Four Days Until Showtime!

Today marks the half way point in BalletCollective’s eight day rehearsal period leading up to Wednesday, our opening night.

As our Joyce debut is fast approaching, we have been rehearsing six hours daily. Like BalletCollective’s first rehearsal period, where we accomplished a 22 minute ballet - The Impulse Wants Company - in just 9 days, this time we managed to put back together The Impulse Wants Company (meaning we left the ballet for a few weeks so now when we are back again, the dancers and other artists have to remember the choreography and get the piece looking whole again) and re-work Epistasis, an older work, (the second ballet on the program) in just four days. 

Troy and the dancers did their homework and certainly came prepared, but this rehearsal period is functioning slightly differently than our previous rehearsal time. We have a ballet mistress, Glenn Keenan, to help the dancers and to assist Troy. Glenn, a former New York City Ballet dancer and now a ballet mistress for the company, is trained in this field. Having her being in the studio has allowed Troy to focus on wearing one hat: choreographer, rather than trying to fill two. As Glenn becomes more acquainted with the ballets and Troy’s choreographic style, the ballets are looking sharper. 

Glenn’s previous experience as a ballet mistress has enabled her to join BalletCollective’s process seamlessly. I must say that having Glenn in the studio makes everyone's job much easier. Before we had a ballet mistress, I tried to help Troy out by wearing both the dancer and ballet mistress hats. It was difficult to dance and try to focus on everyone else. Having the extra pair of eyes in the studio allows me to focus on myself and my dancing. At the same time we as a whole look better and have a clearer picture of what the steps are supposed to be, and on what counts exactly to move. Glenn is a life saver!

Photo: Troy Schumacher

Photo: Troy Schumacher

Tonight, Troy and I are celebrating (as I'm sure the dancers are too in their own way) with dinner and drinks at Cafe Frida. Yet not celebrating too hard, we still have a lot of work to do before Wednesday! 

Next up... continue cleaning, tweaking and running both ballets in sequential order to build stamina for the big night!