Telluride Round 2

BalletCollective in Telluride

Being in Telluride has been a breath of fresh air especially for me following my tick ordeal. From the mountainous view seen from my peaceful terrace, the lush green landscapes, wildlife sightings and welcoming community, BalletCollective feels at home.

This week, BalletCollective has been hard at work and hard at play! Each day the dancers take ballet class, taught by Troy, and then begin the day's rehearsals inhaling bottled oxygen every step of the way. The altitude here in Telluride is over 8,700 ft, and takes time to get used to. Last year I tried to be tough and refrain from using the oxygen, but this year I have no shame. It is helping me with the Lyme diseases and with the stamina needed for the intense ballets.

This year's workshop performance at Telluride's The Palm Theater will include last year's Dear and Blackbirds, the new Mark Dancigers male duet featuring David and Taylor, and the new group ballet composed by Ellis Ludwig-Leone. Both new works, though they were started in our Millbrook residency this past June, have been refined and polished here in Telluride. Troy's goal is to get the works in great shape for the workshop performance this Saturday which will then function as finished templates for our upcoming New York season at the Skirball Center November 4th and 5th.

David and Taylor in Bunker, Photo: Troy Schumacher

In the midst of rehearsing five hours a day, we make time for hot tubs to soak our muscles, walks along the river, nighttime gondola rides, fun family dinners, ice cream runs, and social events to raise awareness for our upcoming show.

Additionally, Troy has begun filming at some of Telluride's most remote and beautiful landscapes to capture moments from each new work soon to become short films. Last year Harrison, Troy and I filmed the last movement of Dear and Blackbirds on Willson Messa (where Harrison's childhood home stands). The film captures the emotion of our dance and the magical picturesque backdrop of Telluride.

Just yesterday, Troy, David and Taylor ventured to a brick bunker-like location with painted rustic doors, rough ground, and shot moments from the male duet. Today, Troy and Harrison are ATVing to a remote quarry near a waterfall in the mountains to shoot Harrison's solo from the new group ballet. I can't wait for you to see the footage.

Harrison in Quarry, Photo: Lauren King

Tonight we have an open rehearsal for the community to come experience the residency and its creative process. Then the dancers, Brandon, Troy and I will head to a cocktail party celebrating BalletCollective followed by a pig roast in the park with the Telluridians!

Few Days Away - Unexpected Cast Change

Me by BalletCollective's Wild Posting Ads

BalletCollective is just a few days away from our New York season at the NYU Skirball Center! We have been in the studio at New 42nd Street rehearsing this past week, refining the ballets and preparing for the performances. With an unexpected bump in the road, we are in good shape.

Just last Sunday, as our New York City Ballet fall season came to a close, Harrison Coll hurt his foot dancing in the last ballet of the matinee, George Balanchine's Theme and Variations. Sidelined for the next few weeks, on crutches and in a boot, Harrison sadly will not be performing with us this Wednesday and Thursday but will make a full recovery.

After much discussion and weighing our options, Troy came to the conclusion that since we were unable to find a replacement for Harrison (with such little notice and time), and with a number of dancers already committed to other projects or on vacation... he would dance! Although Troy is wearing many hats: director, producer, now dancer, he is the perfect fill-in. Having created the ballets, he has a greater understanding of the steps, and knows exactly how they should be done; they are his steps and creation after all!

Late last Monday night, soon after making the decision that he was to dance in both The Impulse Wants Company and also the premiere of Dear and Blackbirds, I dared Troy to put on the music and run the Dear and Blackbirds pas de deux with me. It was a sight to see! In our living room, at 10pm in my Uniqlo pajamas, he and I were jumbling through the ten minute piece. Not surprisingly, Troy basically knew the whole work. I knew plugging him into the ballets would be no sweat!

In our late night mock rehearsal, I realized that Dear and Blackbirds was going to be a new experience for me. Having a work made on you and another dancer creates a strong bond and connection. You develop your individual "characters" or impressions and mental connections with that other person. After working out the kinks, and having several performing opportunities, dancing excerpts in Fire Island and in Telluride, Harrison and I had built a chemistry that just kept growing  each time we danced the pas de deux. It was intimate, refreshing and always a joy. In a way, I always knew where he was going to be or what his next move was, or even what the emotional arc was trending that day. With Harrison gone, I know this will be a new experience of exploration in dancing with Troy, and we have already begun reinventing the piece for the two of us and having fun doing it! (I only hit him with my elbow once! OOPS!)

These past few days have been hard work but by the end of yesterday, Troy had been slotted in to both ballets and the second of two premieres, All That We See, was put back together. All three ballets are in great shape for tomorrow
when we rehearse with the musicians for the first time!

