Feb 29 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Rachel Sebastian-Hagquist. Lady Capulet has had enough. That flying wad is Juliet's wedding veil. This is usually an very enjoyable section of the piece for Lady C, as she gets 4 repeated musical "hits" to a) rip the veil from Juliet's hands b) wad it up into a ball c) throw it down at her feet d) stalk off.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Abby Avery. Juliet pondering her future.

Daily Stuff - Okay back up to speed now. (Check the two additional posts below). I went up to LA to visit friends on Sunday. On Monday night, I was awakened with intense cramps. After a night (and day and night) of various visits to the restroom, I was pretty much unable to get back home before Wednesday noon. But I am back now. Luckily, Robin and Max were able to run rehearsals. So today, I just went over all of the dance stuff for the auction with the company and then with the SDSB dancers. Have to get the last details on a county grant that is due tomorrow. And later on tonight, I am going to check in on a class that one of our dancers is teaching in National City. It is a new class in a community center and I want to make sure that everything is cool as far as the logistics are concerned.

Feb 28 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Abby Avery . These photos are actually taken while the stage is in a frenzy of motion. Interesting how, just one snapshot of one performer can be so deceptive of what takes place in a performance.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Abby Avery. A few moments later.

Daily Stuff - Still catching up from two days of feeling icky. :(
So three posts today.

Feb 27 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Matt Carney. Paris re-enters and stakes his claim.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Rachel Sebastian -Hagquist & Ensemble. A frenzy of female angst.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Rachel Sebastian -Hagquist, Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Lady Capulet has Juliet live up to her familial responsibilities.

Daily Stuff - Sorry, this post is delayed two days as I had a nasty bout of what I believe is food poisoning. :(

Feb 26 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Rachel Hagquist - Sebastian, Leila Gardner & Abby Avery. The "calm" before the storm.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Rachel Hagquist - Sebastian & Abby Avery. Juliet assists a grieving Lady Capulet. The move mirrors Juliet's earlier arabesque pulls with the Nurse.

Daily Stuff -  Finished the SDSB student's number for the auction this morning. Now I am going to clean up what has been learned in Don Juan and then off to more Zoot Suit swing dance audition time. Driving up to LA tonight.

Feb 25 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Rachel Sebastian-Hagquist. Lady Capulet enters Juliet's bedchamber after the death of Tybalt.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery, Rachel Sebastian-Hagquist, & Leila Gardner. Things are going to get a bit messy.

Daily Stuff - Was zipping back and forth between auditions for Zoot Suit at the San Diego Rep and rehearsal at the ballet. So one moment I was teaching swing dancing then drove to finish the pas de deux section for Don Juan then drove back for more swing dancing than back to the ballet studio to choreograph the last of the girl's variations for the 3 harlots at the gypsy camp. This one is a much more lyrical one compared to the other two. It takes advantage of dancer Zoe Marinello -Kohn's extreme extensions. All that is left to set is about 30 seconds where the 3 harlots vie for Don Juan's attentions. Then there is a sort of chase that I think I intentionally will leave unfinished for the moment.

Feb 24 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. A kiss goodbye.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Leila Gardner in the foreground. Tiffany Koepke & Stephanie Maiorano in the background. We now come to a section, I always call the Crazy Nurse. This was the last section of the ballet that I found the proper music for. Once I had pretty much set everything else I had this large section of exposition (the Nurse lets Juliet know that Lady Capulet is on a tear. Lady Capulet forces Juliet to marry Paris. Paris makes a re-entry and exit. Lady Capulet, Juliet and the Nurse all fight,) that still needed to be set. As I was searching through discarded music, I found a piece that I would never have used for anything else, because it sounded a bit clownish and satiric. It was a dance for 5 Couples that normally went in the ballroom scene. But when I listened to it now, everything just magically fell into place.

