A Lack of Shapes and Colors
Katrina Rose Didericksen, who plays Tracy Turnblad in the Las Vegas run of "Hairspray," is a small, compact bundle of big voice, big talent, big confidence. It wasn't always so.
It's simply too easy to let someone else dictate the right look or shape. Katrina, however, took her cues from her character, applied them to her own situation and came out ahead. Her character teaches tolerance by being uttering and disarmingly immune to the stultifying effects of limitation based on color or shape and eventually proves that perceptions can change and that differences make the world, and people, more interesting. "The show touches on prejudice in general. We've come far, but people forget how far we have to go." There are still many who haven't learned this lesson and that makes "Hairspray" topical. "It's set in 1962. People understand them because they're relevant today. People recognize it today."
Yes, and Katrina knows first-hand what it's like to feel different and vulnerable, to feel like it's necessary to jump up and down and demand recognition. "I grew up as a big girl. I was not the expected picture. You see in magazines every day what you should look like."
The trick was to establish her own unique place in the world and invite everyone else along for the ride. It wasn't an easy task to pull away from the crowd, to invite comparison and comment from those less self-assured but it was the risk that brought the reward.
Certainly, at first, it didn't occur to Katrina that part of her performance picture might include dance. She initially focused on her strength--her voice. As the saying goes, "Start with what you know." She headed off to pursue a Bachelor's of Music at New York University and as is often the case when plunked down in a new environment with no one to dictate the path, the experience was liberating. Lo and behold, she discovered she wasn't restricted to the things she could do well; she could tackle anything that attracted her attention. That included dance, something a chunky little girl from the south had never been encouraged to do.
It opened up a world of possibility to her. Even though she had a powerful voice that could shove the Rockies to China, she realized that it's not the development of a strength that bestows self-confidence; it's conquering something that appears out of range. For Katrina, that meant realizing that the negative voices were wrong. Body type would not determine her success in the world.
However, to say that she arrived at this conclusion instantaneously would be wrong. There she was, a voice major at NYU, auditioning for the Broadway musical "Hairspray." Why, the thought of dance was the farthest thing from her mind. "It was hard for me. Dance was not my most comfortable level." But she applied the lessons her character teaches in the musical. "Tracy's not scared to dance, but the confidence level to not be scared was a challenge. My first callback to dance, I was petrified. I thought, 'Oh no. I've come so far.'"
But persist, she did. The baby steps toward self-confidence were taking effect. "At auditions, I felt like I'd have to go in fighting. I have been able to gain a lot more confidence. I'm not having to prove myself as much. I don't automatically feel like I'll be rejected."
Now she looks at the possibilities. "If they need a great singer but she must be blonde, I'm not put off. I'll go for the voice. It might change their minds. I hope I persuade people to write more roles like this, change a role, do creative thinking."
"It can be disheartening when you want to go into show biz. I was lucky this role came along. For my size and stature, there are no other roles like that. Usually, those roles are older, comic relief, the sidekick...My character sees no limitations. She doesn't see the world in shapes and colors."
"I really want to get the message out there that you don't have to think you're a dancer to be a dancer. You don't have to have the right feet, the right look, the right extension. It all comes down to expression and how you want to express yourself."
Like Tracy Turnblad, her character in "Hairspray," Katrina refuses to be limited or pigeonholed. "I look at the things I have, rather than the things I don't have." One of those is now the confidence of self-expression, even when it doesn't fit imposed parameters. It has been a hard-won victory but also a valuable lesson in empathy for others and the tolerance of differences.