Giselle
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MADISON KEESLER San Francisco Ballet School San Francisco, CA USA BIO | POSTS |
During February San Francisco Ballet performed Giselle in their 07-08 Season. As usual they used kids in the school for some of the parts. I was happy to learn I would be a noble woman in the first act and simply get the chance to be on stage as well as act a little. Even though these are not dancing parts I was happy to be chosen nonetheless. Originally the trainees were the only dancers from the school who were learning the big corps parts, which is understandable and expected since part of their description is to work with the company. Awhile after those rehearsals had been going on three more girls from level eight were chosen to learn Wilis, and I happened to be one of those girls. We were all very happy to have this opportunity. As many of you may know when you are in a school any chance to work with the company, even if it is just learning in the back, is a great way to show what you can do because you never know who will be watching you. When we arrived we were told what spots to learn and that was that. I was originally 3rd or 4th cast with company members and trainees ahead of me learning the same parts, so I figured I probably wouldn’t perform and just tried to take in the information for the possibility of performing it at some point in my career. We had a lot of very long rehearsals of standing, posing, running, the normal corps work of a big ballet, but they were difficult at first because it wasn’t what I was used to at SFBS. After two or three hours of corps rehearsal like that your body, especially your feet, get very tired and sore; though It is a different tired, more mental, than if you were simply taking class or doing a variation.
A day or two before the show during an on stage rehearsal I was told that one of the girls was out and I was to step into that part for just for the day. Even though it wasn’t any of the original parts they told me to learn I ended up doing every show because she was very sick the entire time. I remember how scared I felt when I was first thrown in, and even though I tried to learn as many spots as possible in the studio this part was never one I focused on. As long as you know the steps it usually isn’t too terribly difficult to step into any of the spots. You just have to figure out where you go, whom you are behind and in front of, what foot certain sides stand on, and ect. It was a great relief when I found out that the corps of San Francisco ballet is extremely kind and very helpful. Everyone was great, but there were especially a few people who really took extra time to help, and made a point to talk to me backstage, and well treated me as an equal. Being a student I never really thought of myself as anywhere close to being an equal but the little things definitely meant a lot.
It was such a good experience overall. Things never end up exactly how you thought they would, but for me this time they ended up better. I learned a lot about corps work through Giselle and it has most definitely made me a little more confident for the future.
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