Mad Hot Ballroom auditions for ‘Forever Tango’

The air in the Bradley Pavilion was electric Wednesday morning. These sparks came both from nervous ballroom dance students in Danceworks Mad Hot Ballroom and Tap arts education program and their excited classmates from Hartford University, Hope Middle, Vieau, Maryland and Keefe schools who came to cheer them on. More than 40 dancers in all auditioned for Luis Bravo and company before the national tour stop of Forever Tango at the Marcus Center for Performing Arts. Only 10 spots (five boys, five girls) would be chosen to perform alongside the professional Argentinian tango artists in the one-night show happening tonight.

Think of it as Dancing with the Stars — Junior Division.

In between elimination rounds, Forever Tango dancers David Leguizamon and Vanessa Villalba hosted exhibitions and a master class to the young onlookers. There were “oohs” and “aahs” (plus, a few catcalls during hotter moments) from the crowd, and a nearby trio of tour musicians deftly accompanied on piano, Argentine accordion and double bass.

Finally, the winners were chosen. They are: Agana Baertlein (Elm Creative Arts), Samantha Carter (MacDowell Montessori), Kenza El Abdallaoui (Hartford University School), Brenna Riley (Lincoln), Yasmuir Higgins (Hope Middle), Trevon Bland (MacDowell Montessori), Wanyah Frazier (Golda Meir), Jaquan Johnson (Hope Middle), Farrakhan Johnson (Hope Middle) and Dave Randle (Golda Meir).

Some dancers who made it to the finals but were not chosen received tickets to tonight’s performance. If you want tickets of your own, call the box office at 414-273-7206 or visit the Marcus Center website to order online.

(Click on any photo for a full view, or click HERE to watch a select slideshow.)