Photo Credit: Phil Wayes

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mischief Managed!

"We've got magic to do..."

Mischief Managed!

Last night was, no pun intended, truly magical.
Dress rehearsal was not. However, we won't discuss that.

Cut to: Curtain. The cast is assembled onstage, the curtain is closed, and as the overture begins I cross myself and say "Dear Lord, here we go." Five minutes later, the curtain opens, the audience applauds, and you couldn't chisel the big stupid grin of off my face.

In addition to the show happening marvelously, it was all the little delights as well: My little first-year ballet girls lined up backstage in their tutus, looking like miniature Bolshoi ballerinas; the youngest cast member making a splash with her walk-on (in this case, it was more of a skip/gallop/leap-on) role; the villain-- the most quiet and reserved of my advanced class-- blowing everyone away (at one point I actually mumbled "All RIGHT, go Soandso" backstage), my other three advanced ladies pulling a wonderful ensemble, throwing themselves into their roles and capturing their characters perfectly.

I nearly cried during the finale (happy tears, much unlike dress rehearsal), and as soon as the final curtain went down I was off on my usual post-good-show routine of hugging and high-fiving everyone in sight. You see, after a good performance, I always turn into that oft-intoxicated guy you knew in college who suddenly loved everybody and had to inform you that [dude] you're seriously awesome [man!]. 'Tis true.

And it wasn't over yet! There was still the rest of the show (the "regular recital") to go. It was impressive-- I know the words "dance recital" generally elicit a groan from dance aficionados, but this particular school knows how to please an audience- cynics included (I'm not saying this because I work here, seriously. I've had jobs in the past where I've had to beg people not to come to recital). They make good use to precision/synchronization (think Rockette-style), partnering, sets, and props (last year they had about fifteen 8-10- year olds slinging around poy balls-in perfect sync- while traveling all over the stage, going down in backbends, and no casualties. At EIGHT TO TEN YEARS OLD. ). I had two pieces, both were adorable and went off without a hitch.

I had a lot of people to thank after it was all over. Mainly my boss, who not only gave me the opportunity to choreograph on the ballet and let me pretty much run with it, but did the Hard Part-- organizing all the parents and kids for rehearsals and prop/costume help (and was somehow able to make sense of me while I was zooming around her studio/office talking a mile a minute and getting sidetracked in mid-sentence). The tutus for my youngest class were entirely the work of their mothers (my boss designed them, the moms made them), as were their props. Two of the moms made the hairpieces for the jazz dance, the mothers of my intermediate class added the sequins to their costumes. I may have been credited with directing/choreographing most of the ballet, but it never would have happened the way it did without all the help from everyone else. I never let myself forget that.

This was certainly lengthy, wasn't it? Now that the season with the studio is over, it's the first day after the last day again-- my apartment is now knee-deep in props/costumes/makeup, I have enough flowers to make my apartment smell amazing, and I cannot find anything I might have used in the last three days. I'm a little sad it's all over, but happy it went so well. I have today to regroup and spend with my mother, tomorrow I dive face-first into the next thing.

If, by chance, anyone from the school is reading this: THANK YOU and congratulations on a wonderful show!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Plz to be sending me videos nao, KTHX.

I'm still waiting for you to do the story ballet of Return to Oz. Hurry up.

M. Butterfly said...

I'M still waiting on you to fund it for me.

Anonymous said...

Touché.

Anonymous said...

what a crock of shit!