Jan 26 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. This little pose has been the cause of more consternation for dancers and choreographer. Juliet sort of swings around and backs into this position and then she swings back into the pose below. Originally, the back foot was supposed to be on point, but when she did that, it never had the right sense of rebound.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. In the end, I decided that I really didn't care that much about the athleticism of standing on point and what I really wanted was the juxtaposition of the arms and bodies. When I told the original Juliet to just go off pointe for the step, she seemed disappointed. But after a few run throughs, she saw the method of my madness.

Daily Stuff - Put Paris into R et J today. Also worked on Juliet's death scene. Afterwards, reset an old pas de deux for the first part of the Romance program. Its a sort of 50's thing with lots of jumps and turns for the couple. I was a bit surprised at just how fast the choreography was that I had set. But just as before, after a few run throughs, it all started to make sense.