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Published on 08/21/1995 All articles from this issue

Los Altos teen dancer tries choreography for Los Altos Youth Theatre production

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By Alex Valdes

Special to the Town Crier

For the past five years, Keith Pinto has been dancing up a storm and is now he's putting his talents to use on a wider scope.

Pinto, a 19-year-old Los Altos resident, is choreographing his first musical, "Footloose", which will be presented by the Los Altos Youth Theatre the next two weekends at the Cubberley Theatre in Palo Alto. It is the first time the musical, adapted from the motion picture of the same name, has been produced on the West Coast after opening in New York.

It has been a challenge for Pinto, not only because it is his first musical but also because he plays the male lead, Ren.

"It's been kind of hard, choreographing the musical numbers and trying to my part singing and dancing," Pinto said.

Pinto has choreographed dance shows before but said that this musical, in which he is working with more than 50 kids aged 8-20, has been much more difficult.

"It's different, because with shows the only thing you have to do is make up a dance and do it," Pinto said. "In musicals you have to think about the story, the choreography, who needs to be in front and who needs to be doing what."

Despite the challenges, Pinto said the musical has rounded into shape much quicker than he anticipated.

"It's been really good. Usually by this time, it's more hectic _ things are not coming together well and the scenes aren't flowing," Pinto said. "But our rehearsals have been really focused. We're running the show and getting through it. It's coming together at a really fast rate."

Pinto took up dancing five years ago after he tried out for a TheatreWorks dance production and "couldn't do a single thing. It was pathetic. I needed to take dance classes."

It was the start of a passion. Pinto was soon spending most of his evenings and weekends in dance classes, sometimes attending four a night. Most of the instruction he has taken has been at Dance Attack studios in Mountain View and Santa Clara. His main two instructors have been Sioux Lehner and Filipo Tupua. Pinto's repertoire includes many dance forms: tap, ballet, street, break and jazz.

Pinto, a graduate of Los Altos High, has completed one year of study at Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts (PCPA) in Santa Maria and will put in one more year in the two-year program. He is not sure what he will do after that but may try to enter the professional ranks.

"Footloose" director Tom Carter also said that the production has been "great. It's extremely exciting. The kids are really talented. It's probably in the best shape of any show I've ever done," said Carter, who has been with LAYT for four years and has directed more than 20 musicals during his career.

Carter has a big hand in getting "Footloose" to the West Coast. He contacted Dean Pitchford, who wrote the screenplay to the movie, to talk about possibly turning it into a play. Pitchford was actually working on doing just that and offered Carter the rights to the West Coast premier.

"Footloose" is the story of a boy (Ren) and his mother who move from Chicago to a small farming town. However, the town's strict laws include a ban against dancing, engendered by a preacher (Matt Spencer) who is determined to exercise control over the town's youth. When the preacher's rebellious daughter (Ariel, played by Molly Bell) becomes interested in Ren, her roughneck boyfriend (Chuck, played by Ray Smith and Doug Leverich) tries to ruin Ren's reputation.

The musical includes many of the same songs from the movie, including Kenny Loggins' title tune, "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and "Almost Paradise."