New Salle

Photo by Devin Alberda

The New Salle piece is great. I know I may sound biased, but by the same token, I have been involved, in some capacity, in all of Troy’s works and I think Dear and Blackbirds and the New Salle are two great ballets. Each is a huge step forward in his choreographic growth and maturity. 

The New Salle features five dancers, Taylor, David, Lauren, Meagan, and Claire. The music is composed by Ellis (with Troy’s influence) with the collaboration of David Salle who created artwork (a series of 8 pieces) that helps drive the music and then Troy’s choreography. Each movement is unique in all aspects. The music is distinct through all eight movements. One of the things that I find so special about this piece is that each movement is completely different from the next, musically and choreographically. It is varied and complex, yet simple and clean. The piece is complete dance. I mean pure dance! No drama or froufrou - it is dance at its best. The dancers each have moments all their own, whether it be a solo for one or a pas de deux, it is jam-packed with pure talent and joy. I love watching the piece. It makes me want to get up and dance. 

New Salle Photo by Troy Schumacher

Though in the high altitude, the piece was an extreme push for the dancers. As it is pure dance, they hardly stop moving. Oxygen was heavily used throughout the rehearsals! (Thank you Palm for providing the tanks!) Not sure what we would have done without them. Like Impulse and Dear and Blackbirds, we worked our way through each section daily, giving corrections, cleaning and making choreographic changes. 

Towards the end of the rehearsal week, Troy finished the 18 minute ballet! It was a day of celebration! He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to finish the piece before the workshop performance but being in Telluride was definitely inspiring and helped him to create!

Stay tuned for my experience being Troy’s Choreographic Assistant and our adventures in Nature!

Telluride Rehearsal Fun

Fire Island Dance Festival
Photo by Whitney Browne

The next few days were hard work. No more easy days! We started every day with ballet class taught either by Troy, Lauren or David. Each class was very different but our "teachers" welcomed some fun. Along with their varied styles of teaching was eclectic or pop music, depending on their mood, a nice change from formal classroom routines. Though the studio space was limited, the room was fully equipped and had an amazing sprung floor (the floor was made by using tennis balls placed in the corners joining the wood planks to create spring). It was such a pleasant surprise to find that the floor was great. (Often times, when performing at smaller theaters or other venues, the flooring can be a problem - causing injures, and pain to your joints.) The class environment was intense. We worked hard, pushing ourselves to break through the altitude difficulties and move toward better stamina. It was a process but BalletCollective is used to process!

After class, we moved to the stage for rehearsals! 

Troy usually began rehearsing Dear and Blackbirds with Harrison and me first because we needed only 15-30 minutes to run the piece (this allowed the other five dancers to take a quick break before moving on to the other two ballets). At the Fire Island Dance Festival we performed an excerpt of the pas de deux; in Telluride, we were to show the complete nine minute plus pas. At this intense degree of altitude, Harrison and I felt out of shape. Just a week prior out by the ocean, we were performing seven minutes without any problems. Yet, at 8500 feet above sea level, we couldn’t even get through the first movement --only 2.5 minutes! We started out slow, stopping when we felt like we were going to “die”, making sure we did not overdo it the first couple of days. We wanted to gain momentum but not peak too soon (a dancer tries to time the readiness of the piece and the performance just right so you are at your highest level the day of the performance). We worked our way through all four movements daily.

New Salle Piece
Photo by Troy Schumacher

After that 15-30 minutes I was pooped! But I still had another ballet to rehearse: The Impulse Wants Company. Putting together The Impulse Wants Company was refreshing but also tedious. It is always nice coming back to a ballet you are familiar with. Your body has wonderful muscle memory and, in a way, magically just knows what to do or how to move depending on the ballet. Especially when a ballet was created on and for you, the steps never seem to leave you. Six of the seven dancers were originals to the piece so we only had to work Claire into the piece. Troy, not having a choreographer’s assistant to help with the staging, had to basically relearn Claire’s part to be able to coach and assist in her slotting in. Thankfully Claire had done her homework and taught herself most of the ballet on her own before arriving in Telluride. (It is very common for dancers to be asked to learn a ballet from performance and rehearsal footage. It saves lots of time!) Most dancers check out videos of new ballets they are to learn anyway, just to begin familiarizing yourself with the context and style of the ballet, so teaching yourself is just one step further. 

Claire fit in nicely, beginning to make the role her own right from the start. We made it through Impulse, but it was definitely rough. Luckily we had six more days 'til it was to be performed!

After a quick lunch break, Troy and I started to work on the last piece, title to be determined, with the other five dancers not involved in Dear and Blackbirds. Currently it is noted as New Salle piece as the collaborators are Troy, Ellis and David Salle, an artist often exhibited at MOMA. I mentioned “Troy and I” because I am his ballet mistress or as he likes to call it, the “Assistant to the Choreographer”. I have filled this position before, click here to read about my experience during Cut Capers, and had a wonderful time working side by side with Troy and the other dancers, just in this new capacity. The New Salle piece was a work in progress. Troy had choreographed about 12 minutes while we were in New York City, but had hopes of finishing the piece before our workshop performance in Telluride. Daily we would go through each section, of which there are eight, work, clean and then he would continue to create. 

