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Life is change, growth, renewal. Your dancing life can change radically and wonderfully, with no warning whatsoever.
“Dance is movement, and movement is life.”
— Ludmilla Chiriaeff
One day you might be called to see the director. There’s a new piece coming — the choreographer leaves after the première. Normally one of the ballet staff would take over, but perhaps they’re overloaded with other productions. You’re good at remembering steps and patterns. Could you assist Monsieur Morbleu or Signora Nochmal-DaCapo in rehearsals, and take over after they leave?
Obviously, the direction feels you can do it — perhaps you’re not so confident. It’s a major responsibility. Can you direct your friends and colleagues? Will they listen and cooperate? If not, how would you manage?
“It is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance“.
— Xiaolu Guo, (A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers)
These worries can flood your brain, and throw you completely. If so, ask for a day to think. Yes, it’s terrifying, but it’s a great chance, at the perfect moment in your career. If you accept, you won’t necessarily have to do it for ever, possibly just this one production. No-one will force you. Remember though, if you refuse, you won’t be asked again. I’d say, take a deep breath, look him in the eye and say yes, you’d love to. If you don’t try, you’ll never know what it’s like. You’ve tried hard all your life; this is no moment to give up on yourself.
“No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.” — Agnes de Mille
Right then, you’re looking after this piece. Now learn everything about the production, the choreographer, set designer, composer, costume designer, lighting designer, everyone. Is the work new? A rethinking of something older? Something already performed elsewhere? A revival? Have you seen it? Could you? Is there a video? How long is it? How many intervals? How big is the cast — is there already a sketch of the cast-list? Will the choreographer cast it — if so, when?
How’s the set? Are there stairways, doorways, furniture, a revolving stage, multiple levels, water, snow, a rake, trapdoors, props, dry ice fog, video projections? What’s the music? Will you rehearse to piano? Get a piano reduction. (These are often scarce — the conductor needs one, and the pianist, and the stage manager, and perhaps the choreographer, but so do you, so you beg, borrow, steal or photocopy). Is there live music, a recording, or both? Orchestra? Chamber quartet? Two pianos, rock band, street buskers? Singers? Are they involved in the movement? Are there supernumeraries, children, animals, acrobats, clowns, actors, special effects, a chorus?
“I describe things in terms of body movement. I dance a bit to describe what sort of movement it ought to make, and that’s a good way of talking to musicians. Particularly bass players.”
— Brian Eno
And it goes on. When’s the first production meeting? (Be there). Who organises planning for sets, costumes, dancers, orchestra, the extras? When are deadlines for final versions, final decisions, press releases, publicity events? When are technical, lighting, orchestral and stage rehearsals? Is there enough time for everything? You’re now the centre of this show – all of it’s your problem. There’ll be questions from everyone – you provide answers. Contact the planning people daily, even hourly. Got a spare moment? Check on details. Is there a maquette of the stage design? Photograph it, get floor plans for each scene, copies of all costume designs, a recording of the music. Ensure rehearsal props are available from Day One.
“The dance is the mother of the arts. Music and poetry exist in time; painting and architecture in space. But the dance lives at once in time and space.”
— Curt Sachs
When are the photo calls? Is someone filming the general rehearsal, the first night, the first performance of the second cast? Who’s meeting the choreographer on arrival? Should you be there? Where will they stay? What social events are planned — should you be involved? Will they stay through to the première, or are they away sometimes? Will you lead rehearsals alone? Can you? Who’s invited to the première? Has everyone got their invitations?
“Dancing is like bank robbery, it takes split-second timing“.
— Twyla Tharp
Sooner or later, the “creatives” will arrive. Be flexible, tactfully persistent, and constantly on hand with pencil and notebook. If they watch performance, sit beside them, taking notes. Get to know them and their plans, preferences and timing. They may watch class or rehearsal, with members of staff — be in on this, keeping up to date with everything. If you’re dancing something else, get yourself excused; this new show takes precedence, except in emergencies.
