Lorin Latarro is an incredibly talented choreographer and performer who has worked on multiple shows on and off-Broadway, as well as opera and immersive experiences. After being in 14 shows on Broadway as a dancer, she naturally transitioned behind-the-scenes, and now has two very different shows running now: The Who’s Tommy and The Heart of Rock and Roll. Both had a long development, and Covid changed everything about how production timeline work. Here, she tells us about going back and forth between both.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
With two shows up and running at the same time, are you always this busy?
Covid changed all the ways that Broadway shows align. But when you get the call, you go!
You’re working with two different directors. Tell me about how you collaborate with Des McAnuff on Tommy and Gordon Greenberg on The Heart of Rock and Roll.
Most directors can articulate what they are looking for, but the director knows what they are getting when they hire me because they have seen what I have done before. It’s a lovely push and pull, and both Des and Gordon were a delight to collaborate with. They are both incredibly intelligent and dedicated artists. These are very different shows, with contrasting styles and substance. So the process was very different, based on respective content. I like to prepare base material and a map for each of the dances before rehearsals begin, make sure the director is good with my ideas and foundation, then layer and layer in the room based on input from the director and the dancers.
How would you describe the look and feel of your work on Tommy, with the dancers constantly in motion almost acting like pinballs themselves?
My hope is dancers are always telling story. In Act 1, they play disenfranchised kids in a post World War Two England. In “Sensation,” they are in their daily hangout, a church youth center, when they witness a miracle when they watch little Tommy play pinball. I try to convey a kinetic sense of being born again, almost like they get zapped with a lighting bolt. The choreography has them scrambling over each other to try to get closer to Tommy. A combo of teenage sexual energy and a spiritual awakening. Then they take on the rubber band-like quality of the pinball in the machine. I had that image in my head as I choreographed the dance.
In Act 2, the same kids turn into Tommy’s loyal followers. The movement becomes more militaristic and unison. In our story, we head into the future, so I imagine what a half human/half AI would move like. I didn’t want to get stuck in just dancing like a “robot,” so I played with the energy breaking out of its unison mold at moments. In my head, it’s like the human silently screaming from inside the android. Like you’ve seen in rotoscoping work when the human form can shift and then shift back.
The big moment in The Heart of Rock and Roll is the bubble wrap tap dance. Tell me about conceptualizing that number. Were there sounds with the bubble wrap that you specifically want them to make?
Since bubble wrap would be sold at a cardboard box company conference, it made complete sense to use it. Gordon and I played around with first walking on bubble wrap and we just kept going further and further. We experimented with little bubbles versus big ones. The big bubbles make a crisper sound. The moment was fun to make, partly because we had to stick to crisp clear staccato stomps to get the sound, so the sound dictated the movement style. Tamika Lawrence was originally not in the dance break but one day I saw her doing the dance in the corner and that is when I discovered she was an amazing dancer in addition to being an incredible actress and singer. So we came up with this fun idea that she starts by being shocked and horrified her colleagues are dancing on bubble wrap, but then gets caught up in the fun and becomes the right leader.
How did you get interested in choreography?
I danced in 14 Broadway shows, the Martha Graham Company, and Momix. At Momix we choreographed a lot of pieces ourselves with Moses Pendleton. While I was performing on Broadway I was always assisting other choreographers. I was in the room with Andy Blankenbuehler while he was auditioning for In the Heights, assisting him. Kathleen Marshall, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett, I was their associate for many years and I would do that during the day, and then go perform on Broadway at night. It gave me a real education.
Do you have you own particular style?
I am only interested in doing something new every time. I am not interested in creating a “Latarro” style. Every story deserves its own way of moving. I combine everything that is appropriate to the story we are telling. I love all kinds of movement equally, and I am in love with dancers. Dancers are special. I am drawn to dancers who aren’t afraid to dance outside of the box. I prefer a dancer who will fall down versus someone who plays it safe. I love great technique, but I also love when a dancer can throw it away in certain moments and get lost inside the movement. I love dancers who are good actors, and dancers who love to dance so much they have no interest in marking through a show. Those are my people. They can be any shape or size, it’s passion I’m after.
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