By the end of the day, sometimes 5pm but mostly 6pm, we were all exhausted. A quick stop at the local market, Clark’s, to grab any needed ingredients for the evening's meal and we were off to the Mesa for dinner and bed! 

More on the New Salle piece!

Day 1...

Hike to Waterfall
Photo by Meagan Mann

Troy and I woke to the smell of fresh coffee brewing and bacon in the oven! BalletCollective was up and preparing for our first day in Telluride. 

After breakfast, on the porch with a beautiful view, we gathered our dance bags, water bottles and, of course, the oxygen tanks (to help with the altitude) and packed everything  into our two rental cars. Troy drove and I worked the Sirius radio (40s on 4 or 80s on 8 were my favorites)! Before long, heading down the windy cliffs and endless fields towards Telluride, we arrived at The Palm Theater, our summer residency facility! 

The Palm Theater is a lovely theater, attached to the Telluride academic school and filled with a music room, basketball courts, dressing rooms, rehearsal studios and a performance stage and theater. Brandon gave us the grand tour (he was up and at ‘em early as he had to get the stage ready for us - have lights hung, the floor cleaned, oxygen tanks filled, and marley taped) and within minutes we were settled into our dressing room and then headed to the rehearsal studio for our first ballet class at high altitude. We all grabbed a spot at the barres and began stretching, doing our individual warmups. 

Lauren under the Fall
Photo by Ashley Laracey

Troy started class around 10:30am. (Sometimes it’s nice to stick to your normal routine, so morning class suited all of us.) Barre was tough, and center was even harder. We found ourselves out of breath after the easiest things (even walking up or down a flight of stairs). The altitude was more difficult than we had expected. I had a constant headache from the moment we landed in Montrose that lasted for 48 hours (and on and off all throughout the week) and others felt light headed or just plain exhausted. After class, and a few hits of oxygen, we walked through the three ballets in the small studio (all scheduled to be performed on August 2nd), taking it easy. 

Day 1 was a light dancing day as our goal was to acclimate to the conditions. But that did not mean go back to the house and rest…Tour Guide Harrison had plans for us! We set off for a small .25 mile hike to a water fall near the theater. Some of the dancers braved the freezing cold water and stood under the water fall! We then took a gondola ride to the next mountain, and relaxed at the Mountain Peaks Spa soaking in the Jacuzzi, swimming pool and having fun on the water slide! Harrison is a pro going down that slide!

Dinner and S’mores followed! Star gazing occurred too! More soon…

Traveling to Telluride

Early last week, BalletCollective (all seven dancers, plus Brandon - lighting designer, and, of course, Troy) boarded a plane en route to Denver, Colorado followed by a quick transfer to Montrose, where we were to be shuttled an hour and a half to our home sweet home for the week, on Wilson Mesa outside of Telluride, for our first summer residency!

BalletCollective has always wanted to have a summer residency so when we were asked to come to Colorado, it was perfect. The thought of having the opportunity to be in a breath taking place such as Telluride, surrounded by nature, endless outdoorsy activities at our reach (to take advantage of after or in-between our rehearsals), and for Troy to get to create, and the company to rehearse and perform - was a dream come true.

Room with a View
Photo By Ashley Laracey

"Welcome to Colorado", the Captain announced. We quickly jumped off the plane and were immediately out of breath as the altitude in Montrose is just over 5000 feet. After grabbing some water  at the concession located near baggage claim (supposedly to avoid altitude sickness one should drink tons of water) and collecting all our checked bags (yay they all made it!), we piled into the waiting 10 passenger van and began our journey to the Mesa. Upon arriving at Wilson Mesa, elevation over 8000 feet (located just 30 minutes outside the town of Telluride), we were all blown away by the beauty of the massive landscapes unique to Colorado. Waterfalls, large reddish rock, deer grazing in the fields, and the occasional brown bear or elk were our entertainment for the week. We were living in a National Geographic magazine or, even more, a NGC episode in high definition! It was truly unbelievable.

The house up on Wilson Mesa was generously donated for the week to BalletCollective. Just so happens it is home to one of our dancers, Harrison Coll, and his parents. It is their family home that they frequent often and for many weeks at a time most summers, winter and spring breaks. Harrison was in his childhood vacation home and definitely ready to be our tour guide for the week! He made our stay memorable and full of adventure! We are very thankful to him and his parents for their generosity. More on our adventures to come...

