Anchorage Daily News

The Borealis Theatre must be a swell facility. That's where the big names play when they come to the Alaska State Fair: Charlie Daniels, Ted Nugent, Jefferson Starship.

I have performed at the state fair for several years as part of the Miracle Drummers and Dancers and have never seen the inside of the Borealis Theatre.

We present our act at the less-swell Colony Stage, just inside the Red Gate.

The Colony Stage is a tiny plywood shed, wide open to the elements, with a perfunctory electrical system. Everything you see there is free. That's where we Alaskans, for the most part, show off our artistic side.

There's also the nearly all-local Bluebonnet Stage next to the aromatic livestock barn, which has the benefit of having seats under a hint of shelter. Bluebonnet tends to get musicians who sit when they play; Colony gets the dancers and such.

Today, for instance, you might catch Dance Dynamics, Discover Dance and Acadmie de Danse. In the coming week, hoofers in every discipline from hip-hop to Native and ballroom to belly dancing are scheduled to gyrate for the drifting-in-and-out crowd standing on the lawn or sitting on rough, open-air benches.

Other acts -- comedy, magic, a fiddle contest -- may flit in and out of the lineup. But most of the Colony shows are action-based. The Fire Batons of the Alaskanette Baton Corps light up the sky Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. Not dance, but definitely choreography.

There's always an anchor group brought in to spell the locals. This year it's a folk band called ShaeLaurel, a high-energy mix of Appalachian and Celtic and pop. Video at shaelaurel.com shows them fiddling and step-dancing like mad, nonstop, with a heavy percussive backup and periodic licks from a bagpipe.

How they keep it up, I dunno, but they're scheduled to perform three times a day throughout the fair. Apparently they can handle it; they played four shows a day at the Miami-Dade County Fair in South Florida 18 days in a row this year and just finished another grueling stint at the Calgary Stampede.

They may not be prepared for the primitive state of the backstage facilities. The stage itself has two tiny dressing rooms. Behind the backstage steps is a temporary building with a couple of larger rooms. Neither affords much privacy.

This makes it tricky for the house manager, who, in addition to trying to dress the stage, announce the acts and keep the pace tight, must facilitate the costuming needs of can-can girls, salsa-nistas, line dancers, Tlingits in full regalia and four-part choirs.

None of these groups ever seems to have fewer than a dozen members. The Miracle Drummers and Dancers (performing at 3 p.m. Thursday, fans) may have 20 or more people mashing into one another -- sidestepping the ballerinas, acrobats and flaming batons -- as we try to lace up our mukluks and squeeze onto a stage that barely holds us. It's not uncommon to spill onto the lawn in front of the stage, especially when the group leader calls for an "invitational" dance and asks the whole crowd to jump up and join in.

We put up with it for the awesome rewards: free admission, a coupon that gets us a discount at selected food booths -- and glory.

The audience doesn't care about the backstage chaos or remuneration package. They usually look happy when we come out. I don't know if that's because they like us or because they're grateful to have found a place to sit and rest for a few minutes before heading back into the jostling midway.

And what's not to love? Your neighbors, or their kids, working their hearts out to put a smile or an "ooh" on your lips. The price is right: free with admission. And if you don't like what you see, come back in 30 minutes and it will be a whole different bunch.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

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