Daily Stuff - Reviewed Don Juan. Completed Max's solo and worked more on the pas de deux. Originally I was going to have the corps gypsy girls do a short dance after the pas, but I decided that I would try to include them in the pas when the music swells. Right away, I knew I had made the correct choice. But it is slow going as I don't want to rush it. Since I am happy with the way things are turning out, I don't want to change my process.

Feb 23 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. The pas de deux is almost over. Towards the end of the pas, I put in a very Bolshoi type lift, where Romeo runs around the stage with Juliet thrown over his shoulder (twisted like a pretzel).  They end in this position before he slings her out again. Every once in a while I wanted the dancers to enjoy wallowing in the overblown, kitschy, quality of the music.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. And here we have a moment right as the pas ends, right before their goodbye embrace.

Daily Stuff - Reviewed Don Juan's arrival at the Gypsy Camp, the adagio for the panderers and prostitutes, and Regan's variation. Cleaned up the gypsy corps girls. Started working on both the Don Juan (Max) variation and his pas de deux with a gypsy girl (Stephanie). Both are about half way done and  look good. I had extra time at the end, so I was able to set Stephanie's solo as well. A fast and flashy thing it is.

Feb 22 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. More of one of the curvy motif poses that Juliet often finds herself in.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. I love this particular moment. Juliet actually does a couple of sexy, jazzy hip releases here. they are actually quite lovely and bespeak of Juliet trying to convince Romeo not to leave. They are kind of a cross between little pleadings and just feeling a little frisky. I remember setting them and being so happy about having the opportunity to bring some eroticism into the pas.

Daily Stuff - Went over the Gypsy entrance today. Then we choreographed the next section where the gypsy panderers show off the gypsy harlots.

Its an adagio, which is always a bit tricky because you don't want to give the impression that time has slowed down. That is one of the big problems with the way some ballet's are performed today. There have been dancers in the past (like Allegra Kent or Natalia Makarova) who could keep extremely slow adagios alive because of the internal tensions they brought to roles. Many of today's dancers can get into amazing positions, so they favor slow tempos to show off those sky high extensions. But too often they just seem to be dancing in molasses, even slowing down their emotional response.

Anyhow, we had a fun time because the girls were being slid across the floor, slung over guy's shoulders, and got to get into a catfight. Afterwards, I set the first of three female variations on Regan. Because of her contemporary dance background, I was able to sneak in a few body rolls. I was also very happy that the ending of the little dance came to me in an artistic flash. Nice when that happens.

Feb 21 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. This is a little surprise moment in the pas. Juliet runs to Romeo... strikes an arabesque... but then flips over and falls over his knee. Its a fairly easy movement for the guy, but the girl is always a bit hesitant and going for it the first few times.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. And this is a moment after Romeo pull Juliet off the floor. In a moment she is about to swivel into a flat footed arabesque. When you start choreographing for ballet dancers, you tend to want to put everything on pointe. After a bit, you discover that its perfectly fine for a ballerina to stand on her entire foot.

Daily Stuff -  Started working on Don Juan today. Yes, thats next year's big ballet. and you heard it here first. Rather than the Spanish Don Juan Tenorio, I am going to go a bit more towards Lord Byron's epic poem. That creates more of a Casanova-type character swinging from one adventure to another. So  for our fundraiser, we will be showing a section of the ballet where our "hero" has a run in with a bunch of flesh peddling gypsies.

We did the gypsy entrance today ad it came out quite nicely. Bouncy and fun. The girls even started getting into the whole "gypsy prostitute" vibe. And the guys got to jump around.

Afterwards, I zipped over and taught at Florence Elementary School. I had one little girl who decided to leave the program today. It was unfortunate, but I knew she wasn't happy there. I had noticed a few weeks back and had a talk with her about it. At the time, she said I was wrong, but today admitted that she just wasn't enjoying herself. (It is a bit humorous that an 8 year old would think that an adult can't tell if they don't enjoy something.) So I made sure that she was leaving for the right reasons (a lack of interest in the subject/ or desire to do better) and not for the wrong ones (peer pressure or a feeling that she wasn't up to it) and then I wished her luck and let her go off and play with the kids who don't take dance. The rest of the class went pretty well. Taught more of a polka combo and reviewed their jazz dance.

