I was sick one day and my husband volunteered to take over the rehearsals for me.\u00a0 By the time the man got home, he had been beaten down to a pulp.\u00a0 He came into the bedroom and lay down next to me.\u00a0 \u201cTough day, dear? I asked.\u00a0 He sighed, \u201cYou have no idea how hard it is to spend your day talking to a bunch of people who don\u2019t listen.\u201d\u00a0 Welcome to my life.<\/p>\n
With professional dancers, it isn\u2019t so much that they aren\u2019t listening (Well, some aren\u2019t), it\u2019s simply that they\u2019re busy doing what they have to do to get the job done.\u00a0 Rehearsals are run, corrections are made and everyone works out their problems with whomever they\u2019re dancing with.\u00a0 There are a lot of discussions on how to improve your interpretation or how to adjust your movement so everyone dances the same way \u2013 which sometimes makes for a pretty noisy work environment.\u00a0 I\u2019m usually pretty comfortable with the chaos.\u00a0 For me it\u2019s simply a matter of letting everyone do their job and then reining them in when it\u2019s time to work together.\u00a0 What has always surprised me is the number of rehearsal masters who demand silence in the rehearsal hall.\u00a0 Obviously they have no time constraints on their work.\u00a0 Correcting one person at a time can take hours while if you let everyone work at the same time \u2013 do what they have to do \u2013 you can get the job done in a tenth of the time \u2013 AND because you\u2019ve given the dancers the freedom to make their own decisions \u2013 they tend to work harder.<\/p>\n
The most difficult part of rehearsing is cleaning up the group numbers.\u00a0 I learned long ago that you can put ten dancers in a room, learning the choreography straight from the horse\u2019s mouth (the choreographer) and they will come up with at least six different variations.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that they weren\u2019t paying attention, but when you are transferring movement onto your own body, you tend to interpret the movement as it suits your own ability.\u00a0 My task as rehearsal director was to take all these variations and find compromises within the group that would allow them to function as one entity.\u00a0 It\u2019s making a lot of small and tedious decisions.\u00a0 For example, do you kick on count one, or count one and a half, or on count two?\u00a0 Do the hips do a full circle or a half circle or three quarters of a circle?\u00a0 This may seem like small potatoes to you but in a group dance, it\u2019s important.\u00a0 Different rehearsal directors clean different ways.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I would look for the moves that made the dancers look their best. \u00a0I had (and have) absolutely no problem with changing any of the choreographer\u2019s steps if they didn\u2019t work for the group as a whole.\u00a0 As far as I\u2019m concerned \u2013 if the dancers look bad, the choreographer looks bad.\u00a0 Now I do need to state that I have a very good eye for what makes dancers look good and most of the choreographers that I worked with have given\u00a0 me free rein when it came to adjust their work as I felt was needed.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to be appreciated.<\/p>\n
Some rehearsal directors are adamant about doing the choreography EXACTLY as it was originally intended.\u00a0 This is a lost cause (see previous paragraph about ten people learning six different ways).\u00a0 Before the advent of cheap videos and DVDs, choreography was transferred to the next group three ways: Being taught by someone who had done it before (who would have interpreted the choreography to suit their own ability), By using one of the two dance notation forms (Benesh and Labanotation) where the choreography was written down following a dancer doing the work (again interpreting it to their own ability) OR by watching one of the rare films of dance where you are watching a dancer interpret the moves to their own ability.\u00a0 I worked with one rehearsal director who insisted that we copy exactly what the previous group had done – down to the smallest detail \u2013 using a video of their performance.\u00a0 OK \u2013 quick interjection \u2013 dance is not an exact science.\u00a0 It is a human expression \u2013 therefore flawed.\u00a0 No dance performance is alike.\u00a0 Each performance is a reflection of how the entire group is feeling at that particular time.\u00a0 Now I can speak with authority about this video we were learning off of because I was in it.\u00a0 It had been taken (without the dancers\u2019 knowledge) during a very long and very boring tour.\u00a0 Morale in the company was at an all-time low.\u00a0 Endless nights, in endless theatres, doing the same show over and over and over – my husband Jacques and another one of the guys decided to shake things up.\u00a0 They rechoreographed a small section of one piece \u2013 changing it from a series of sultry walks to a hip swinging disco dance.\u00a0 It was the morale saving performance of the season \u2013 just what all of us needed to perk up.\u00a0 When I explained to the rehearsal director what had happened and what the real choreography was supposed to be – he shot me down.\u00a0 The video was right and I was wrong.\u00a0 Fine, whatever.<\/p>\n
