Beautiful Dynamite

Today is Cyd Charisse's B-day. She who was once called "Beautiful dynamite" by Fred Astaire. There is another reason for posting her pic today. 

Some of the pieces we will be sharing at Creative Conversations on the 24th will be excerpts from Carnival of the Animals set to a new score. One of the pieces is a pas de deux for a rhino and a flamingo. The pas had a few inspirations. One was French Apache dance. The other was this famous dance from Singing in the Rain. 

Last week, while we were rehearsing a lift that was a homage to the lift above, my rhino (Jonas) took the apache idea to heart and gave Stephanie (my flamingo) a very energetic take off. Her hip bone connected to his rib bone and... Well the good news is that he doesn't have a broken rib, but he did come close. He will be out for a week.  Hopefully, he will be able to perform in 10 days. 

Just a reminder that dance is physical. And with any extreme physical effort comes the possibility of injury, no matter how much you guard against it. 

Beautiful dynamite indeed.