is completely diverse," Hoffman said. "We have programming for everyone, no matter what age you are."
But the class served as a channel to relive and revive old fires for many in the community.
For 86-year-old jazz singer and Lansing resident Betty Baxter, the class brought forth a well of familiar feelings.
"I just want to recall what it was like," Baxter said.
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