Dance Meets Drama as Piper Perabo and Teri Polo Tap Into THE BIG LEAP, Which Asks The Question, ‘What if?’

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede As a scripted show about a reality show, the new CTV series THE BIG LEAP is obviously a combination of beloved genres. But there’s also a sports element that stars Piper Perabo and Teri Polo hadn’t really thought about before. The first two episodes of THE BIG LEAP are available now on CTV.ca and the CTV app, while the series makes its Canadian television debut on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV (before settling into its regular Mondays at 9 p.m. ET timeslot, beginning Sept. 27). Set in Detroit, the story follows a group of diverse, down-on-their-luck characters attempting to change their lives by participating in a reality-TV dance show that builds to a live production of “Swan Lake.” Perabo plays Paula Clark, a breast cancer survivor and the VP of “restructuring” – a.k.a., the instigator of layoffs – at an auto company. Polo plays Julia Perkins, a former ballet dancer and current “vlogger” whose uphill battle to stay relevant is being further undermined by her marital problems. In a dual interview, Perabo and Polo were talking about how THE BIG LEAP is designed to get the audience to fall in love with the characters, so that when those characters face challenges in the dance reality show, viewers are really emotionally invested. That’s when it was suggested that there’s also a sports angle to THE BIG LEAP, in that viewers will find themselves rooting for performance – just like watching any sporting event on TV when the stakes are high. “Totally! That’s a good analogy,” Perabo said. Polo added, “I’ve also said that it’s like two different shows, where you’re marrying a dramedy, an acting show, with a dance show, and then combining them with a cast of a thousand. It has been a real challenge, but everyone has busted their humps, from the crew to the cast. It’s definitely a labour of love and passion, for sure.” Reality TV shows have been around for two decades now, so it’s fascinating how THE BIG LEAP doesn’t have to do much explaining about what’s happening on that front. “In fact, even with the way they built the sets, the audience is so familiar with the format that the characters on our show can walk off the stage within the show, and walk down into the production offices, or back into the control rooms, and an audience will understand what all those spaces are,” Perabo said. “They understand sort of how this is all done. But it’s pretty cool when you’re watching that the story just keeps going. With SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, or something like that, the camera doesn’t keep going, back into real life. But that’s what happens in this show.” Taking THE BIG LEAP on a deeper level, the plot raises some interesting questions about happiness – specifically, what it means to be happy, and how everyone strives to feel more fulfilled in one way or another. “It is a deep thought, and I think that everyday people do have these kinds of defaults, whether they necessarily recognize it or not,” Polo said. “We’re calling it a ‘second chance’ sort of show. But I also would like to refer to it as a ‘what if,’ because I really honestly believe that all of us have asked that question at some point in our lives, whether the answer is, ‘yes, I would do it this way again,’ or, ‘I would choose a different path.’ And what would have happened had I chosen a different path? What would my life look like? Would I have been successful? I think that is very relatable, and this show is very deep in that sense, without a doubt.” When a series has as many layers as THE BIG LEAP, it can be hard to describe it in a succinct way. While some reviewers, and even some of the people associated with the show, have gone out of their way to stress that “it’s more about the characters than the reality dance show,” Perabo took a different tack. “I’m going to disagree with the people who were saying that it’s not really about the dance, because one of the things that I think audiences are going to really like about this show is how much dance is in it,” Perabo said. “Almost every episode has a giant, incredible number – and sometimes more. So no matter what you’re feeling about how it’s going for the characters, what’s amazing about every episode is that there’s at least one big dance number. And I think that’s so fun to look forward to.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv