This Is What We Do…When We Dance

Last weekend marked the three-week mark for the Annual School Performance for the School of Oregon Ballet Theater. M has been attending rehearsals ever since January, in addition to normal class time. On last Saturday, the staff asked to see C for a ‘meeting.’

It was the staff’s assessment that M was just not ready for the stage yet. She “didn’t know her steps” well enough. Inside, I suspect that C was quaking. I also suspect that she put on enough of a calm face to ask the following questions:

• Was M the only student struggling with her steps? 

  NO. THERE ARE OTHERS. SOME OF THE OTHER GIRLS ARE NOW ENTERING THEIR THIRD PERFORMANCE OF THIS PIECE. M IS NOT UNUSUAL.

• Would this impact M’s ability to attend school at SOBT next year?   

  NO. NOT ONE BIT. THIS IS RELATIVELY NORMAL.

• Would we have to miss the performance?

  NO. M WILL LIKELY UNDERSTUDY.

• Can we help her with additional practice or rehearsal?

  SOBT WILL HAVE EXTRA TEACHER HELP AVAILABLE BEFORE HER CLASSES, IF SHE WANTS TO MAKE USE OF THE OPPORTUNITY.

• What music is she dancing to? Perhaps we can get it at home and let her practice at home?

  UMM, I DON’T KNOW THE NAME OF THE PIECE, BUT IT’S BY STRAVINSKY. SORRY I CAN’T BE OF MORE HELP THERE…

C then responded, I’m told with a great deal of acceptance and understanding, saying something like: “Well, I’d rather have M be an understudy now, than push her onstage if she’s at risk of a bad performance. This news may be disappointing, but messing up on stage could be a big blow to a fragile ego. We’ll do what we need to do – I’m paying attention to the long-range view here. If pushing her too hard now spoils her love of dance, then that’s just not the right choice.

Apparently, one of the staff members then turned to the Director and asked, referring to C, “can she be one of our backstage mothers, please?”

Well, two saddened and disappointed girls came back from rehearsal that afternoon. Sad and disappointed, maybe, but not defeated. I was given the challenge of finding a piece of Stravinsky music that might match with a ballet called “Circus Polka Pink” C and M started dissecting the “count sheet” – the closest thing we had to a choreography sheet.

I had no idea what to do for the music. The task seemed impossible. Even if I could find such a thing, the only person who could tell me if it was the right piece was M. Same thing for C’s task, however. Even if we did find the music, all C could do was take M’s word for what the movements where, and when to start counting. There’s no available video of the specific SOBT choreography,and parents are not allowed to watch rehearsals.

Well, not to blow the suspense, but achieving the impossible didn’t take very long. Stravinsky happened to title the music “Circus Polka for Elephants” so a search for “circus polka elephant” on amazonmp3 (I was using my Droid) scored me a direct hit. I downloaded the song for $0.99, and a minute later, M was acknowledging that this was indeed the right music for her performance.

Just as I got the MP3 transferred to both M’s netbook and cellphone/MP3 Player, she and her Mom had worked out the movements on the count sheet!

Typhoon clobbers impossible situation twice in less than two minutes!

But we didn’t rest on our laurels for too long. We now had the music and the choreography, so now commenced the at-home drills.

When I left on my business trip the next day (Easter), C and M had rehearsed the Circus Polka a dozen times. Ultimately, by class the next Tuesday, C and M had rehearsed 40 or 50 times. C was convinced that M knew the moves, steps, and timing quite well. The extra rehearsals uncovered no ambiguity in M’s understanding of the routine.  C called SOBT and pre-arranged an early teaching session for M. The two of them got to ballet class 30 minutes early, and a teacher was waiting for them.

M worked for a half hour with the teacher. Then, when regular class started, the class instructor asked M to perform the dance alone, in front of the whole class. Nervous as all get-out, that’s what she did.

And at the end, the teacher pronounced her rendition “perfect”

We still don’t know if M will be in the show or remain an understudy. But, M has learned a number of lessons this week:

• M now knows that rehearsals require the same level of precision that a performance does. In real ballet, you don’t hold back in rehearsals.
• She can do the steps ‘perfectly’, and that her classmates, teachers and parents have acknowledged that to her directly.
• That she will understudy parts all throughout her ballet career; it’s a normal part of ballet training.
• That understudies sometimes have to fill in at a moment’s notice – it’s important for the understudies to be just as capable and prepared as the cast dancers.
• Her parents are proud of her mostly for giving her all, regardless of whether she’s in the performance or not.
• Her parents are more concerned with her lifelong development than this one specific performance.

I spoke with her last night. Once again, I told her how proud I am of her. Performance or not, she’s accomplished huge amounts this year.

Oh, that reminds me. M’s Summer Intensive sessions start June 28 and run through the end of July. Three days a week.

This is what we do. When we dance.

We Dance.