By Cinara Marquis
“Cardinal Creatives,” is a weekly column that celebrates creators in Plattsburgh, both present and past. By spotlighting diverse talents throughout our community in all forms, we create a window into Plattsburgh’s art scene.
After seeing her eldest brother on stage, Ashleigh Baer knew that she wanted to be in theater. Baer’s brother Cody Langley was in their high school’s dance club and drama club, seeing him taking up so many hats in theater inspired Baer to follow his footsteps.
“I wanted to be just like him,” Baer said. “Being in shows with him or him helping behind the scenes kept me going.”
After Langley’s high school graduation, he continued his involvement with the theater both backstage and in management for some of the shows Baer was in.
“My mother and him would give up a lot of time and effort to keep supporting me through these shows, and I cannot thank them enough,” Baer said.
Baer attended college at SUNY Plattsburgh and graduated May 2023. She originally majored in business but switched to music arts management with a minor in theater after recognizing her passion for the arts.
“I soon realized that music notes were more of my pace than accounting and numbers,” Baer said.
She immediately found community with others in the music arts management major and said that she enjoyed how the professors challenged her intellect.
High school is where Baer first learned about choreography. She felt empowered by how seriously their choreographers treated her and her peers.
“The dance rehearsals were what I looked forward to the most,” Baer said.
Choreography is an important aspect in any piece with movement — it is the sequence of steps and movements in a performance.
“Action movies have fight choreographers, just as musicals and recitals have dance choreographers. It is one and the same,” Baer said. “It is important to keep this art alive, so we continue to tell stories and connect with others through movement.”
Baer has a variety of choreographing processes depending on the piece. When working with a piece she has never heard of, she will commit to researching the script, recordings and interviews. She always makes it a point to communicate with the director of the show about their vision.
“Dance captain” at Santa’s Workshop in Wilmington, New York, was Baer’s first job, and it’s where she unleashed her choreography skills. The role entailed her learning nine character parts with 12 shows being performed a day. Within her second year of working, she was put in charge of teaching fellow castmates the different movements of each show. After that job, she moved into teaching junior musicals, with children from 8 to 18.
Baer choreographed her first adult show last year. It was a show about self-discovery, mistaken identity, love-triangles and pride in the month of June called “Head Over Heels.”
“I think some people enjoyed my odd way of teaching, so they continued my choreography journey with Adirondack Regional Theatre’s continuing production of ‘The Rocky Horror Show,’” Baer said.
With the show that Baer is currently choreographing, “The Rocky Horror Show,” she said that it is easier, but still not simple.
“Easy as in I know the music like the back of my hand, but difficult as I struggle to come up with completely different moves for each character. The Rocky Horror Show tends to have different themes each year, which helps me zone in on what kind of dance style the show needs,” Baer said.
You can buy tickets for the Adirondack Regional Theatre’s production of “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Strand Center for the Arts website. The show will be running Oct. 25, 26 and 31 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 27 at midnight.
