By the time this article comes to print, Mr. Etown will be a mere day away. The most widely-attended performance in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center, Mr. Etown never fails to get all of Musser Auditorium roaring with laughter. The annual Office of Student Activities event, while hugely enjoyable to watch, may be somewhat of a different story for the competitors. I certainly cannot speak for the eight guys this year who are brave enough to dance in front of hundreds of people, but my experience last year was easily more stressful than fun. Every single guy competing, regardless of how good his routine turns out to be, deserves respect, praise and a pat on the back. Here’s why.
Being selected to represent your residence hall is decently challenging, depending on where you hail from. The stiffest competition typically occurs in the apartments and quads, where multiple people often want the opportunity to compete. Aside from gaining enough support from peers, though, each contestant requires a certain degree of bravery when accepting their initial nomination. Oftentimes, some Mr. Etown competitors — including myself last year — score the position because no one else feels they have the time or courage to take on the role. Others compete without knowing exactly how large an undertaking they are getting themselves into. Regardless, simply competing speaks volumes about each competitor’s willingness to put himself out there. That alone is worth something.
Every Mr. Etown contestant has to learn the group number, which opens up the show. The group number is like a miniature version of a dance one might see during an Emotion Showcase. Even though the guys have their own individual routines to work on, they still have to attend weekly rehearsals for the group number. Seeing as how the group number is each contestant’s first impression on the audience, it deserves a good deal of commitment.
The largest and most challenging aspect of putting together a Mr. Etown routine is creating one’s personal dance routine. Ranging somewhere from five to 10 minutes in length, this part of the show is what each contestant will be remembered for. Before even figuring out a single dance move, however, each participant needs a theme for his performance. Some have their themes figured out years in advance, while others go through several different ideas before deciding on one that clicks. I personally did my fair share of brainstorming last year, but I already had a few ideas going into the competition, so I saved myself a little time in this regard. Coming up with a theme and the songs that make up the routine requires an unexpectedly large amount of creativity. In certain ways, piecing the music together can be one of the most difficult components of making the routine come to life.
Last year, I found the creative aspects of putting my routine together simple compared to the more managerial aspects. Finding participants for the routine comes down to sending out emails, hounding people over Facebook, awkwardly asking people in-person and potentially lobbying the entirety of Emotion or another student group, should willing helpers prove few and far between. Some contestants try to incorporate students from different social circles on campus, in order to garner votes from those crowds. I — like many others — opted to ask any friends and acquaintances I could find and ended up assembling a ragtag team of excited participants. Once a contestant has assembled his crew, he should also prepare for people to drop out, which adds some additional stress to the mix.
Each contestant also has to find a choreographer, meet with said choreographer, plan which participants are in which dances, schedule practice times and locations (good luck finding times that work for everyone), cut the music selections together (or find someone who can), get participant contracts filled out and figure out costuming. Getting participants to actually show up to practices is a whole separate beast by itself. Simply put, preparing a Mr. Etown routine is a logistical nightmare without careful planning and friends’ support. But that’s the stuff you don’t see on the night of the performance; you only see the finished product — not the painstaking hours put into making the routine happen.
In addition to preparing the dance itself, figuring out lighting effects for the performance and preparing an optional multimedia presentation to accompany the dance, the contestant also has to plan for the later portion of the show: the question and answer. First, the contestant needs to find an escort — or some variation thereof — to walk on stage with him. I am still shocked that Dr. Kraybill agreed to do this for me last year. The contestant must also pick an appropriate song that matches the escort. Finally, he has to craft a creative answer to a question, preferably more articulately than the average Ms. America contestant. Needless to say, Mr. Etown is no joke.
So if you see one of the manly men competing in Mr. Etown this year, wish him luck, or maybe bake him some cookies. The competition requires dedication beyond what anyone can tell from simply watching the Friday night performance. What I have detailed does not even account for the OSA employees, judges and others who give up their time to make the show happen. Mr. Etown is the product of diligence and dedication from so many different people — let’s not forget that as we enjoy the show on Friday evening.