Feb 20 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Two views in arabesque.. In this first photo, Juliet is coming ot of a series of supported pirouettes.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. This photo, Romeo is preparing to start a series of supported pirouettes. Note that the camera has caught juliet in that milli-second of mental focus before she is about to be spun.

Daily Stuff - Happy President's Day everyone! My only task today is to put the pedal to the metal and figure out a general structure for one of next years ballets. Even though it's a year away, I plan on previewing some of the piece at this year's fundraiser in a couple of weeks. And its going to big a BIG ballet.

Feb 19 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. This may look like two shots of the same moment in the pas de deux.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. But its actually two similar moves done a few seconds after each other.

Daily Stuff - Got up bright and early to rehearse with some SDSB girls who will be performing at our fundraiser in two weeks. I didn't have a clear idea as to what music I wanted to use up until this morning. Finally I settled on something and while I was downloading it into itunes, I saw something else in my music folder that ended up being much better. I love it when that happens.

Then I went off to a artist's reception at the Lyceum. The artist, Julie Warren, had collaborated with me on The Toughest Girl Alive. Some of the art she is showing sprang from our early discussions of the show. We didn't end up using it in TGA, but it was ended up being something she wanted to explore further. Hence the exhibition.

Feb 18 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. The final position after a slide across the floor.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Juliet IS supposed to be off of her leg here. It just looks slightly odd because the camera has caught Romeo as he is transitioning his weight back onto his left, so he can rush past her to view the impending break of day.

Daily Stuff - Had a lovely lunch today with 4 of my students from back when I taught at The school for Creative and Performing Arts in Chula Vista. When I showed up, Kathy (the ex-Charger cheerleader) had he 6 month old with her. She couldn't find a sitter. A few moments later, Martha and Carrie showed up within minutes of each other... both very pregnant. So, the lunch ended up being half reunion and half baby shower. The fourth young lady, Maribel, arrived looking sleek and TALL. I must be shrinking. I remembered her as a such a little thing. Its nice to know that they all remember their time in class so fondly. :)

Feb 17 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. The pas begins with a little solo for Juliet while Romeo is still asleep. The movements in this section actually get mirrored later when Juliet wakes up and comes across Romeo dead in her crypt.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. The ubiquitous "holding her up while I am on my back lift" that is used by so many choreographers (including me) in romantic pas de deux.

Daily Stuff -  Mainly just getting my thoughts together for entertainment for our fundraiser in two weeks. have to come up with a dance for some of the SDSB students and also put together a more substantial piece for the company.

Feb 16 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Rachel Sebastian-Hagquist. One of my initial reservations about staging Romeo and Juliet was that the music was too big (both for the story and for what I wanted to do with the staging). One of those big over the top moments is when Lady Capulet discovers that her boy toy, Tybalt, has been killed. Lots of repeated crashing chords that just keep getting louder and higher. Luckily, we have a dancer who is able to fill the stage with juicy agony... and lightning bolt-like grand battements.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Cut to Juliet's bedroom. I have left this underexposed image dark intentionally as it highlights what the most important part of this pose has always been. Juliet's leg piercing into the heavens.

Daily Stuff - No work today. I did have to go to the doctors office today. Just a follow up to my kidney stone crisis of a few weeks back. It was all good news. Free and clear of blockage :)

Feb 15 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. After dispatching Tybalt, Romeo just crosses downstage into Juliet's "world and simply opens his 'bloody" hand. Although, we don't use any stage blood for this, the audience always seems to get the meaning of the gesture, along with Juliet's reaction to it.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Romeo and Juliet exit the stage (to get ready for their big bedroom pas de deux) leaving the stage open for Lady Capulet's overture of angst.

