Former “Face Off” Contestant Tommy Pietch and Columbus’ Dance 614 to Stun Audiences with Costume Creations and Dance Routine

BY KORY KASLER

One of the many exciting features of HighBall Halloween 2013 will be the collaboration between cinematic makeup artist Tommy Pietch and the Dance 614 dance studio. The two will come together on both nights of HighBall, to give a number of Dance 614 dancers live cinematic special effects makeovers before the dancers perform a dazzling live routine in costume.

Tommy Pietch is no stranger to costumes and makeup, as his career has involved work in film and television special effects makeup, including the upcoming 2014 Star Trek: Renegades television film, as well as a number of acting roles. Tommy was also a contestant on SyFy’s third season of the Face Off special effects makeup competition show, where contestants are presented with the challenge of working makeup magic to impress industry experts and special guests of the show. Tommy will now be working the same makeup magic, including prosthetics, makeup, and costumes, on Dance 614 dancers before a stunning dance performance right in the middle of all the HighBall excitement!

Tiffany Frost, who is coordinating the performance, gave us a glimpse of what we can expect at this year’s performance and also into the behind-the-scenes preparation that makes a performance come to life. Tiffany has been involved with Dance 614, a Columbus dance studio, for five years, and they have been working hard for weeks to prepare for the performance and perfecting their skills to ensure the audience will see a top-notch routine. “We started about two or three weeks ago,” says Frost, “leaving us around six or seven weeks, and we do two rehearsals a week, two hours per rehearsal.” Beyond the rehearsals, Tiffany also has the task of arranging the other aspects of the event, such as staging, lighting, music, and more. “I personally have to go home and do all the staging and lighting cues,” she says.

Tiffany also gave a sneak peek into this year’s performance, which will include a classic "good vs. evil" motif full of temptation, suspense, curiosity, and of course, fantastic creatures, including fairies, nymphs, demons, and more. Tiffany will be playing a nymph, and Michael, another dancer, will be playing a demon, along with a number of other dance students playing fairies and other characters. These creatures, created by Pietch, will begin in an airy forest setting, where the stage and music will be a beautiful accompaniment to the fairies and nymphs on stage, and then Frost says, “Michael will come in, and the stage will dramatically change.” Whether the temptation of joining the evil demons will be too strong for the good creatures to resist is yet to be seen, but be sure to catch the performance!

Frost says that considerations must also be taken into account when performing in costume. While costumes are not generally a hindrance during a routine, she says that, “Michael is going to have a big chest piece from what I’m understanding, and we do a lot of partnering, so I’m curious to see how that’s going to work out because we really won’t know until it’s happening.”

Tiffany concluded with saying that, “[They] are so excited to be a part of [HighBall], and we really want everybody to come out and see our piece and see how it turns out!”

Will good trump evil, or will the temptation to join the dark side be too overwhelming for the innocent fairies and nymphs to withstand? That is yet to be seen, so don’t miss it on both nights of HighBall, beginning at 7 p.m. each night.