| | Posted by Sloan
Dancers at the Rose Building Studios rehearsing “An American in Paris”.

You end up clocking in many more rehearsal hours when working on a new ballet. First it needs to be choreographed . . . then it needs to be tightened up and tweaked . . . then it needs to be “cleaned” and rehearsed before it goes to stage. All the while, people are working on designing, making and fitting costumes and lighting. And don’t forget, the orchestra has to learn and rehearse the new music too.
All the while, there’s an immense amount of pressure on the choreographer and everyone involved for the piece to be good. It’s a very different experience from performing ballets that have already been done, but exciting too.