For ticket information go to BalletCollective.com We hope to see you there!

A New First

Troy Choreographing, Me Assisting Photo by Devin Alberda

This summer has been filled with many "Firsts": Troy and I got married (!), BalletCollective appeared at the Fire Island Dance Festival (where Harrison and I danced with the sunset as our backdrop), BalletCollective had its first summer residency in Telluride, and I took on the role of BalletCollective's Choreographic Assistant!

The role of Choreographic Assistant is that of being the right hand person to the choreographer. Helping to take down notes, corrections, patterns, marks in the score, dancers' individual counts and/or steps, make coffee runs, film the daily progress of the piece, or even call when it's time for a five minute break - all are part of the job description. In this case, the choreographer is Troy. Since I was not involved in one of the two new pieces for BalletCollective this year, as I am featured in Dear and Blackbirds, Troy asked if I would like to try ballet mistressing again, but this time for professional dancers. (You can read about my experience as his assistant for his School of the American Ballet Summer Intensive here.) I immediately jumped at the opportunity as I love to coach and be hands on in the process of learning and perfecting ballets.

Taking on the role of BalletCollective's Choreographic Assistant is different than my other experience working with students. This time, I would be working closely with my husband (not my boyfriend) and with my fellow BalletCollective colleagues. I thought to myself, this will be fun! I love to help make things more cohesive and clean for the group or even help coach friends in variations. I thought my goal would be to help alleviate moments of uncertainty and keep the process moving smoothly for Troy and his dancers.

At first, I would arrive during the choreographic process, finding my place at a chair in the front of the room near the music jack, ready to be seated and be mostly silent. I would start and stop the music, help count out steps occasionally and help clarify if Troy needed it. At home, Troy and I would watch the daily videos of his work and critique every move - weeding out the bad and showcasing the good. Once the ballet was mostly mapped out, I had more liberty to chime in with my observations on corrections, mishaps and or moments of weakness in the studio.

Me watching Claire Photo by Troy Schumacher

When we were in Telluride, it was close to show time. The ballet was rehearsed on stage daily, which gave a better vantage point not only for Troy as a choreographer but also for me as his assistant. We could see what worked and what didn't, what was weak, and where things needed to be more together and precise. Each day we would run the ballet, Troy and me sitting out in the audience, he watching, and me taking endless notes and corrections. I wrote down anything that he said, but also in between writing down his thoughts, I'd watch and take my own notes. He and I have different eyes and
different minds (thank goodness for that!) so we would see different things. I'd spot many more mishaps than he - he mostly focusing on the choreography and me on the execution of the steps and the way the dancers looked. Using my eye to help make the dancers better is something I consider a gift. I find that I can spot problems and often suggest good solutions or corrections to make dancers feel more at ease or better understand Troy's movements. I think I was helpful, at least I hope I was!

My ideas and thoughts going in to this new role were all correct, except I forgot to think about how I would feel not being a part of the group - now being a slight outsider. Working with students was easy. You say, they do. With professionals, we each have different ideas, our own learning processes, ways of moving and taking corrections. As I respect each one of Troy's dancers as my peers, dancers, and friends, I often felt uncomfortable giving endless corrections to them. Though they were receptive of my input, it was a tough time, learning to put that discomfort aside and focus on my task of being Troy's Choreographic assistant. In the end, I learned so much about myself, my insecurities and the world of coaching.

Fire Island - Dancers Responding to AIDS

Being a part of the Fire Island Dance Festival was an absolutely incredible experience! BalletCollective not only made its company debut appearance at the festival, we also premiered an excerpt of our newest work Dear and Blackbirds.

Awaiting the Pines ferry
Photo by Troy Schumacher

The journey to the island is a bit of a trek - an hour and half bus ride from the city to The Pines Ferry, a 20 minute ferry ride, and then a casual walk on the boardwalk to the location. But once you set your eyes on the Pines and the Fire Island Dance Festival performance venue, you fall in love.

Throughout the weekend, the performers and dance companies were on tight itineraries to ensure that we could make it to all the wonderful events, see the amazing beach houses (our hosts have an original 50's beach house!), take a dip in the many pools, and of course be wined and dined by the amazing people who make the Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA) possible.

