Anytime you work with a large group of people there are bound to be a few you don\u2019t get along with.\u00a0 No big deal.\u00a0 You just have to work with them \u2013 not live with them.\u00a0 As long as each of you respects the other\u2019s space and views \u2013 there shouldn\u2019t be any problems \u2013 unless of course if that person is a bully \u2013 like Lorraine.\u00a0 Lorraine was a vicious, nasty bully who took great pleasure in harassing other dancers in the company.\u00a0 Lorraine\u2019s favorite targets were women who weren\u2019t as technically proficient as her AND who wouldn\u2019t fight back.\u00a0\u00a0 Angela was Lorraine\u2019s first victim and Lorraine only attacked Angela when they were on stage performing in front of an audience.\u00a0 Every single performance, when Angela would be balancing on one leg, Lorraine (who was supposed to repeat the position behind Angela) would edge forward and knock Angela from behind \u2013 causing Angela to loose her balance and stumble forward.\u00a0 Lorraine loved to make Angela look like a loser who had fallen out of a simple position.\u00a0 From the wings \u2013 I would watch her do it.\u00a0 Hit Angela and then smile out to the audience.\u00a0 What a bitch.<\/p>\n
You would have thought that Lorraine\u2019s actions would have gotten her fired \u2013 but \u2013 Nooooo!\u00a0 Lorraine was one of the director\u2019s favorite dancers.\u00a0 True \u2013 she was an exceptionally gifted dancer: great jumps, wonderful energy and beautiful lines.\u00a0 Her talent may have protected her from management\u2019s sanctions but it didn\u2019t protect her from the few of us who knew how to fight back.\u00a0 Angela had left the company.\u00a0 Lorraine needed a new victim.\u00a0 We were performing a three-scene work.\u00a0 At the end of the second scene, Brian lifted Lorraine into their final pose.\u00a0 The stage lights went out and as the rest of us moved into our third scene opening positions, we heard a loud thud.\u00a0 The lights came up.\u00a0 Brian was sitting in the center of the stage with a dazed look on his face.\u00a0 Lorraine didn\u2019t like the way he lifted her at the end of the second scene so she punched him out.\u00a0 Where was Lorraine?\u00a0 Standing nonchalantly in assigned pose behind me.\u00a0 The next day we were back in rehearsal.\u00a0 This time Brian and Lorraine were working on another duet.\u00a0 At one point in the dance, Brian was supposed to grab Lorraine\u2019s hips and do a quick lift\/push move.\u00a0 He did more.\u00a0 Brian literally threw Lorraine.\u00a0 She flew away from his body, hit the floor and continued to slide across the studio where she ended up slammed against the wall.\u00a0 Brian took a moment, put his hands on his hips and slowly sauntered across the floor until he was standing over her.\u00a0 \u201cLet me tell you how it\u2019s gonna be from here on in,\u201d he drawled.\u00a0 Lorraine never challenged him again.<\/p>\n
Lorraine decided to go after me.\u00a0 One of my favorite choreographers was working with the company and she created a duet for Lorraine and me.\u00a0 Technically \u2013 we were pretty much on par with each other.\u00a0 Off the subject for a moment \u2013 I have found that while it is your job to accurately perform the moves and timing that a choreographer gives you – when you admired the choreographer, you put a lot more effort into doing everything exactly right.\u00a0 Somewhere in the middle of this duet, Lorraine and I were to pause for a two-count balance \u2013 before continuing on.\u00a0 While Lorraine could balance \u2013 she didn\u2019t have total control of the movement.\u00a0 So let me explain real quickly what good control of balance means.\u00a0 You can go into the balance on exactly the right count on the music and maintain it.\u00a0 Most people can\u2019t do this.\u00a0 They either need a few extra seconds to set up the balance or they go into it on the right count but can\u2019t hold the position.\u00a0 I had great balance control.\u00a0 I had absolutely no problem executing it on the correct timing, and absolutely no problem maintaining it.\u00a0 Lorraine always needed to a few extra moments to set her balance up.\u00a0 The problem was that once she established her balance, she didn\u2019t like to come out of it.\u00a0 She liked to stay in the balance as long as she possibly could \u2013 which meant we were late for the next section of the dance.\u00a0 It also meant that I had to wait for her.\u00a0 For a couple of weeks, I begged Lorraine to do the choreography as it was set.\u00a0 She ignored me and did what she wanted.\u00a0 I decided to teach her a lesson.<\/p>\n
Just reminding you that I had great command of balance.\u00a0 During the next performance, we both went into the balance (Lorraine of course later than me).\u00a0 Lorraine came out of her balance \u2013 but I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I stayed in my balance for another ten seconds.\u00a0 Trust me \u2013 ten seconds is a long time in movement and choreography.\u00a0 Lorraine had to wait for me.\u00a0 Now here\u2019s where my little lesson came into play.\u00a0 I was a very smart dancer.\u00a0 Dancing set choreography is like reciting the alphabet to a rhythm.\u00a0 If you get lost, most people either pick up where they left off \u2013 or start over again \u2013 rhythm be damned.\u00a0 The same thing happens with dancers.\u00a0 But there were a few of us who had the ability to start exactly where the rhythm dictated.\u00a0 I could start anywhere in the choreography.\u00a0 I always knew exactly what step went with each specific count of music.\u00a0 By the time I finally came out of my balance, we were late.