Hello All!

Hope everyone has been well, we have all been keeping very busy here at MCB with the tour to New York City and a collaboration with the wonderful Cleveland Orchestra where we danced Symphony in Three Movements as well as Symphony in C. We’ve just wrapped up Don Quixote and are now moving onto Program IV. Now that I’ve had some time to settle down and take it all in I figure it would be a good chance to write an update!

Let me say first of all that the New York City tour was an absolute blast for me. Since the company had never actually toured to New York City it was quite a big deal for us to come back to Edward Villella’s home. When we arrived in the theatre, Edward was in such high spirits that he started telling us stories of how he used to dance in the theatre - where he had rested - on the heaters near the back of the stage - how Balanchine had spoken to him in certain moments… it was really such a treat for us to be back in the theatre “where it all happened.”

(Picture of all the dancers sporting our new gear on the last day of the New York City Center tour!)

We had a very ambitious programs for New York:

Program A:

Symphony in Three Movements (Balanchine)
La Valse (Balanchine)
In the Upper Room (Twyla Tharp)

Program B:

Square Dance (Balanchine)
Rubies (Balanchine)
Symphony in C (Balanchine)

I danced the lead jump couple in “Symphony in Three Movements” (which happens to be one of my favourite roles!), one of the stomper boys in “In The Upper Room,” and 3rd movement lead in Symphony in C. To be honest, Symphony in C was very nerve-racking for me. I had never performed the 3rd movement lead, and it is very difficult, pretty much all jumping! I didn’t have much time to prepare for it as most the other leads had been veterans in their spots. When we first started rehearsing it, I could hardly finish it, but eventually it became easier (just a little, haha) and I could start to feel more comfortable in the role.

There was something about City Center that felt so special, I am a bit sad that they will be undergoing renovations. Just being in the theatre, being back stage, and dancing on stage - I really felt the history behind the whole theatre. It didn’t just feel like any theatre. It felt like great things had happened there, and I was honoured to be able to dance on that stage. Back stage on the walls, there were signatures and logo’s of many of the companies that had the opportunity to dance at City Center - I hope that when they do the renovations, they leave these there.

(Our MCB wall at City Centerwith our photos and signatures)

The performances I believe went very well for us and the audience was very appreciative. One of the great things I felt when dancing at City Center was the audience was so close to you, you could really feel their energy. It felt very intimate and I liked it.

One final highlight for me was after we finished “In The Upper Room,” Twyla Tharp surprised us by coming on stage to bow with us, she told us how happy she was with our dancing and that really made all the difference! I really felt she was proud of us, and it really touched me.

(Twyla Tharp taking a bow with us after)

The New York City Center tour was definitely the highlight for me this season!

Returning from City Center I had a little while to calm down. Our next program was Don Quixote and I was cast to do Sancho Panza in almost every show. Now for those of you who don’t know, Sancho Panza is a character role in Don Quixote. Although I didn’t really get to dance for a solid month, and to top it off was in a huge fat suit everyday, there were other aspects of the role that were satisfying my creative needs. Sancho Panza plays a comedic role in the production and it was fun to have some freedom to play around with the role. When you play a character role, it’s not as much like doing a dancing role where you don’t really have as much leeway for interpretation. Every night before the show, I would sit a think and go through all my sections to see how I could improve it. Seeing that I had been given almost every show, I had time to experiment with what worked and what didn’t. It was fun to focus purely on acting and musical interpretation on stage rather than having to focus on technique. In the end, it very rewarding as I felt I had grown as an artist.

With that said, the early make-up calls gave us a lot of free time, and this is what we ended up doing.

We are currently getting ready for our last program of the season:

Concerto Barocco (Balanchine)
In The Night (Jerome Robbins)
Symphony In C (Balanchine)

Anyway hope everyone enjoyed this post! Sorry it’s been so long, and I will write again soon!