When we first founded CCB in 2009, we were a team of 8 trained professional dancers...5 women and 3 men. The men (The Hammerheads) were the significant others of three of the other troupe members and were all three professional ballroom dancers. Sassy and I choreographed their first number to Sixteen Tons, and outfitted them in coveralls, hard hats with tap lights on the front, and pretty substantial prop sledgehammers tailored to their hight. The first rehearsal was nothing short of comedic genius (Why do we not record this shit?). The boys struggled to learn our choreography for some reason. Then we added props and costuming to deal with and it was full-on chaos. No one got frustrated or lost their sense of humor, but it certainly did not go as smoothly as we expected. But two months later when the boys stepped on stage for our first gig in front of a packed house it was beyond deafening. People fell in love immediately. For the next show we added a fourth male dancer...a talented student of one of the Hammerheads who was an incredibly animated performer. This time they did their own choreography. Once again they had people on their feet. Over several shows, we brought in 3 other male dancers as well. Alas, two of the guys bought dance studios, and trying to wrangle schedules for rehearsal times became too much of a challenge. They didn't officially "disband" per se, but real life got in the way. The boys still come to shows and consistently talk of getting something together....we can only hope they'll join us back onstage at some point. They are certainly missed.
G
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