Bring On The Dancing Girls!

So back in SONNET-land, Chelsy and her two boys leave the stage. During the last notes of her dance a row of 6 girls form a line across the back of the stage.

They will now dance around a bit for us. You may have noticed that some of the girls have been rehearsing with their hair down. Ballet dancers usually have their hair very tightly held in a bun. However in this ballet, they ahve been asked to let it flow loosly. So they have to practice with it that way, as it changes the way that they dance.

This dance has a more serious tone. It is very much like saying a prayer. The dancers also kinda represent the figure on a carytid column from the Parthenon that I saw at the British Museum. I always think of them coming to life during this dance.

A few things. There isn't much to it.

A sigh.
An arm that raises across the face and reaches to the heavens.
A touch to the cheek
A step back
An extension into arabesque (more on that later)
A bouree in a circle.
And a pose.

That's pretty much it.



Now, as that happens one of the six dancers breaks out and performs a rather "lush" solo that includes some floor work along with some deep split penches in arabesque (an extension of the leg behind oneself). Shannon, the soloist, as chosen because her movement has a very... luscious quality to it. So her movement is a contrast to the hymn that is being played. Not that I wanted her to appear to be an odalesque. But we often have a tendancy to try to seperate the spiritual from the carnal. Both elements make up a healthy well rounded person.



But there is another thing going on here. Up to this point, Shannon has done nothing out of the ordinary in the ballet. I needed to make the point here that this is not a piece about 5 special girls (the girls who were partnered), but that at any point ANY of the dancers could take stage and become the focal point. To point this up a little more, 2 of the 5 remaining girls have movements that are intentionally arbitrary. They move because they CAN. Logic and symmetry are wonderful things. But sometimes in order to get people to appreciate harmony in things, you need to give a bit of dissonance.

With the realization that the dissonance can also be harmonious to the whole.



As the dance winds down, you can see Ari on the side warming up for his entrance into the next dance. In a way, his body language is more active than that of the girls who are dancing.

As far as what occurred at SDB today, more rehearsing and remounting. Ah the life! we also had a board meeting with the wonderful members of the community who are giving their time and energy to help us make the company thrive. I'll talk about boards after the sonnets show.