Daily Stuff -  A meeting with a local composer today. It went very well. he is trying to create a resource for dancers, teachers, and choreographers to have affordable access to new music. Afterwards, taught a class at SDSB. Thats pretty much it for today :)

Feb 14 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Leila Gardner. You always have a bit of a choice in Romeo and Juliet as to whether Tybalt really meant to kill Mercutio or not. Or whether he gets a bit of shock and remorse afterwards. I don't really like the idea that Tybalt would suddenly have a conscience after being the textbook heavy during the entire piece. Especially, since in the play, he doesn't have any real lines towards that end. All things being Italian in Romeo and Juliet, I prefer him as the cold blooded hit man.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery in foreground. Max Tchernychev in background. So now, Tybalt is dead too. Not because loverboy Romeo is such a great swordsman, but because he turned his back on him. That's the thing with all the swordfighting in Romeo and Juliet, it doesn't accomplish anything. Both Tybalt and Mercutio are dispatched when they are not looking. Mercutio because Romeo has distracted him and Tybalt because he thinks the fight is over. So since I wanted to keep the focus on the young love and desire angle, I cut back the stage combat to the minimum to keep the piece moving forward.

Daily Stuff -  Teaching at Florence today. Happy Valentine's day everyone. Its my parent's 53rd anniversary.

Feb 13 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Leila Gardner.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Leila Gardner in foreground. Max Tchernychev in background. Yes, Juliet and the Nurse are blissfully unaware of the drama that is unfolding on the streets of Verona behind them.

Daily Stuff - Drop the R and J costumes off to be washed today. Had a meeting with Robin about our upcoming fundraiser. And then went to a artist reception for a Creative Catalyst grant I received to do a project at Moxie theatre. The reception was a great way to catch up with old pals, do some networking ( the "n" word in not- for- profits) and see some of the great preliminary work from some of my fellow fellows.

Feb 12 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Ensemble. So Juliet decides to have a little bit of a slumber party with her pals after her secret wedding with Romeo. they play a little game based on the idea that "first your husband hugs you, then you have a baby." Its all a bit fun and silly. The piece of music used here (the Aubade) is interpolated from another earlier section of the ballet.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Ensemble. The thing is behind this silly, delicate piece, Mercutio and Tybalt are meeting their bloody ends in a sort of puppet show that is observed by the Greek chorus. I actually strongly dislike violence of any sort and really had no desire to have prolonged sword fighting in the piece, so this sort of split staging turned out to be an effective way of dealing with the issue. It ended up being one of the stronger moments of the ballet.

Daily Stuff -  Matinee went as smooth if not smoother than last night's performance.  Afterwards I got to pack up and make multiple trips carrying costumes and set pieces to my van. More of the glamorous life. :) Ready for a week off from the ballet. Not that it really is. After all, I have to go in to teach and unload the costumes and sets , etc.

Feb 11 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Tiffany Koepke. So pretty. After Romeo and Juliet's "moment" of wedded bliss, we have a short transitional solo for Romeo (where our male lead can actually do a few steps, independant of having to partner someone) and a transitional scene with the Nurse, Lady Capulet and her "nephew" Tybalt, which plays to all of the usual Lady Capulet/Tybalt suggestion of hanky-panky. Then we arrive back in Juliet's bedchamber.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Ensemble. Once here, we get to a very Velasco-ish scene, which I will elaborate upon tomorrow.

Daily Stuff - Evening performance tonight. Good show. I was also stage manager and chief curtain puller. Towards the end of the show, the headset that connected me to the light and sound operators started making funny beeping noises. They figured I was running out of juice. When the show was over they checked my headset and it had exactly one minute left.

Feb 10 2012

 

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Leila Gardner. Caught in a transitional moment, looking very much life some sort of exotic turkish dancer.  She is actually juliet's Nurse. 

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Caitlyn Ross & Meghan Evertz.

