It's Nutcracker time again... We've officially hit the season again at my new dance company. The photo at the right is me as "Clara's Friend" in DTDT's production of Nutcracker two seasons ago. My bow was not cooperating for the photo and you can see I was frustrated, so my mom took full advantage of this moment to capture it :). Speaking of frustration, most ballet dancers who have hung on for more than 10 years in this career will tell you that they dread this time of year. This is because the sheer repetition of this ballet and its music sometimes makes a veteran "nut cracker" want to, even before the start of any rehearsals, kick it in the head. I am happy to say I haven't felt this for this year's production yet. Maybe it's because I know I won't be rehearsing for hours daily (a guaranteed way to make ones head/toes explode), but only three days a week. Maybe it is the positive environment I find myself in. Whatever it is, I am glad to be dancing the roles of Frau Silberhaus (Clara's mom), Snowflake, Arabian solo, and Flower Demi-Soloist this year. Another reason to be excited-- I rarely get to dance sultry roles like Arabian, and even more rarely a role that denotes any age over the teens (ie a mom!). It is nice to know I will be stretching the boundaries of what I've done in the past. Can I hear a WHATWHAT for artistic growth!
My initial reaction after this first week with the company-- I am very excited for several reasons: a) Not only are the dancers in the company fabulously talented, they all seem genuinely sweet and friendly already. b) The atmosphere is awesome-- supportive and appreciative. I feel at home there already which is a great sign for me. c) Artistically, it seems to be a great place to be as well. We will be performing three shows before the end of the year. The director and ballet mistress seem excited to rehearse us and excited about the shows. As a company we do a mix of narrative story ballets (one of their well known pieces is "The Chase" about Charlie Chaplin, and we are doing a new ballet about Molly Brown's life in the spring), classical ballets (ie The Nutcracker, Les Sylphides, etc) and contemporary pieces. It is a great mix and seems to suit my abilities well. Many companies today lean either toward just the contemporary or (less often) only the classical. The narrative story pieces are the ones that especially excite me, because of my theater and acting background.
Upcoming shows: We will have a collaborative Halloween show ("Monster Brass") with the Denver Brass on October 23rd at the Newman Center (2:30 and 7:30). We'll be doing the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The Pink Panther" to the live music of the Denver Brass.
November 7th (Sunday at 1 pm) we'll be performing with Zikr, a local dance company directed by David Taylor, at the Brooks Center in Denver. I'll be performing a solo and trio from the ballet "Napoli", a contemporary pas de deux called "Polar Equals" (with one pointe shoe!) to Nine Inch Nails, and "Peter and the Wolf." If you haven't seen me dance in awhile this will be a great one to come see because I get a lot of stage time.
And then of course Nutcracker at the Cleo Parker Robinson Theater December 11-12 (3 pm shows), and Dec 18-19th (also 3 pm shows)...
It's going to be a great season I think. It is nice to not want to kick Nutcracker in the head for sure, and I am really looking forward to seeing what else this year holds.
1 comment:
That's a lot of shows! Nice mix though. I did Napoli once...wonder if I still have it on tape?
Post a Comment