The first edition of Chris' Corner

Dear Readers:

     Hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of Chris’ corner.  My name is Chris Nachtrab and I am a company dancer with the Sacramento Ballet and I, along with my good friend and fellow company dancer Isha, have decided to write this blog in hopes of generating interest for our Sac ballet; by offering weekly/ bi-weekly updates about what the dancers are doing behind the scenes as we prepare for our upcoming performances.  We realize that we have many loyal patrons who only get to see us onstage or new fans that are interested in getting to know more about the dancers and may wonder about the processes we go through during our dance season… And so we hope to invite you to keep up to date with our blog that will showcase an insider’s view into our daily rehearsals and our thoughts and feelings, as we struggle through learning various ballets, work with very different choreographers, cope with pains and injuries and how we manage to test our physical and mental strengths daily… all while trying to remain somewhat graceful. 

     I suppose there is no better place for me to begin than with a brief recap of our season so far.  Although our company has only been back in the studios for five weeks, after our summer hiatus, we have all accomplished so much and are now preparing for our first billed performance of the season this Friday, “The Capital Choreographic Competition” – or as we refer to it in the studios, “The CCC”.  Just yesterday we finished our allotted time period with Melissa Barak – our third and final choreographer to come and set a brand new piece for us.  Before her time with us we had spent a week working with Yannis Adinou and prior to that we had spent a week working with Darrell Grand Moultrie.  Each choreographer had very different personalities and each showcased very different styles of dance...pushing us to quickly adapt and develop to the varied aesthetics they each hoped to convey for the competition.  You can check out some footage of rehearsals by clicking on a link in this blog's video tab.

      As if preparing for the CCC doesn’t sound like enough work we have also been getting ready for our Family Fun Day event, “Discovery Dance”, which will be presented at the Crest Theater for two showings on October 22.  The selections for the Family Fun show covers a very wide range: from the silly Tweedle Dee & Dum dance from “Alice in Wonderland” to the classical and very challenging White Swan Pas from “Swan Lake”.  Rehearsals for this show have been fun and sparked more than a few fits of laughter through the halls at the Sac Ballet – whether it be watching Brik brush up on her tap dance or watching the antics that take place during rehearsals for artistic director Ron Cunningham's newly choreographed  “Hoedown”.

   Along with Family Fun, we also had a chance to work with last year’s winner of the CCC – Matthew Neenan, who created a hip contemporary ballet using modern alternative music combined with some classical tunes.  The piece was scheduled to premier at a special event celebrating the new and improved Crocker Art Museum, on October 16 – but because of a dancer injury we think our audiences may have to wait to see it during our Modern Masters series. The wait will definitely be worth it!  But not to worry we have already come up with an exciting performance for the presentation… more info about that coming soon.

     This season the Sac Ballet is truly following our seasonal theme “Coloring Outside the Lines” by breaking out of the conventional and bursting into the streets in a celebratory new explosion of dance around Sacramento called Combustadance!  If you haven’t yet seen these unexpected dance performances, as seen in Ceaser Chavez park or around midtown during Second Saturday than check out the video and look for future hints – perhaps posted on this blog – as to when the Sac ballet dancers may break out into dance again!

     So I guess that is a good recap of the season as thus far.  It has been a lot of fun these past few weeks and the morale of the company is in a great place.  We have welcomed some new dancers into the company along with several apprentices and trainees.  It has been great reconnecting with friends from last season, while beginning new and fun relationships with the new dancers.  If I can make a single claim about the dancers of the Sac ballet it is that we all enjoy a good laugh and often have trouble containing ourselves during rehearsals, because of some ridiculousness that is always happening.  t seems that even on days when we are tired and beat up from long rehearsals or an extra hard class, we can always count on one another for a knowing smile and few good laughs to help carry you through the day.   I suppose, however it is easy to grow so comfortable and close with this group of dancers, because we are together for so many hours a day, and for so many days a week that somewhere along the way we become more like a family.  

    I hope that during the week you can check back to Chris’ Corner as I hope to continue updated what goes on in the studio in the few days leading up to the CCC.  So long for now!