Cracking nuts

I started this post on Sunday, but things got a little crazy, so....it took me a while.





Anyway. Great Russian Nutcracker, people! Rehearsal was great on Saturday. Elle and I went over our Spanish duo countless times while the younger ones were dancing, then ran it several times for the local director. By the end, we feeling pretty good about it. Sweaty....like, really sweaty...but confident nonetheless.
The most noteworthy part was when our local director, whom I'll call Ms. M, gave us the low-down on what to expect at the show. It's actually going to be a really interesting day. Think about it: These Moscow dancers have been on the road for months upon months, doing this exact same show in goodnessknowshowmany cities. To say that they can dance it in their sleep probably doesn't even begin to describe it. To those guys, performing The Nutcracker is probably about as natural as brushing their teeth. And all that has got to be beyond tough on the body (I always think of the scene in Dancemaker where Patrick Corbin talks about the painful process of getting out of bed in the morning while on tour). They travel with a massage therapist and a trainer to aide with this (plus all kinds of costume/makeup/set staff.




Now, add in the local cast: kids (plus me). Lots of kids. And while many of them have danced in GRN before, performing in a major professional production isn't exactly something these kiddos do on a routine basis. The children will spend a day in a wonderful, extravagant, unfamiliar world.... and its inhabitants, to whom their world is completely routine. Both sides of the coin, represented in a big way.





(And then you've got me, the wild card, square in the middle: an adult [who looks like a kid] professional dancer [on a much, much smaller scale and in a different genre]. Always the oddball child, I am.)





Now, here's one for ya:


Q: How many times will both groups run the show together- in the space- full out?


A: One-- the performance.





Don't get me wrong, there is a rehearsal-- one-- where the local cast runs the show and the Moscow dancers are present on stage. We are the last stop on Moscow Ballet's very-lengthy tour; those dancers do not need rehearsing. They come on stage, they stand in place so the local folks can get a feel for the spacing, they save their dancing for the show.

That day...will probably be a little on the crazy side.

I can't wait.