Welcome back to At the Barre... with Isha! a dancer's blog

The Sacramento Ballet Dancers 2010-2011

 

 

Coming to you from inside the Sacramento Ballet studios on this sunny and positive Monday afternoon, I am happy to say the dancers here have made it through two weeks of Nutcracker rehearsals! Woot! Beginning our third week of intense rehearsals, I personally see how much more graceful, dynamic, and smooth all the dancers’ movements have become. The choreography is settling in as muscle memory (hopefully!) and we can begin to work on our performance quality, attitude and character. Though, we still have much to learn in terms of piecing the whole shebang of “the Nutcracker” together. 

Throughout the weeks of rehearsals, we first learn and rehearse the actual dances for each divertissement such as Spanish, Arabian, Trepak, Chinese, and Candy Cane; we then learn a mini version of each divert in the finale’ as an overview of what was shown in Act II; and finally we move on to the entrances, exits, Opening and Finale’ group sections, Prologue and other acting moments to round off each piece. For example, some dancers learned how to “drink the coffee and admire the ring” at the end of Arabian, or some men learned how to ride or steer the dragon for the beginning of Chinese. While, Candy Cane women and men are working with the hula-hoop from day one, and Spanish women get used to flipping open and closed the overly large performance fan from day one. NOTE: it seems All the fans, big or normal sized, are broken in some way. Our Spanish ladies are quite serious about hitting the accents very strongly with those feeble fans… The sharpness from both the men and women make this divert an incredible beginning to the Act II characters.

Also this week Ron and Carinne and the dancers have been working very hard on the Waltz of the Flowers. As a Flower, a Demi, or a Rose, the end of our rehearsal days have been concluded with many runs of this beautiful and magnificent scene. Well, with that said I can tell you, the audience can only imagine the hard work and sweat put into organizing all those bodies on stage – coordination, spacing, formations, partnering and Rose lifts between numerous different groups of dancers. It looks quite amazing.

Heartbreakingly silly event of the week- the kitchen coffee pot was broken and we ran out of coffee. Know that the dancers this season have been known to brew around 3 or 4 full pots of coffee to make it through each day. The mood was slightly off for a few hours. Thankfully there was a spare coffee machine available and an incredible Folgers coffee donor! There are quite a few of us that can admit we are addicts…

Twice so far, we have had the pleasure of performing bits of the Nutcracker for elementary schools at the studios.This week, Washington Elementary was with us thanks to Vanessa Bautista, one of SacBallet School's teachers and Outreach Coordinator. It is so great to do some of our first small showings to a group of children that may become the next generation of professional dancers! 
Take a look - see Chris in the photo by Vanessa Bautista below?

It warms my heart and I'm sure my fellow dancers' as well, to see these children thoroughly enjoying the little bit we presented to them! Take a look at the rough video taken that day...

On a hilarious note, Daniel, our director of production, brought in our Chinese dragon this week as I mentioned before. Besides seeing the exciting Chinese men atop their “high horse” waving jovially to the audience in rehearsals we have the ridiculous looking face of the dragon with floppy ears and tail parked in the back of the studio all day! The silliness somehow brightens the start of my rehearsal day and makes me smile…
SNEAK PEAK~ Look at the Chinese Dragon and then John Whisler performing the opening of the Chinese Dance!

This busy day at the studio has ended and I am more than ready to head home…

Signing off until next week! Keep checking up on us as we cruise our way through the next two months of rehearsals and shows, to present to you the magic of the Nutcracker 2010!!

*do you have your tickets yet?

The third edition of Chris' Corner!

Dear Readers:

     Hello everyone and welcome to the third edition of Chris’ Corner.  Today I am writing to you all from the SacBallet rehearsal studios as a group of the company girls are rehearsing the Rose Variation in Waltz of the Flowers.  And if you haven’t already guessed the SacBallet Dancers are now in full “Nutcracker” mode.  For the dancers this is a very busy time of the year and we can be seen racing from one rehearsal to another, having to change our focus every fifteen minutes from being a doll, to a snowflake, a creepy mouse and then perhaps a Spanish or Arabian Divertissement … it can be nuts (pun intended).

     Since my last update: we have finished our run of the “CCC” and both of our Family Fun shows at the Crest.  The Family Fun shows were such a great experience and allowed the company dancers to explore many different genres of dance: from classical to carefree and from dramatic to comedic.  We also had the opportunity to mingle with our young audience members in the Crest lobby through some fun interactive stations.  Shows like these are so important for our company and for the community.  As the professional ballet company of the beautiful Capital of California it is partly our duty to educate and foster a love of dancing and the arts throughout the youth and I know for a fact that we were able to do just that.  How do I know? ....Let me share a great story with you all.

     Last night a couple of dancers, included myself, celebrated Halloween (and our day off) relaxing together and enjoying the festivities of the night.  While enjoying the sight of spooky trick or treaters I along with fellow company dancer Roberto Cisneros was approached by a young Spiderman who was making his evening rounds in the midtown area with a group of other costumed children.  The eager boy ran directly up to us and said, “ I know you both!  You were the Bunny…and you were the guys that spoke to us at the show!!”  The boy was referring to Roberto’s role as the White Rabbit in the excerpt from the “Alice in Wonderland” segment from the Family Fun Day, and to myself as the narrator.  The boy continued to excitedly tell us how much he enjoyed the show and tried to get his shyer friends (who he had explained had also seen the performance) to speak with us.  Even as the young Spiderman was heading around the corner I could still hear him excitedly talking about his encounter with the professional ballet guys.  I know that it will be a long time before I forget that special Halloween treat that I received from a young Spiderman and the pride that I felt because I may have affected a single child so that he may see dance as something that could be apart of his life.

     Well folks that is just about all for now…but before I sign off I’d like to give you a little review of the annual Halloween party that our company directors Ron & Carrine host for us every year.  The party was absolutely amazing and featured some of the usual festivities including: bobbing for apples, amazing food, millions of laughs, twister, and some awesome costumes.  I myself came to the party as a human crossword puzzle (complete with clues that could be answered) and some other costumes included Dorothy, a Ring Master, a Rockstar, 2 Audrey Hepburns and the Pope!  But the winner of the costume contest was company dancer Richie Smith, one of our resident Australians, who trumped everyone as a native Australian Aborigine – hilarious!!!! 

     Hope everyone out there also had a wonderfully spoooOOoOoooOky Halloween and please check back for more updates, as the dancers continue to prepare for our performances of Ron Cunningham’s “The Nutcracker”.