Week Two

"Summer vacation" (if you can call it that!) has already faded into the distance as we plunge into the heady work of putting together the program for our first performances next month. Since this is a retrospective program, there are several excerpts from different ballets that need to be taught, learned, and rehearsed. I have a feeling that arranging casting for these shows is going to be very similar to trying to line up a Rubik's Cube. With several short pieces back-to-back, only a pause in between, figuring out who can dance what ballets with enough time to change costumes is going to be tricky, but I'm sure Lisa and Christopher will work it out... and all we dancers have to do is learn a lot of choreography and dance it!

About five of the excerpts have already been worked on over the past two weeks, which is a lot considering we also got Serenade together last week for the Oregon Symphony concert. Carol Shults, OBT's former dance historian and the current trustee of the works of Dennis Spaight, has been in this week to stage the two Spaight pieces we're doing. That's been a treat, and certainly not only because she's been bringing in bags of apples from her garden each day.

Now that we're all back together at work again, I'm struck by how quickly we fall back into our usual rhythm and routine. It's as if three months apart never happened. Last June was only a week ago and our crew has just keep on doing what we do best-- feeding off of each other's energy, being inspired by the potential in the studio, and bringing dance to life.

The next four weeks will be very full and will fly by. This is going to be a tremendously exciting program for all of us, and for our audiences, I can tell already!