{"id":2507550,"date":"2026-07-18T18:47:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2507550"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:47:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:47:46","slug":"the-chance-to-dance-for-you-arts-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-chance-to-dance-for-you-arts-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"The chance to dance for you | Arts & Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cA Chorus Line\u201d won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize when it premiered on Broadway in 1976. Theatre Aspen\u2019s revival of the play concludes on July 25 at the Hurst Theatre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. In addition to being a cultural sensation, those are some of the accolades \u201cA Chorus Line\u201d received in 1976. It became the longest-running Broadway show ever until \u201cCats\u201d overtook it in 1997.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why did a play about 19 young dancers competing for a role in the chorus of a Broadway musical resonate so deeply and why is it still so beloved 50 years later? Theatre Aspen\u2019s production of \u201cA Chorus Line,\u201d which runs at the Hurst Theatre through July 25, goes a long way to answering these questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First off, it\u2019s the music. While the entire score is strong and birthed a hit soundtrack album in the 1970s, there are three songs that have earned a permanent place in the canon of classic Broadway songs: \u201cThe Music and the Mirror,\u201d \u201cWhat I Did for Love\u201d and \u201cOne,\u201d which feels like Cole Porter wrote a song in the 1920s and plucked it into a 1976 play about young people trying to make their way in life and the theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the almost non-stop dancing. And for the Theatre Aspen production, every single piece in the play features original choreography by Eamon Foley, except for the final number of the show, a reprise of \u201cOne,\u201d which mimics the original choreography from the 1976 Broadway production and puts a very, very \u201cbig\u201d into the big finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plot of \u201cA Chorus Line\u201d is simple. Nineteen dancers are auditioning for a role in the chorus of a Broadway play. Over the course of the day, the characters are asked questions by the play\u2019s director and choreographer, Zach. The dancers answer by revealing intimate details about their lives through dance and song.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA Chorus Line\u201d is the ultimate ensemble piece \u2014 almost every character gets equal time. But there is one character who gets a little bit more than the rest while managing to carry the emotional resonances of the entire production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That part is \u201cCassie,\u201d played with equal parts vulnerability and ferocity by Ahren Victory.<\/p>\n

When Victory walks onstage at the Hurst Theatre wearing Cassie\u2019s signature red dress, she\u2019s not simply playing one of Broadway\u2019s most iconic roles. She\u2019s telling a story she understands from the inside.<\/p>\n

Like Cassie, Victory has spent years auditioning, performing and chasing a career that demands equal parts talent, perseverance and faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Ahren Victory stars as \u201cCassie\u201d in Theatre Aspen\u2019s production of \u201cA Chorus Line.\u201d Victory grew up in Colorado Springs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A Colorado beginning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Raised in Colorado Springs, Victory first found her voice before discovering dance. Her parents filled the family car with Andrea Bocelli recordings, and by elementary school a choir teacher recognized that she possessed unusual vocal talent.<\/p>\n

Victory didn\u2019t begin serious dance training until she was about 14 \u2014 an age many dancers consider late to begin.<\/p>\n

From there came community theater, opera productions and training at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and Opera Theatre of the Rockies before moving to New York to attend the Joffrey Ballet School. Soon after earning representation, Victory landed her first national tour with \u201cCats\u201d and earned her Actors Equity card.<\/p>\n

Life imitates art\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The production marks Victory\u2019s first time performing in \u201cA Chorus Line,\u201d but like Cassie, she has spent decades being called into auditions in hopes of landing a role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now 32, Victory sees herself and Cassie at nearly the same stage of life.<\/p>\n

It is revealed in the story that Cassie and Zach were once lovers and that Cassie walked out on the relationship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Cassie never touches the gold ring on the Broadway carousel. She arrives at the audition older than most of the performers on the line, a more mature actress just trying to stay in the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zach thinks the role is below her. She disagrees. Cassie just wants to keep doing the thing she loves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCassie never set out to be a star,\u201d Victory said. \u201cZach wanted her to be a star. She wanted to be an artist, she wanted to fulfill her purpose and dance. There\u2019s no coming to terms with being in the chorus because it\u2019s not slumming to her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victory recalls similar expectations being cast on her as a young actress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was just starting out and did \u2018Cats\u2019 someone said to me, \u2018This is a great stepping stone because obviously you want to be a star,\u201d she recalled. \u201cBut that\u2019s not why I chose this career. I do this because I love it. I don\u2019t know who I would be if I don\u2019t dance, if I don\u2019t sing. I want to create good art. I want to be an artist. That is who I am to my core.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the messaging behind the song \u201cThe Music in The Mirror,\u201d Cassie\u2019s big number in \u201cA Chorus Line.\u201d In dance, the mirror represents the work you\u2019re putting in on stage where you\u2019re watching yourself dance while the choreographer calls out the steps. Victory\u2019s performance, in which she dances from mirror to mirror across the stage, is a highlight of the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several of the dancers in the audition are eyeing stardom and others have settled for a life on \u201cthe line.\u201d Some have said that \u201cA Chorus Line\u201d is about making it on Broadway. In many ways it\u2019s about not making it \u2014 this is a play, after all, about people auditioning to be in the background and finding that your life still has meaning. It\u2019s about discovering that chasing the dream was the point all along.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiss Today Goodbye\u201d is not a traditional love song about romantic love, it is a song about doing what you love at all costs, even if your name doesn\u2019t go up in lights, even if you\u2019re just in the chorus line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victory believes that\u2019s why audiences continue to connect with the show five decades after it won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that the love and the passion you put into your life is what is most important is not just a message for performers,\u201d she said. \u201cNo matter what you do, we can all take that lesson with us. Another big lesson in the play is that you can always start over. You can try again. You can pivot. You can try something else. As long as you\u2019re happy and it\u2019s what you want to do and you have that fire in your belly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victory added that a big part of life is simply showing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t go for it, you\u2019ll never know,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t go to that audition, you’ll never know if you are going to make it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aspendailynews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Chorus Line\u201d won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize when it premiered on Broadway in 1976. Theatre Aspen\u2019s revival of the play concludes on July 25 at the Hurst Theatre.\u00a0 Photo by Nikki Hausherr Nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. In addition to being a cultural sensation, those are some of the accolades \u201cA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2507551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2507550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-chance-to-dance-for-you-Arts-Entertainment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2507552,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507550\/revisions\/2507552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2507551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}