Archive for rehearsals
May 24, 2008 at 8:33 pm · Filed under dance, rehearsals, pacific northwest ballet, choreographer, jerome robbins, NOE
Kiyon Gaines, Jordan Pacitti, Jeff Stanton, and Kylee Kitchens in Fancy Free
I’ve noticed with Robbins’ choreography that there is a simplicity to it that makes it so great. It’s comprehensive yet uncomplicated. In the Night is pure, calm, and literal (and not to mention beautiful), which allows the audience to ingest the full sentiment of each of the three couples. And although a completely different feel, in The Concert, the same is relevant. Each character has a clear nature to them. The life situations that that the characters are then put in makes for a humorous gathering. The moment one tries to add humor or antics to this peice, those funny moments are lost. Like many companies in the US, PNB is celebrating Jerome Robbins. I’m so happy to be able to experience and celebrate this amazing choreographer. Our program, All Robbins, has three of this American icon’s masterpeices. Here are some rehearsal pictures of The Concert, Fancy Free, and In The Night.
Miranda Weese, Jeff Stanton, and Seth and Sara Orza in In the Night
Famed pianist, Dianne Chilgren getting in on the fun in The Concert
Recent Posts by noelani pantastico
February 22, 2008 at 4:04 am · Filed under ballet, dance, rehearsals, studio, dancers, savannah, contemporary, students, VERONICA, the STUDIO, youth america grand prix, competition, variations, pointe
We have been very busy at the STUDIO preparing for the Youth America Grand Prix regional in Spartanburg, SC! We are leaving in the morning and the dancers begin in the early evening. It has been quite a process for them all, the usual blood sweat and tears. I decided to take 8 dancers this year: Justin, Emma, Skye, Angela, Kieran, Linzy, Shakira and Alston. I am so proud of them all and excited to see them reach their personal goals. They are an incredible group of talented young dancers and people. It has been so nice to see them grow together-their support of each other is amazing.
Here are a few shots from our rehearsals. (photographs by the STUDIO’s unofficial, official photographer-Mary-Margaret Macgill)
Recent Posts by veronica moretti niebuhr
October 26, 2007 at 11:35 pm · Filed under dance, rehearsals, germany, opera house, performance, modern dance, premiere, improvisation, philip glass, KRISTIN O, staatstheater kassel
Until yesterday my schedule as a guest dancer with the Staatstheater Kassel has been something like this:
10:00 – 11:30 Class
11:45 – 2:15 Rehearsal I
2:15 – 5:30 Break
6:00 – 10:00 pm Rehearsal II
This daily configuration was due to limited pre-premiere stage availability but now we’re back to the typical 10 am – 7 pm schedule. The Theater is an extremely busy artistic haven and technicians often “load in” and “load out” multiple times a day. Despite the hustle, everything seems to run with the efficiency of an office building except our halls are enriched with the echoes of opera singers, pianists and Schauspielers (actors). Nestled on the top floor of a seven-story building, jolting hyper-energy through the floorboards, are die Tänzer. The theater has two stages, plus a performance space in the neighboring Fridericianum Museum, and on many evenings three performances occur simultaneously. Since Kassel is a relatively small city, I often wonder where the audience members come from…two words: suburban radius.
On October 20th, the Tanztheater premiered Portrait and Le Sacre du Printemps after only six weeks of rehearsal. A completely new work set to “Symphony No. 3” by Philip Glass, Portrait is a collection of self-composed solos tweaked, supplemented, and compiled by Johannes Wieland. To keep it intimate, he divided our small company of 14 dancers into two casts, creating two completely different compositions for the same piece. The first creative step: Johannes assigned specific sections of Glass’ four-movement symphony to pairs of dancers (one from each cast), having us improvise while we clutched our iPods or Discmans. The process was a grueling one and continues now, even after the premiere. Three minutes of movement to capture “who I am?!” This type of quest requires a seemingly infinite amount of physical and mental exploration! Meanwhile, we’re learning and perfecting huge chunks of detailed movement, taking very specific stage directions, and diving into huge tanks full of water for Johannes’ rendition of Sacre (stay tuned for more on this WET portion of Tanzabend I).
The process for Portrait became a series of “show and tells.” We would periodically show Johannes some dancing, explain or reiterate our individual concept, receive a bit of feedback and then be left once again to our own creative devices. Check out Dance Minute for clips from the early stages. This process continues because, naturally, directors always have notes. Johannes has been very effective at stylizing movement without changing the essence of any dancer’s solo. One day his commentary for me was “I think it can be more ‘Kristin,’” and then, “it’s a little too symmetrical.” Another day I was told to “go through and take out every contraction.” Though it can be self-debilitating and frustrating (I’m somewhat of a perfectionist, as most dancers are), I still find it a bit surreal that I am in Europe performing my own improvisation turned composition - while working for a Theater funded by the government. *Pinch* I have a full time job and earn money for just being me!
Recent Posts by kristin osler
October 26, 2007 at 9:46 pm · Filed under dance, rehearsals, studio, dancers, 890 broadway, photography, city center, american ballet theatre, benjamin millepied, MATTHEW
It’s not much of an assumption to state that one of the most anticipated moments of the fall dance season is the world premiere of Benjamin Millipied’s new ballet “From Here On Out,” it’s just fact. Millipied has been a strong choreographic presence over the past few years, in addition to his phenomenal career as a principal at NYCB, but this marks the first time he has choreographed on ABT.
