'Blast!' brings music and dance to IU

Cast members can't explain what makes "Blast!" such a unique and powerful show.\nIt could be the magical blend of so many different genres of performing arts. Cast members dance, sing, do flips and even hang suspended by wires, all while playing their instruments. Costumes and lighting only add to the effect.\nStudents can see the magic for themselves this weekend, when the performance comes to the IU Auditorium Friday and Saturday.\n"What's really fun about 'Blast!' is that we actually get intimate with the audience; we actually communicate to them," said Ben Harloff, a cast member and 1999 IU graduate. "It's a very personal show."\n"Blast!" features a singing, dancing, colorful onstage brass band ' a unique combination called brass theatre. It also includes a variety of musical genres, from jazz to blues to techno-pop.\n"It's a celebration of music," Harloff said. "Expect many different genres of music, expect a lot of dancing, a lot of acting onstage."\nThe performance comes to IU as part of its pre-Broadway tour, direct from its premiere in London's West End, where it received glowing reviews.\n"Imagine the air spinning with superbly manipulated sabres, flags, streamers and rifles all tossed up in perfect unison and timed to drop to the nanosecond and you might just get some idea of the show's intricate synchronized choreography," wrote Roger Foss in What's On In London. "Try to imagine all of this going on while the vast, disciplined army of hunky musicians blow a storm or beat their drums, and simultaneously do cartwheels or run backwards, and you are still only half-way there."\n"You can't describe all we do in 'Blast!'" Harloff said. "We'll make you laugh, we'll make you cry, just a million things."\nThat success started right here in Bloomington in 1984, with a group called Star of Indiana. Founded to benefit young people in music education, the drum corps became the first ever to place in its first year among the top 10 at the Drum Corps International World Championships. In 1991, it won the world championship.\nAfter reaching the peak of success in that area, Star of Indiana shifted focus, evolving into a theatrical show that brings outdoor pageantry onstage.\nMost of "Blast!'s" 60 cast members are in their 20s, and 75 percent were members of a world championship drum and bugle corps. Each member fills one of three roles, as part of the brass, percussion or visual ensemble.\n"It's a bunch of talented people doing what they love to do," said Jennifer Ross, who put her studies at IU on hold to be a part of the cast.\n"Some weeks we perform daily," Harloff said, "and it's just a great experience … I get to learn so much just being on stage."\n"Blast!" will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets range from $20 to $50, with a $10 student discount available for select levels. Tickets are on sale now at the IU Auditorium Box Office and at all Ticketmaster locations.