It is Sunday afternoon and I am relaxing with a beautiful view of the river while drinking too much coffee at Mozart's Coffee.
How does that apply to a dancer's life?
Great Question.
Let me answer that.
As everyone in America gets ready to slow down, enjoy Thanksgiving, live it up for the holidays, the ballet dancers of America enter the busiest time of the year.
Nutcracker.
Oh yes- Nutcracker.
This is the money maker of every ballet company. This is THE event of the year. And now is the time that rehearsals increase, the days become longer, and soon enough when performances begin, the weekend dwindles.
The past two weeks have been great. I finished up my performances of Peter and The Wolf here in Austin. On the day to day, I have had a little bit of Nutcracker rehearsals, but nothing crazy. I have also been teaching at a smaller studio in Austin a few times at Tarrytown Dance. That experience has been really amazing being able to pass on my knowledge to a younger generation of dancers.
Ballet Austin's Second Company Cast for Peter and the Wolf after the last show
Ballet Austin's Second Company Cast for Peter and the Wolf Trying to fit in the Pool
Overall, these past two weeks have been nice and relaxing... The calm before the storm.
The storm begins tomorrow - Monday, November 14th, 2016.
Since this is my first year here in Austin, that means that this version of Nutcracker is a brand new version for me. I have been doing Nutcracker for TEN years, but each version is a beast of its own. This is my fifth version that I am doing. I am excited to be performing many different roles within Ballet Austin's Nutcracker.
With many roles, comes great responsibilities and A LOT of information. Musical cues, formations, dancing with other people, and how to act as my character.... That can be overwhelming. The most important thing is to not stress and take it one rehearsal at a time!
Last but not least,
Have Fun!
Nutcracker is a lot of dancing and long hours, but the audience is the best. Most people don't experience ballet outside of the Nutcracker and the Nutcracker is usually the first ballet people see in their life. To know that I can bring people to a world they have never experienced is magical and that is what will get me through the storm.
So as the sun sets tonight I get ready for what will be the beginning of a crazy time.