I was fortunate to take a peek at some of his rehearsals and got EXTREMELY snap happy with my camera. I took tons of pictures, but I’d like to share the first round of the full ballet (after yesterday’s sneak peek at Pik and Blaine’s duet) because tonight is the premiere! Don’t worry though, if you miss it tonight, there’s still several chances to catch it this season. Pick up your tickets today!
(Benjamin takes a minute to discuss music before the run gets under way.)
(Isabella Boylston takes a moment to search through her bag of secrets before rehearsal.)
(Hee Seo rocks some dancer fashion.)
(Before she takes off the sweater and gets down to business.)
(Benjamin gives some notes after a run through.)
(The cast prepares for the opening moments of the ballet.)
(A flying entrance.)
(Maria Ricetto demonstrates her flexibility.)
(Simone Messmer and Thom Forster demonstrating some flexibility.)
(Once he got off the floor, it was time for him to let the ladies do the work.)
(Sascha and Jackie prepare in the “wings.”)
(Simone and Pik strike it fierce.)
(Marcelo wants to know if you’ll be coming to the premiere tonight?!)
Recent Posts by matthew
October 23, 2007 at 12:05 am · Filed under dance, rehearsal, rehearsals, DAVID, 890 broadway, david hallberg, american ballet theatre, merril ashley
My good friend and fellow Winger mate, Matt Murphy, strolled into rehearsal this week and took some pictures of me rehearsing for Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina. Merryl Ashley, former New York City Ballet ballerina and orginator of the female lead and ballet master Clinton Luckett, coached me in the role.
“Ballo”, as it is called among the dancers, will receive its premier by American Ballet Theatre on Tuesday, October 23rd, at our opening gala performance danced by Gillian Murphy, technician extraordinaire, and myself. More performances will be danced by Michele Wiles and Maxim Beloserkovsky and Yuriko Kajiya and Herman Cornejo.
Ballo Della Regina
10/23 8PM Murphy/Hallberg
10/25 8PM Wiles/Beloserkovsky
10/26 8PM Murphy/Hallberg
10/27 2PM Wiles/Beloserkovsky
10/28 1:30 PM WIles/Beloserkovsky
11/3 8PM Murphy/Hallberg
11/4 1:30 PM Kajiya/Cornejo
Coaches looking on
Analyzing the steps
In the air
Pointers
In the air 2
Exhaustion (Evan McKie gave me this shirt)
Recent Posts by david hallberg
July 16, 2007 at 6:12 am · Filed under dance, injuries, rehearsals, ALEX, miami, canada, crutches
(Me, in my cast and crutches. Look at that lovely pointed foot.)
Hey everyone! Just wanted to apologize for not writing in such a long period of time, I’ve just been caught up with everything as we all are sometimes! I have been meaning to post for so long, but never got around to it. Well anyways I finally have some news (which is in fact quite old by now) but I thought I would wait a while before I blogged about it.
Well, as all of us dancers know, it’s inevitable that sometime in our careers we will get injured, well I guess it was my turn, last month in the middle of June I broke the base of my 5th metatarsal, so I have been on a cast and crutches (non-weight bearing) for over a month now! I was doing some partnering work and I guess I mis-stepped a little and stepped on my foot sideways and it just cracked. At first I didn’t think it was actually broken, I thought it was fine, so I just kind of walked it off, and 10 minutes later I looked down and saw a nice little golf ball-ish lump on my foot… I decided it was time to get some ice, hahaa.
I’m actually quite thankful that it happened when it did because we are actually off right now so it’ll give me some time to rest before our season starts back up again at the end of July. I’m hoping that I’ll be out of my cast in the next few weeks and hopefully walking again, however I’ve already acquired a special name of “Gimpesha Limpalot” by my dear friends.
It’s not so bad to be in crutches right now (I’m back in Canada at home, and my family is able to take care of my needs, hehe… I’m being spoiled!) but man, is it ever hard when you’re in rehearsal in a cast… watching other people dance… watching other people dance roles that you wanted to dance… it just feels like everything is slipping away from your grasp and you have no control over it. There was still about a week and a half left of work when I broke my foot, and that week and a half was terrible. Going into rehearsals when you can’t dance makes you even want to dance more! And being on crutches in the super hot Miami weather does NOT feel nice, hahaa.
Well I thought I would get really depressed being in my cast and crutches, but for some reason it hasn’t been so bad. Maybe it hasn’t even really hit me that my foot is ACTUALLY broken, but everyone has been very supportive. I always believe that “everything happens for a reason” and all my friends stressed to me that I should really try and enjoy this, well, MANDATORY break. I guess I am enjoying it as much as I can, and I feel like being on crutches and walking a lot with them is maybe helping my upper body strength as well as maybe helping me burn some calories since I’m not getting to exercise as much as I would like to! Haha
Well anyways I’m really crossing my fingers to be in my cast for only about a week and a half more. The doctor told me that it takes anywhere from 6-12 weeks to heal, but since I’m healthy I should hit the 6-8 week mark… which means I’m really aiming for that 6 week mark (July 26th)! Keep your fingers crossed for me! 
Anyhow, I hope you all have a wonderful summer!
Recent Posts by alex wong
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