M's ballet performance went wonderfully last Saturday. I've dropped a couple quick status updates on my personal FaceBook page about this, but the blog is where we can keep the details.
M had been cast as a "pink elephant" in the Balanchine/Stravinsky production of "Circus Polka" for the SOBT annual school performance at Portland's Newmark Theater. By the time the pink elephants came out on stage, two minutes in to the four minute performance, there must have been 36 or so girls on stage, in three groups. The dance went wonderfully, and I was impressed when all these girls created three concentric circles and counter rotated each other. It was so impressive because it was so smooth and organic. Other times (at other recitals) I've seen similar things, but the always come across as deliberate...you can see some dancers hitting their spots early, while others strive to catch up. In contrast, with all these young dancers, the movement from place to place was both complex and fluid. I was truly impressed. M was easy to spot, even with all those girls. Her ponytail was by far the longest on stage, reaching way beyond her waist (and this is after cutting three inches off a couple weeks ago).
M had quite a support crew as well. Eight people attended to show her support and love:
Mom and Dad
Brother, R
Jin, our exchange student
Grandma M-A
Grandma Gin
Family Friend, Patti
Family Friend, Donna J
What originally started as a block of five tickets grew into eight seats scattered across the auditorium. We kept the original block of five, but also had two box seats over to the side on the second balcony, and a single front-row center seat on the first balcony...arguably the best seat in the house for sightlines.
So, we mixed it up. Different people sat in different places after intermission than they did to start the show. That made it fun. Personally, I was fortunate enough to get the single seat on the first balcony for the second half of the performance. M had already danced in the first half. Nevertheless, the excellent sightlines afforded me the chance to really study the technique, skill and athleticism in the dancers. It was very clear from those seats.
The Grandmas had a great time, it would seem. So, too, did the friends. Jin commented that he had expected a 'school' performance, but watched instead a 'professional' performance. He was very impressed.
As for the boys, we'd gone to the ballet in the middle of a Boy Scout two-night campout. We'd slept over with the troop, drove in, cleaned up, attended the ballet, dressed back into camp gear, and headed back to the campout in time for a snack and dessert.
Sunday, after the campout, we had a slow-speed day. We spent the afternoon exploring Saturday Market downtown, and tried to slow down and enjoy. It wasn't always easy... we've been pushing so hard recently that it's hard to stop, relax, and just enjoy. I'm probably the most guilty of this ... but, let's rewind back to Saturday night for a bit.
Saturday night, the boys headed back to camp. M and Grandma Gin stayed home and rested after a great performance. C and her Mom, M-A, headed back to the Newmark theater for the evening performance of the OBT professional company's performance. What was interesting to C, was that OBT held a post-show Q & A session. C and M-A hung around, and C shared that she asked a couple questions. C reported that she started by identifying herself as a parent for a student at the School of Oregon Ballet Theater, and that she had a two-part question. One question had to do with any ratio of rehearsal time to performance time (as in, do you schedule a certain number of hours for each minute of the performance or what, exactly?), and do the dancers still count the beats when performing at the professional level? The other question had to do with eating habits for dancers, implying that her particular dancer was coming up with crazy ideas about eating. The response to these two questions was very interesting.
First, Christopher Stowell is reported to have answered the rehearsal question by saying that the company rehearses to whatever space they have available, regardless of performance length. In other words, they just keep refining and perfecting until it's show time. No matter how long the program is. One of the dancers shared that counting is stll very much a part of her routine. Some musical pieces are rhythmic enough she can follow the musical clues, but Stravinsky (referring to Circus Polka) is complex enough that counting is always required. She also shared that, when dancing duets, she often counts both her part and her partners' part simultaneously in her head, while performing. I found that amazing to hear.
As to the second question, one of the professional dancers (who'd just finished her performance) answered the eating habits by making it very clear that she eats like an athlete: LOTS of protein (she was anxious to get out of the theater, in fact, because a big gloppy cheeseburger was next on her agenda) and calories of all sorts. She encouraged all younger dancers go approach the professional dancers and get tips on eating habits. "I don't know where these girls get these crazy ideas about food." she said.
To have the Grandmothers around, they got a chance to see how R has been changing in behavior now that we've changed his meds. He's more of a leader. He's more of a participant. He's trustworthy enough we can allow him to move about in a place like Saturday Market without fear that he'll get lost or distracted. His sense of humor is blooming with the rapidity, singular impact and grandeur of a spring rose. And they've seen it, too.
There's the old cliche used to discuss people in denial -- "ignoring the elephant in the room." And that cliche comes to mind as I think over the last weekend because ... well, because we HAVEN'T ignored the elephant(s), we've celebrated and confronted the elephant(s). Whether it be M's performance as an elephant, or R's performance as an emergent personality, to how our family has developed and matured as a unit. We all interacted with the elephant in constructive and progressive ways. We all stand together and hash it out as a team.
I'm glad for that.
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