Friday, after arriving on the island, we made our way to the first of our scheduled events - a pool party! We relaxed, had some lunch, and then freshened up for the opening night cocktail party. We were then punctually whisked away to the cocktail party, met a few hundred people, and enjoyed a performance by the Mark Stuart Dance Theater. Immediately following we were graciously met by our host families holding up a sign that read "Troy and Ashley Schumacher". Troy and I were hosted by Jim Streaker and Scott Ahlborn. Upon arriving at their beach house we were immediately struck by its 50's charm and detail! Jim and Scott were so welcoming, respectful, open,

50's Beach House
Photo by Troy Schumacher

funny and just a joy to be around. Troy and I were greeted in the morning by coffee and a freshly made frittata with vegetables from their garden, and in the evenings after the performances yummy Malibu cocktails or martinis with pickled green tomatoes! We sat, watched the passers-by from their all-glass windowed living room, and enjoyed each other's company!

Our host family's house was conveniently located two doors down from the dancers' greenroom and four doors down from the performance venue. We had the best and most prime location for everything! It made life so much easier (the other dancers had to lug their performance clothing and dance bags to and from events to make sure they'd have all that they needed for the tech run through and performances). I just had to walk next door.

Because the greenroom was so close to my house and the performance venue, Harrison Coll and I warmed up in my hosts' kitchen. It was more comfortable and less chaotic than the greenroom, as we were only two, instead of 20, trying to warm up and get in the zone. Dear and Blackbirds was fifth on the program, so at the top of the tech rehearsal or show, Harrison and I would make our short walk to the green room, put on our costumes and make any last minute adjustments before being escorted to the venue.

Rehearsal "Dear and Blackbirds"
Photo by Troy Schumacher

Saturday was performance day! After a brief orientation and coffee time with our hosts, Harrison came over and he and I gave ourselves a ballet class warm-up in the kitchen. Our tech run-through was at 1:40pm. This was our first time up on the stage, feeling the floor, etc. The intense natural sun light was blinding, and the no wings or backdrop (just the ocean) was disorienting, but after a few minutes of trying things we were ready to begin our walk through. Troy went over the musical cues with the tech crew while Harrison and I took our places for the top of Dear and Blackbirds. In the midst of our tech rehearsal, Troy says to us, "Get together... picture time!" We do as we are told, and then look behind us and there, waving, were Jim and Scott... kayaking behind the stage! It was the coolest thing ever! They watched our run-through from the ocean.

After our run-through, Troy, Harrison and I took a dip in Harrison's hosts' pool to cool off and relax for a few. At 3:15pm Troy and I headed back to our 50's beach house to regroup and get focused for the first performance. At 3:30pm I jumped in the shower to warm up, then started to put on my face (do my stage makeup). Since the lighting is "au naturale" my stage makeup reflected that: mascara, a little eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss. At 4pm Harrison came over and we began our joint warm up together. An hour later, the show began. We headed over to the greenroom, slipped on our costumes-- mine a blue dress from Lord and Taylor, and Harrison's a Uniqlo polo shirt and mustard yellow Zara pants cut into shorts--styled by myself, Troy and Jeff from the DRA. I sewed in my point shoe ribbons, grabbed last minute rosin and a sip of water. Soon we were escorted to the "on deck" position and awaited our turn!

To be continued...

Day 1 Fire Island Rehearsal Period

After a hard week touring with NYCB in Saratoga, Troy, Harrison and I are back in NYC, working on Dear and Blackbirds. An excerpt of Dear and Blackbirds will debut this weekend at the Fire Island Dance Festival!

Rehearsing in Saratoga
Photo by Troy Schumacher

Yesterday's rehearsal was so much fun! Up until then, we had worked on Dear and Blackbirds in segments meaning section by section, continuing to choreograph the lengthy pas de deux and rarely going back to the beginning.  This was because we were rehearsing with limited time in between NYCB rehearsals or during performances, so the priority was to keep making progress on the choreography and save the connecting and cleaning for this rehearsal week. 

Troy's plan worked! We started the rehearsal with a calm confidence knowing that the excerpt of Dear and Blackbirds to be performed at Fire Island was finished choreographically, so Troy could focus on piecing it together. To aid in the connecting of sections, Harrison and I did our homework  (meaning we watched the rehearsal videos the night before so we could come in prepared knowing all of our steps). 

Harrison and I took our places for the start on the ballet and Troy pushed play! We were off! Though not making it too far without stopping, we managed to work our way through the seven minute pas de deux. Fixing heads, arms, timing, and working on character development, within an hour we had gone through the entire ballet. Harrison and I grabbed some water, and then while looking out the window into the hustle and bustle of Times Square, both thought "We should try running this thing!"

So that's exactly what we did. "Taking it easy," we said, but easier said than done. We didn't take it easy, we ran Dear and Blackbirds! It was a great feeling to be able to run the ballet and see our way through to the end. As the ballet is only two dancers it is physically demanding so to reach the end pose we were both beyond thrilled. We did it! No mess ups, no stopping! 

Harrison, Troy and I all left New 42nd Street Studios feeling excited!