All in the Family

Today, we went back and finished the opening "wealthy family" section of the ballet. We originally had to put it off because of dancer illness and I have ben trying to get back to it for a while. One of the things that I like about this ballet is that depending on where Don Juan goes the scenes all have a bit of a different flavor. Unlike the joyous wedding or lusty gypsy camp, or even the dancy lyrical dream, the family section has a very deliberate feeling and presentation. It demands dancers who enjoy "acting." Not in a melodramatic way., but in a very clean, specific way. The trick with choreographing this type of movement piece is that you have to give the dancers enough heightened dance movement so that it seems as if they are daning, but you can't load it so much with complex choreography that they can't "breathe into" and relax into the roles. They need to have "space" in which to react to each other.

Hopefully, it will all be set tomorrow.