Keep it confidential (vitally important). Don’t tell anyone about casting, not even your closest friends, even if they beg or threaten you. Premature casting rumours can cause serious problems. If you tell anyone anything, even though you swear them to secrecy, your position becomes impossible. Trust me on this — I’ve done this job for many years.
“If the Prince be too important, tell him there is measure in everything, and so dance out the answer“.
— William Shakespeare, (Much Ado About Nothing)
Every week, ballet-masters, choreographers and assistants meet to plan next week’s rehearsals. Everyone’s pushed for time, everyone thinks only of his or her own production — you’ll have to fight your corner. Be thoroughly prepared. If your choreographer’s incredibly organised, great! If you’ve got a visionary artist who cannot plan, take the initiative. Sketch some planning and scheduling ideas and get the choreographer’s feedback. Probably you needn’t do this alone; the director should participate, but be constantly, discreetly proactive, while respecting the choreographer’s wishes and the time and resources available.
If it’s an existing piece, get together with the choreographer. Watch the video, find out what he or she has in mind. Any clues will be useful later when working with the dancers. Nail the first week’s detailed rehearsal planning down asap, otherwise you’ll have to do it long distance, which complicates the discussion (perhaps you could set up a conference call or Skype). Try to start with big group dances – rehearse soloists later in the day. Make sure the director’s there; things you don’t know about may influence planning for those weeks; also, you’ll need directorial back-up.
The preliminary cast-list comes out now. People get called to costume fittings — everyone’s wondering who’ll be first cast, (and everyone’s your friend…). Be discreet. If people press you, tell them politely that you can’t discuss anything, but it will be on the board soon. Casting isn’t down to you, so if people aren’t happy with their rôles, you’re not responsible — make that clear as well.
During rehearsals, note everything down. Sketch formations, write out counts, collate them with the score. For recorded music, note the timings for each landmark in seconds. You shouldn’t be running the music for rehearsal; you should focus on steps. Some pianists won’t work sound systems, so you may have to do it, but if someone helps, that frees you from the machine to be where you belong, beside the choreographer.
You need eyes in the back of your head. As well as learning, notating, and marking along with the piece, you need to be checking everyone’s ready for their entrance, staying up to date on illness or injury patterns, coaching understudies and making sure they actually get up and learn instead of sitting waiting for rehearsal to end. Watch the clock. Guest choreographers won’t know when dancers need their break or when rehearsal should end. You need all that at your fingertips. Get these important messages across to the choreographer discreetly, without breaking the train of creative thought.
“If you want to take dance seriously, do. You must think about it day and night, dream about it, desire it“.
— Christa Justus
Spend as much time as you can with this person. Keep asking questions, within the limits of what they can bear. Obviously, you don’t want to badger them or become possessive about their time. They’ll need breaks, and you must know when to cut them some slack. However, you must be completely on top of this production — by the end there should be nothing you don’t know. This will take all your time. You’ll find yourself on Sundays counting out obscure musical phrases or writing out the formations you’ve been scribbling all week. Give yourself a break sometimes. The show depends on you — nothing is gained by your getting sick. If that happens, the production, the company and you yourself will suffer, so balance your strength, psychological wellbeing and health with the demands of this job. It’s fascinating and wonderful, but it’s not the only thing in your life; bear this in mind.
As the opening approaches, your show gets priority over other productions. There’s lots going on, photo calls, placing onstage, run-throughs, technical calls. Whenever possible, work with costumes in the set – the more people can practice with them, the better. Lighting calls take hours, and probably the choreographer must be there, leaving you to rehearse the company while he or she hunches in the stalls with the lighting designer, the chief electrician and the stage manager. If possible, be at these lighting calls. Dress warmly, especially if you have just come from a studio rehearsal, bring your trusty notebook and pencil, a torch, maybe a dictation device. Log every technical aspect of the ballet, starting with the first dimming of the houselights, and finishing after curtain-calls. Everything that happens must be in your record of the piece. You’ll be restaging it all by yourself next season, so you must know everything about the concept.