Daily Stuff - Looooong day. Went in very early and taught class at the theatre. Then hung banners, swag and laid flowers that make up the Romeo and juliet set and then we did a matinee for about 200 San Diego County students. The matinee was filmed by a film crew from San Diego State University. After the show, we stayed and filmed the pas de deux's in the first act of our evening of Romance program and then did some pick up shots of one section of a Romeo pas de deux, just to make it a little more perfect. So am in hiding right now. The phone is turned off. And am holed up in my room. Everything can wait until tomorrow.

Feb 9 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. The return of the "dip." And the pas de deux is over.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Caitlyn Ross, Arielle Meads, Meghan Evertz. So the "Greek" chorus comes back to move the ballet forward.

Daily Stuff - For some reason, yesterday's post posted in the wrong place. But you can see it now underneath this one. Today, we worked Abby into her old part of Rosaline. And she just slipped right into it. I have to mention something here. So much is made of unstable artists ( a la Black Swan), but those are actually the artists that you DON'T want in your company. You can't have every performance depending on whether some on-the-edge, freaked out dancer is going to be coasting on this side of sanity. Dance companies need to have artists who can be trusted to perform night after night, in a variety of conditions, good or bad. Just like employees at any other job. :)

Feb 8 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. As I mentioned before, this pas de deux is set to what was originally some scene change music from a later act. I have found over the years, that many times composers will create some of the juiciest music for moments where nothing is happening. Sort of as if they are thinking "Oh, now I have to make it more interesting because nothing exciting is happening onstage."

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancer: Max Tchernychev. Given how quickly tragedy strikes Romeo and Juliet, I liked the idea of giving them a fun, open dance where they get to run around as if they are in the Sound of Music.

Daily Stuff- First rehearsal at the theatre. Went fairly smoothly, but we had a skeleton cast, so will have to re-space tomorrow. Afterwards, 6 of the dancers performed at the KPBS Local Heroes celebration. We danced with the 2nd Ave Klezmer Ensemble, which was nice. KPBS didn't know it when they asked us to perform with them, but we have known the group for a long time. The dancers did a great job and much fun was had by all. Onward to Romeo.

Feb 7 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev. Still in happy, just-got-married land.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery & Max Tchernychev.

Daily Stuff -  Very hectic day. Have to replace our Rosaline because of illness. So luckily Abby (last year's Juliet) is willing to come down from LA and save the day. She was the ORIGINAL Rosaline a few years back, so hopefully things will all pop back to her. Off to teach at Florence Elementary and then to a KPBS rehearsal at the Balboa Theater. In between, I have to pick up some costumes and check in on the progress at the Rep as far as tech for Romeo is concerned.

Feb 6 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Abby Avery, Martin Perez, & Max Tchernychev. Friar Lawrence (Laurencio) seals the deal. This is the slowest most deliberate section of the ballet. I always end up telling the dancers, "Slow down!" during this section.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Dancers: Abby Avery, Martin Perez, & Max Tchernychev. And then we have another pas de deux. This one starts nice and slow (see above) and then moves into a very lush piece of music that was originally written as scene change music.

Daily Stuff - Tonight, I am attending the San Diego Critic's Circle Awards. Nominated for my work on Tommy at the San Diego Rep. Will be nice to see old friends.

Feb 5 2012

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Max Tchernychev & Martin Perez.

Rehearsal for SDB's Romeo et Juliet. Photographer: Gregory Olive. Dancers: Max Tchernychev & Martin Perez. Its also nice when dancers understand a little more than just dance steps. When you can tell them "No, it has to look a little more like a Chagall stained glass window."

Daily Stuff - Two posts today. Somehow, yesterday's post was put in the draft folder and didn't get posted. Oh well, its underneath this one. Ran through everything and finished up a piece for a KPBS performance on Wednesday. Let everyone go in time to make their Super Bowl parties. Not a football fan here. It was funny. As I have been telling people, "You would think that the one place I wouldn't have to worry about people getting the day off to watch the game would be in a ballet company." Ah well, I guess the lure of Doritos and guacamole is universal.