Some pieces need constant cleaning.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Several reasons but mainly because of cast changes OR because the physical abilities of the individuals in the group are ascending or descending at different rates.\u00a0 The movements that made one group look good \u2013 didn\u2019t necessarily work for another.\u00a0 Cleaning is difficult on the cast.\u00a0 Adjusting moves so the cast is cohesive means somebody in the room has to change what they\u2019ve been doing. Unfortunately, the longer you\u2019ve been doing it one way, the more your body has gotten accustomed to it and the harder it is to consciously break your habit and do something different.\u00a0\u00a0 We had one piece that needed a major cleaning every single year and every year the entire company would get into a fight about it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because people need to be right.\u00a0 My husband was one of these.\u00a0 I have seen entire rehearsals digress into shouting matches over who is right and who is wrong.\u00a0 I had my own solution for this little problem.\u00a0 I\u2019m the boss, you\u2019re not and I\u2019m changing it.\u00a0 See how simple that is?\u00a0 No one is right and no one is wrong.\u00a0 We\u2019d get into these rehearsals and I would say, \u201cOK people, this is how I want it from now on.\u201d\u00a0 Someone would glare at me and ask, \u201cAre you changing it?\u201d\u00a0 I would glare back and answer through my teeth, \u201cYes, I\u2019m changing it.\u201d\u00a0 Soon a chorus of \u201cShe\u2019s changing it again\u201d would ring throughout the room.\u00a0 After shouting at the top of their lungs, everyone would settle down and get to work.\u00a0 See \u2013 no problem?<\/p>\n
Having been a rehearsal assistant, a rehearsal director, a teacher, an artistic director, a choreographer \u2013 I\u2019m not real big on having to repeat myself \u2013 especially when it comes to working with professionals.\u00a0 I give a correction once \u2013 twice if I have to – but don\u2019t push it.\u00a0 The same thing when it comes to teaching choreography.\u00a0 I can understand physical problems, where it takes a bit of time for the choreography to sink into your muscles, but stupidity is something else.\u00a0 The company hired a really talented young dancer.\u00a0 My job was to get her into the show as quickly as possible.\u00a0 I taught her one section on Monday.\u00a0 On Tuesday she forgot everything so I taught it to her again.\u00a0 On Wednesday \u2013 same story.\u00a0 On Thursday \u2013 she still had no idea of what she was supposed to do.\u00a0 I took her into the director\u2019s office and explained to both of them that she was pretty much useless.\u00a0 What good is talent if you haven\u2019t the brains to use it?\u00a0 As far as I was concerned, there was no way this kid was going to be ready to go out on the next tour that was to start in a week.\u00a0 The director agreed but decided to give the kid another chance.\u00a0 She was put on probation.\u00a0 That meant that she would be left behind while we did the first tour and when we returned, she would be given another chance to fit in.\u00a0 The dancer was angry \u2013 really angry.\u00a0 As we left the office, she pulled me aside and demanded to know why I had done that to her.\u00a0 \u201cLook kid,\u201d I said, \u201cThis company runs on a tight schedule.\u00a0 We have short rehearsal periods and long tours.\u00a0 Anyone who can\u2019t keep up is useless to everyone.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t hold your own, somebody else has to pick up the slack.\u00a0 Trust me \u2013 we\u2019re all carrying a heavy enough show without having to dance your parts too.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYou are a total bitch,\u201d she said, \u201cI can dance circles around most of the dancers.\u201d\u00a0 We glared at each other.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think you can pull your act together,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cWatch me!\u201d she shot back.\u00a0 When the company returned from the tour, the kid was brought back into rehearsals.\u00a0 She learned everything quickly and she retained it.\u00a0 Later she told me that the only thing that motivated her to work harder was her hatred of me.\u00a0 Well \u2013 whatever works for you.<\/p>\n
I was teaching a group of adolescents in one of the pre-professional schools.\u00a0 Nice kids \u2013 eager, hard working but with one really annoying habit.\u00a0 They liked to ask questions.\u00a0 A lot of questions.\u00a0 Really stupid questions.\u00a0 For example, I would say \u201cPoint your foot\u201d and a few seconds later, a kid would shoot their hand into the air and ask, \u201cDo you want me to point my foot?\u201d\u00a0 After a couple of weeks, my patience had run out.\u00a0 I stopped the class and looked at their eager faces.\u00a0 \u201cTell me something.\u00a0 Why do you always ask so many questions?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAll of our teachers like us to ask questions,\u201d piped up one little cherub.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d I asked.\u00a0 \u201cIt shows them that we are paying attention,\u201d she answered.\u00a0 OK \u2013 well I could see that – but it still didn\u2019t solve my problem.\u00a0 \u201cLook guys, I don\u2019t mind questions.\u00a0 I do however mind stupid questions.\u00a0 I hope you all are incredibly wealthy.\u201d\u00a0 They looked at me in confusion.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019ve got the money and can afford me and I would like to point out that I am expensive, I will gladly follow you around for the rest of your lives and tell you what to do.\u00a0 If not \u2013 you\u2019d better learn how to figure it out for yourselves.\u201d\u00a0 They understood my point.\u00a0 It took a little time to break the question habit.\u00a0 Someone would ask a stupid question and I would stare at them without speaking.\u00a0 \u201cThat was a stupid question, right?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d nod.\u00a0 After a while, I didn\u2019t have to do a thing.\u00a0 They started to police themselves.\u00a0 Someone would ask a question and I would hear somebody else tell them that it was a stupid question.\u00a0 They were the smartest group of kids that I ever worked with.\u00a0 Not only were the stupid questions gone, but they developed problem solving to a point where they didn\u2019t need me to tell them a lot of things that even the professionals ask for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was sick one day and my husband volunteered to take over the rehearsals for me. By the time the man got home, he had been beaten down to a pulp. He came into the bedroom and lay down next … Continue reading