After receiving the grand tour of the "cabin" house, and everyone finding their new rooms, we began preparing our first meal on tour as a BalletCollective family. (The Coll's so kindly stocked the fridge with enough food for all nine of us for a few days, so we didn't have to make another trip into town for groceries after our 12 hour travel day.) Troy and some of the dancers cooked and a few us, including me, were the "Dish Queens". We had steaks, sweet potatoes, salad, and zucchini! It was delicious. We toasted with non-alcoholic beverages, as it is advisable to refrain from consuming alcohol (or other dehydrating liquids) your first few nights as it makes getting over the altitude sickness and adjustment to it harder. After a quick clean up we headed to the fire pit for S'mores and banter!

Soon the stars we shinning, shooting stars were shooting. We settled in for the night after everyone had witnessed a lucky shooting star! The adventures are just beginning...

Fire Island Continued...

First Performance
Fire Island Rep Picture

BalletCollective is "on deck"! I disrobe, taking off my Uniqlo warmups and my American Apparel legwarmers, and Troy gives Harrison and me one last "Merde". The hosts of the event begin announcing Dear and Blackbirds, talking about BalletCollective and its mission, as Harrison and I give each other a tight hug! We head to the stage stairs, I dab one last bit of rosin on my point shoes, and we both make our way up on to the amazing stage. The view is breath taking, the sun is smiling, and the audience is attentive. As we take our places, I look at Harrison and say "This is so freaking cool!"

The music begins! We walk.

Dear and Blackbirds is a ten minute pas de deux, yet only seven of those minutes was premiered. It is an intense duet that portrays a journey in the relationship of these two people, Harrison a young lad, and I an older, more experienced woman. He, at times, is a bit rambunctious, filled with young energy, not quite sure what he is doing or what he yet wants in life. As for my role, I know exactly what I want and need and go after those desires. We begin by walking, yet even at the start we each want to be going in different directions. The push and pull of our dynamic is evident. I get feisty; he accidentally throws me to the ground. After some time we meet in the middle - both in regard to each others' energy and personality as well as their journey to togetherness.  I won't give it all away... but it is one of the most special pieces I have ever danced. It feels right in every way.

The first performance was interesting, though a bit nerve-racking at the start. As Harrison and I held hands to begin, the energy was flowing with slight shaky waves coursing through our bodies. Soon after five counts of eight we were off and in it. No more signs of nerves! The middle transition musical cue went well and before I knew it we were in the last movement. The emotions were there, Harrison and I were connected.

Troy was super pleased with the ballet and I could tell he was happy (It was the first time he had seen it performed, ever!) though he mentioned to me that "the last movement was too sad." I was shocked at his comment. The last movement felt so real for me and I was really moved at our connection. I felt as though Harrison and I could read each other's thoughts, feelings and hearts. Yet, somehow it came across as too sad to him. I was utterly confused. I took a moment to unwind by myself, grabbed some water and then returned to await the final group bow.

The first show was done! It was 6:45pm and we were all headed back to the green room to freshen up as the second show was about to begin in fifteen minutes.

Since the turn around time was so short, the second show to start at 7pm, there was no need to re-warm up. I covered myself in my warm-ups and stretched to keep the blood flowing.

"Five minutes to the top of the show!" called the tech crew. After the opening number, the Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux, a speech was given. During the speech I was stretching backstage. Soon into the speech, the talking stopped, and the EMT's arrived. Someone in the audience needed medical assistance. Fortunately the gentleman was able to walk out of the venue with the EMT's to receive treatment. The audience and performers sat patiently while this played out.

Before long the show resumed and we were on deck again...

Due to the medical emergency, the show was delayed about 20 minutes, unfortunately for the gentleman who got sick, but fortunately for BalletCollective because Dear and Blackbirds was now to be performed in the prime sunset lighting!

Sunset Show
Photo by Troy Schumacher

Harrison and I stripped off our warm-ups, got our "Merde" hugs from Troy, and began to get pumped! I ran forwards and backwards to make sure my feet were awake (normally when you perform you have a chance to be on the stage a few moments before the piece starts to get the blood flowing or to try out a few steps). Seconds before we got the go ahead from the stage manager, I said to Harrison "It might be a long time before we do this pas de deux with sunset lighting again, so let's enjoy!"

We held hands and began...

The second show felt even better than the first. I hit my swivels (a swivel is a tricky step that seems like luck every time you try it - it's when someone basically just spins on one leg multiple times), the lighting was absolutely perfect and Harrison and I took the last movement to a different, less sad place emotionally. We had one minor glitch - in the third movement, but the audience didn't seem to react so we can't wait to see the video to analyze exactly what happened. (I would try to explain what happened but honestly I have no clue - one minute we were doing the steps, and the next we were both rolling on the ground.) We recovered quickly, maintaining our "in it faces" and finished out the pas de deux.

After the final bow, we all headed back to our hosts' houses, freshened up, and had a celebratory drink before the scheduled "performers dinner". After a delicious dinner, on our way back to the 50's beach house, we made a pit stop at the local bar Sip N Twirl, checked out the scene, and then called it a night!

It was a long day, and I was exhausted. More on our last day in the Pines tomorrow...

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!