For stage rehearsals, you, the director, choreographer, conductor and designer may all be sitting at tables on the forestage, backs to the auditorium, leading the dancers as they find their way in this big space. This table is always positioned as far downstage as possible, to leave maximum space for dancers; be careful as you stand up, which you will do often. Behind you may be the open orchestra pit, or a drop to the stalls. People fall into the pit sometimes at stage rehearsals – the injuries can be fatal. Be careful, always.
Here you’ll be making more notes. Who enters from which wing, when, and in which order? Where do they exit? If they need to reappear from the other side of the stage, is there time for the crossover? Is the crossover lit? (If not, get hold of someone and make it happen right now. Be polite, but firm; crossovers are dangerous, especially with people moving fast.) In the studio this was all speculation; onstage, it becomes reality, possibly different from what everyone expected.
Final rehearsals are led from the stalls. There’s a microphone for talking to people onstage; also desk lights and some means of communication with the prompt corner, the sound desk and the lighting desk. Now the show starts to take shape. Stay near the choreographer, writing down all the notes and corrections. Don’t sit in the same row as everyone else — you’ll need to run in darkness from desk to stage all evening, without climbing over all those knees every time. Sit in the row behind them, where you can hear any discussions without getting blocked in. There’ll be temporary stairs to the stage — be careful.
Eventually, unbelievably, there’ll be stage/orchestra rehearsals (usually in rapid sequence, both for efficiency, and because performers need a continuous progression). The general rehearsal may be open, before an audience. Normally there would be no curtain-calls at the general, but it does happen. (You will have logged every detail and ensured they are perfectly rehearsed). Liaise with the stage manager to ensure written, comprehensible versions of curtain-calls are posted in dressing-rooms and entrances to the stage. Performers, as you will remember, become forgetful about non-dancing events — make sure they have your guidance when it counts, and give them all the help you can.
Then, suddenly, you’ve got a première. You, the choreographer and the director gave final last-minute notes at the morning rehearsal. Now there’s nothing to do. Except flowers (who’s getting them, who’s giving them out onstage and when?) and perhaps little good luck tokens and cards for the performers. This takes time. Leave some time for yourself; you may have to take curtain calls onstage, and you need to look great. You deserve this moment, so don’t go all shy — you’ve put in the work, now reap the rewards.
“Be yourself, but don’t be conspicuous“.
— Fred Astaire
At the première party, people let go and finally relax. It’s a wonderful moment. Everyone’s excited and pleased — so they should be, and so should you. Be careful, though, the next performance is your responsibility. The choreographer leaves tomorrow – you’re on your own. Don’t become “one of the gang”. Next rehearsal, it’s you calling the shots so don’t let your hair down too far, too fast. Have fun, but keep your integrity.
“I’m not intimidated by anyone. Everyone is made with two arms, two legs, a stomach and a head. Just think about that“.
— Josephine Baker
Leading your first rehearsal alone is nerve-wracking. The director might be there, but there’ll be other claims on his time. You’ll have to fly solo some time, so spread your wings. The keys are clarity and preparation.
Start every rehearsal by talking concisely through your plan. Show them you know what you want, why you want it, and how to get it. If they have a stake in every performance they’ll look and feel good — you’re giving them what psychologists call “agency”. Once they understand this, they’ll realise that you work without arrogance or time-wasting, and they’ll support you. Always monitor the group dynamic in the studio; keep your demands rational, realistic, fair and valuable. If rehearsal is two hours long and everything’s looking good earlier, let them go. Perhaps someone needs help, and you can rehearse them privately in peace and quiet. If you plan carefully, rehearse effectively, and explain in advance, you’ll be in demand. Other productions will start to come your way. This could be what happens next in your career. Every company needs good rehearsal directors, including your current ensemble. A new chapter, perhaps, in your dancing life…
©Jeremy Leslie-Spinks
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