Quack
My dance studio is trying to build a ballet program. Until my ballet teacher, the beauteous Cara, joined the faculty 3 years ago, they really had no decent ballet classes, and consequently, few ballet students. I've only been at the studio for 2 years, so I never experienced the deplorable state it had been. But a few weekends ago some friends and I watched "highlights" of some of their past performance videos. Oh wow. It was really awful! I think the worst I saw was a dance of maybe 7-8 year olds fluttering ribbons to some weird rock song while wearing what looked like pajamas. The dance itself had absolutely nothing to do with the music. It was the most thrown together, half-assed thing I've ever seen. (note to Jenny: and you thought the 3 hour recital in 2004 was bad!)
This explains the hour-glass shaped demography of the ballet classes. There are little kids and old farts like me, but very very few teenagers.
I'm really impressed at what Cara's managed to accomplish in the past 3 years. The age distribution is still strange, but she's retaining the younger kids, which would never have happened in the previous regime. In the few years it will take this cohort to grow up (some of the middle schoolers are really good!), I think she'll really be able to establish something credible.
It's her dream to stage a production of a real ballet, rather than just a collection of isolated dances. This year she thinks things are finally ready to get her feet wet. Yesterday she held auditions for Peter and the Wolf. This is a great ballet given her resources. It's short (~30 minutes); has few roles; and is a children's story, justifying the use of younger (ie, less experienced) dancers.
For reasons not entirely clear to me, I went to the audition yesterday. I knew it was meant for the younger girls (the amazing middle schoolers), but she'd been telling us about how she intended for some of us ancients to be Huntsmen, so I thought we were supposed to go too. I felt so old! I was 2 to 3 times older than most of the kids there (to my surprise, a lot of elementary school aged girls were there too). I think they ran the auditions really well. What they did was they gave you 2 simple routines, and then had everyone (in groups) dance them in the character of each of the main parts. It really emphasized character development, which is essential for a ballet such as this one.
My favorite role in Peter and the Wolf is the Duck. The Duck is the main comedic role in this ballet. You know me; I love the goofy parts! The Duck gets to waddle around and wiggle her tail and ultimately is eaten by the Wolf (with an ungainly rendition of the Dying Swan routine). It's great! And I know I was the best as the duck at the audition, but then, that's not really saying much since I am a more experienced dancer and I've been in Peter and the Wolf twice before (as a Huntsman and Cat/Huntsman), so I already had ideas for how to portray the characters.
But I'm really torn about this whole duck thing. Obviously I should not be cast as the Duck, and I didn't go to the audition with the goal of winning that part. It would be ridiculous (and perhaps a little unfair) to have 12 year olds in all of the roles except for a random 25 year old Duck. Though some of the 12 year olds are quite tall, and a few of them are really good and will probably eclipse my meager ballet talent very soon, so maybe it wouldn't be that noticeable. But since the duck is the comedic role of the ballet, it really needs to be given to a ham. (It's well known that I'm a ham. That's why Miss Marianne always cast me as either the goofy one or the villain in recitals back in Athens. And Cara learned what a ham I am this year in the pirate dance. She knows I won't hesitate to embarrass myself for the sake of portraying my character.)
I think the person they would like to cast as the Duck is Kelly. Kelly is my 16 year old nemesis at the studio; we love tormenting each other! Kelly's a strong dancer (I'm amazed at the improvement she's shown in the 2 years I've known her), but she lacks stage presence. She's the anti-ham. She says she doesn't like character parts (maybe it's a snobby modern dancer thing?) and that she was only at the audition yesterday because Cara told her to. Unless Kelly miraculously gains confidence and starts acting, she'd be a horrible Duck. Yarr.
It will be interesting to see who gets the part. Who knows? Maybe one of the younger girls (younger than Kelly, I mean). Perhaps I'll be the understudy. That would be fun.
This explains the hour-glass shaped demography of the ballet classes. There are little kids and old farts like me, but very very few teenagers.
I'm really impressed at what Cara's managed to accomplish in the past 3 years. The age distribution is still strange, but she's retaining the younger kids, which would never have happened in the previous regime. In the few years it will take this cohort to grow up (some of the middle schoolers are really good!), I think she'll really be able to establish something credible.
It's her dream to stage a production of a real ballet, rather than just a collection of isolated dances. This year she thinks things are finally ready to get her feet wet. Yesterday she held auditions for Peter and the Wolf. This is a great ballet given her resources. It's short (~30 minutes); has few roles; and is a children's story, justifying the use of younger (ie, less experienced) dancers.
For reasons not entirely clear to me, I went to the audition yesterday. I knew it was meant for the younger girls (the amazing middle schoolers), but she'd been telling us about how she intended for some of us ancients to be Huntsmen, so I thought we were supposed to go too. I felt so old! I was 2 to 3 times older than most of the kids there (to my surprise, a lot of elementary school aged girls were there too). I think they ran the auditions really well. What they did was they gave you 2 simple routines, and then had everyone (in groups) dance them in the character of each of the main parts. It really emphasized character development, which is essential for a ballet such as this one.
My favorite role in Peter and the Wolf is the Duck. The Duck is the main comedic role in this ballet. You know me; I love the goofy parts! The Duck gets to waddle around and wiggle her tail and ultimately is eaten by the Wolf (with an ungainly rendition of the Dying Swan routine). It's great! And I know I was the best as the duck at the audition, but then, that's not really saying much since I am a more experienced dancer and I've been in Peter and the Wolf twice before (as a Huntsman and Cat/Huntsman), so I already had ideas for how to portray the characters.
But I'm really torn about this whole duck thing. Obviously I should not be cast as the Duck, and I didn't go to the audition with the goal of winning that part. It would be ridiculous (and perhaps a little unfair) to have 12 year olds in all of the roles except for a random 25 year old Duck. Though some of the 12 year olds are quite tall, and a few of them are really good and will probably eclipse my meager ballet talent very soon, so maybe it wouldn't be that noticeable. But since the duck is the comedic role of the ballet, it really needs to be given to a ham. (It's well known that I'm a ham. That's why Miss Marianne always cast me as either the goofy one or the villain in recitals back in Athens. And Cara learned what a ham I am this year in the pirate dance. She knows I won't hesitate to embarrass myself for the sake of portraying my character.)
I think the person they would like to cast as the Duck is Kelly. Kelly is my 16 year old nemesis at the studio; we love tormenting each other! Kelly's a strong dancer (I'm amazed at the improvement she's shown in the 2 years I've known her), but she lacks stage presence. She's the anti-ham. She says she doesn't like character parts (maybe it's a snobby modern dancer thing?) and that she was only at the audition yesterday because Cara told her to. Unless Kelly miraculously gains confidence and starts acting, she'd be a horrible Duck. Yarr.
It will be interesting to see who gets the part. Who knows? Maybe one of the younger girls (younger than Kelly, I mean). Perhaps I'll be the understudy. That would be fun.
posted by Meg at
10:29 AM
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