Musical Theater Dance Workshop with Common Ground Recap
Justin Boccitto and Dani Champagne, from Common Ground, lead a special musical theater masterclass.
Recently, the team hosted a dance workshop at the Feel the Beat dance studio located inside the Charles Whitlock Recreation Center, in Lakewood, CO, with our friends at Common Ground, an organization dedicated to bringing all styles of tap and theater dance to communities around the world.
The Power of Musical Theater
Electric. That's how I’d describe the energy in the room before Common Ground’s Musical Theater class hosted at the Feel the Beat dance studio, located inside the Charles Whitlock Recreation Center, in Lakewood, CO. Common Ground—an organization focused primarily on tap classes that began in New York—lent their co-founder Justin Boccitto and instructor Dani Champagne to Feel the Beat on July 26th 2025 to explore the joy of musical theater.
Now, I, Kristen Krak, an instructor at FTB, have to admit a slight bias here. I spent a decade in New York pursuing acting, so naturally, musical theater holds a very dear place in my heart. I was thrilled to dance to some of my favorite music on our vibro-tactile floor and to see how Justin and Dani adapted the musical theater style to be accessible to each dancer in attendance.
Right off the bat, the class was giggling. While warm-ups can sometimes feel serious and focused, Justin led one full of energy, silliness, and joy. By watching his body and listening for vocal instruction—also interpreted by our ASL interpreter, Lindsay —he challenged us to follow along with rapidly changing movements until it became too chaotic to keep up, and we broke out in laughter. It immediately diffused the pressure of perfection, got us breathing together, allowed space for mistakes, and reminded us that, at the end of the day, dance doesn’t have to be so serious.
A Key Component of Musical Theater is Play
In fact, that’s a key component of musical theater: play. Sure, some musicals may call for intensity and gravity, but more often than not, musical theater dance asks performers to lean into goofiness and exaggeration—and to express those qualities fully through both the face and body. That philosophy became the focus of this class. It didn’t matter if you didn’t have the moves perfectly or needed to adapt the choreography to suit your body. The focus was on expressing the song and the character’s emotions in a way that felt authentic to each individual dancer.
After learning specific musical theater jazz steps during the warm-up, we strung them together in across-the-floor exercises. Once these movements were familiar to our bodies, it was time to learn the choreography. The same joy and excitement that filled the room earlier carried seamlessly into the sequence we learned to “Deep Down Inside” from the musical Little Me. Beyond teaching steps, Justin guided us through what our characters were feeling, wanting, or expressing at each moment in the music. With every repetition, you could see the dancers shift from concentrating on counts and movement to fully inhabiting the playful, exaggerated characters we were creating.
My favorite part of the class was splitting into groups to watch one another perform the final piece. Reminding us that it was a safe space, Justin encouraged dancers to go full out, letting their characters shine through the movement. Cheers erupted after each group finished, and you could feel a collective sense of pride swell in the room. Together, we had created a space where dancers could adapt movement to fit their bodies and needs, feel confident expressing themselves fully, and embrace playfulness and joy through dance. The biggest smiles, high-fives, and hugs filled the room as class came to an end. I’m deeply grateful to have been part of this workshop—and to be reminded of the genuine, powerful joy that dance can ignite in our bodies.