\u00a0 Physically \u2013 we were on count number three.\u00a0 Musically \u2013 we should have been on count number thirty.\u00a0 I came out of my balance, skipped movements four through thirty and went directly to movement number thirty-one \u2013 exactly where I was supposed to be on that music.\u00a0 Lorraine couldn\u2019t do this.\u00a0 Our duet was destroyed.\u00a0 I continued dancing the choreography by myself and Lorraine floundered around looking lost.\u00a0 Now I knew that I was going to get in trouble for this – which I did.\u00a0 By the time I came off the stage, the director and the rehearsal master were already waiting for me.\u00a0 I got an earful from them.\u00a0 It was worth it.\u00a0 After they left, I turned to Lorraine and said \u201cLorraine honey, I\u2019m from New York.\u00a0 You f*** with me and I will make you look like an idiot every single night.\u201d\u00a0 Never had problems with her again.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately \u2013 that was the only way to deal with Lorraine.\u00a0 She pushed and you had to push back harder.\u00a0 Once you bested her \u2013 she pretty much left you alone.\u00a0 Her next target was Rebecca \u2013 using the same attack method that she had used with Angela – knocking her over on stage.\u00a0 Although I wasn\u2019t dancing for the company at that time, I was still aware of Lorraine\u2019s antics because Rebecca and I were friends.\u00a0 Like Angela, Rebecca didn\u2019t have a mean bone in her body.\u00a0 And like Angela, she just didn\u2019t have it in her to fight back.\u00a0 I decided to go watch one of their performances and see exactly what Lorraine was doing to Rebecca.\u00a0 Then I came up with a plan of action.\u00a0 Initially, Rebecca was against it.\u00a0 Seriously \u2013 she was simply too nice to ever consider doing anything purposefully nasty.\u00a0 I pushed her until she agreed to follow my plan.\u00a0 Lorraine loved to jump \u2013 especially high travelling jumps.\u00a0 She was proud of her jumps \u2013 and rightly so \u2013 they were her best asset.\u00a0 In the dance where she was harassing Rebecca, there was a moment where Lorraine would run across the length of the stage and execute this magnificent jump.\u00a0 While she was doing this \u2013 the other dancers were moving around the stage. The joy that Lorraine felt when she executed this high jump was pretty obvious to everyone in the audience.\u00a0 Her face literally beamed.\u00a0 Like I said \u2013 the woman liked to jump and she was good at them.\u00a0 So \u2013 here\u2019s how my little plan went down.\u00a0 Lorraine started running across the stage and right as she was picking up speed to go into her jump – Rebecca stepped into her pathway \u2013 giving Lorraine only two split second choices; either slam into Rebecca OR pull out of the run and forgo the jump.\u00a0 Lorraine quickly pulled out of the jump and shot Rebecca a dirty look.\u00a0 After the performance, Rebecca went to Lorraine (as I had coached her) and told Lorraine that they were playing by new rules: every time that Lorraine pushed Rebecca, Rebecca would purposely mess up Lorraine\u2019s performance.\u00a0 Lorraine backed off.<\/p>\n
With Rebecca off the menu, Lorraine went after the rehearsal mistress Delia.\u00a0 Delia was such a sweet woman.\u00a0 She worked like a dog to make sure that everyone had all the rehearsal time they needed and that everyone felt competent in what they were to perform.\u00a0 Delia was also a non-confrontational kind of person.\u00a0 She simply wanted everyone to get along.\u00a0 By this point, Lorraine was getting out of control.\u00a0 Because she was protected by the director, she didn\u2019t feel that she needed to hide her antics anymore.\u00a0 She was going to do exactly what she wanted to do.\u00a0 I was watching one of Delia\u2019s group rehearsals.\u00a0 Group rehearsals are mind-numbingly tedious \u2013 even on the best of days.\u00a0 Hours and hours of going over the movements and making sure that everyone in the room is doing the same music accents, the same body positions, the head positions, etc.\u00a0 Delia\u2019s rehearsal was going badly and it was because Lorraine had decided to not play with the rest of the group.\u00a0 Everyone was moving on count one \u2013 and Lorraine was moving on count two.\u00a0 Delia would stop the rehearsal and correct Lorraine\u2019s timing.\u00a0 The group would start again from the top and Lorraine would still be a count behind everyone else.\u00a0 Now \u2013 here\u2019s one of those moments I have always hated:\u00a0 you can\u2019t control ONE idiot dancer so for the sake of time, energy, peace and irritation, you make EVERYONE ELSE in the room adjust to the idiot.\u00a0 Delia got nine other dancers to change their timing because Lorraine was being a jerk.\u00a0 They started to run the piece from the top.\u00a0 Everyone moved on count two.\u00a0 Lorraine?\u00a0 She was moving on count three.\u00a0 Delia stopped the rehearsal and asked Lorraine what the problem was.\u00a0 Lorraine put one hand on her hip, glared at Delia and said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where you put the timing.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to dance with them.\u201d\u00a0 Lorraine\u2019s goal was to stand out from the group for the better or for the worse.\u00a0 I left the rehearsal.\u00a0 What can you say to someone that obnoxious?\u00a0 Delia gave up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anytime you work with a large group of people there are bound to be a few you don’t get along with. No big deal. You just have to work with them – not live with them. As long as each … Continue reading