Joe Van Loon will compete in Morristown ONSTAGE, a spectacular amateur talent show, on Feb. 24, 2016, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. The evening is a major fundraiser for the Morris Educational Foundation.
By Kirsten Traudt
Not many artists get to return to the place that inspired them to perform. Yet this is Joe Van Loon’s second opportunity.
The 22-year-old Morristown resident is back at Morristown ONSTAGE after finishing third in the competition with a duo in 2013.
Although he sang that year, his first passion is dancing, which he discovered after attending a show at MPAC as a boy.
“I wasn’t supposed to go,” Van Loon says of the Lord of the Dance performance that so moved him.
But his parents couldn’t find a babysitter. So they took him along. He was hooked.
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, at 7 pm
Fifteen Greater Morristown amateur acts compete for prizes and bragging rights
Tickets: $25-$75 at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, 973-539-8008
Proceeds benefit Morris School District programs
Irish Step Dance lessons led to tap, which soon became his “whole life.” After a stint with a youth company of the New Jersey Tap Ensemble, Van Loon began dancing with a studio in Bloomfield, while waiting tables by day in Morristown.
While he knew he could make the competition as a singer — vocal acts historically are more prevalent in Morristown ONSTAGE — Van Loon was less sure about entering the final round as a tap dancer.
So he is especially proud that his debonair choreography to Frank Sinatra’s Something’s Gotta Give, which recalls mid-century movie musicals, brought him back to MPAC.
As it’s also his first public show in a while, Van Loon says Morristown ONSTAGE feels like “a groundbreaking ceremony.”
Sure, he’s been there before. But this time is a new challenge.
“Most of my solos have been with no audience,” Van Loon said.
Kirsten Traudt is a senior at Morristown High School, where she is editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, The Broadcaster. She also was a prize-winner at the 2013 MorristownGreen.com Film Festival.
