When one Baton Rouge production company strays from its comfort zone of modern dance, the audience is left with 90 minutes of entertainment to the tunes of Stevie Wonder and Dean Martin.
Of Moving Colors Productions will present its 6th annual production of “Kick It Out” this weekend with a lineup of dances paying tribute to the sounds of the Motown and Rat Pack eras. 
Each year, the nonprofit company’s professional dancers team up with children from around the city to produce the event. The show’s artistic director Garland Goodwin Wilson described the collaborative event as “a celebration of joy through movement.” 
“To me, [Motown and Rat Pack are] the funnest music ever created,” Wilson said. “And then there’s also something classic about it. It takes you to a better place.” 
“Kick It Out” offers children who may not have the means to dance regularly an outlet to showcase their talents in the show.
“I know that the opportunity [to dance] is very expensive,” Wilson said. “Every little girl dancing around in her living room is not going to have the chance to take classes all year. It’s great to be able to
offer parents a shorter-term opportunity to involve their children in something cultural.” 
The company holds placement auditions for the children in September, regardless of dance experience.  This year’s show features about 80 children, ranging from 5 to 16 years old, throughout the 20-section show. 
Normally, between 15 and 20 professional company dancers are in the show, but this year the count fell a little short. The staff remedied the situation with an open application and selected two University students to perform alongside the company in the kickline. 
Mass communication senior Brooke Fontenot is performing with the “Kick It Out” crew for the first time, but she’s having fun catching up with the other dancers.
“It’s very exciting,” Fontenot said. “It’s not super hard moves, but it’s really crowd-pleasing.”
Communication studies sophomore Macy Dunne is also performing in the show for the first time this year. 
“I’d definitely do this again,” Dunne said. “This is the style of dance I love to do. I also get a tiny duet with one of the male dancers, and that’s really fun.”
Both Fontenot and Dunne are dance minors and enrolled in the University’s growing dance program under head of dance Sandra Parks. Wilson said Parks is creating a fuller dance program to hopefully produce stronger dancers that can enroll in the company once they graduate. 
Fontenot and Dunne aren’t the only students from the University involved in the show. Mass communication junior Will Bove not only performs in the show — he choreographed two children’s dances and two company
dances.  
“We like to offer opportunities to young dancers,” Wilson said. “Baton Rouge is very transient for dance. Once you recognize that you have a talent, you want to head to a bigger city.”
The company’s associate director Carrie Tatum said those in attendance should prepare themselves for a visual display of color featuring everything from party dresses to Las Vegas-style ensembles. 
“This is the most extravagant, sparkly, colorful show that we ever do,” Tatum said. “A small nonprofit has to provide these costumes. I do a lot of velcroing, do a lot of gluing — whatever we can do to make it happen on a budget.”
This year’s show also features four live performances sprinkled throughout the event by local singer Quiana Lynell. Lynell will be performing at Jazz Fest later this spring. 
Wilson said people should come see the show even if they aren’t interested in dance. Tatum shares Wilson’s thoughts about the show and encourages people of all ages to make the trip. 
“If you left the theater and weren’t happy after the show, there’d be something wrong with you,” Tatum said. “Between the kids being adorable and our dancers being badasses, it’s just a really strong night of dancing and singing.” 
You can reach Greta Jines on Twitter @TheGretaJines.

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Haley Rowe-Kadow