Sunday, August 24, 2008

Le Sacre Du Printemps: The Oddball Child


You heard it here first:
Le Sacre Du Printemps: The Oddball Child.
There are no elders, no mystics, and no implied nudity in this version of Le Sacre. CSDE and Stravinsky's score tell the tale of the Spring family, a normal middle-class family with four children, one of whom has always been a little....strange. Things start getting stranger after the young woman turns sixteen, and soon the family learns that something evil is afoot...

We also started our first pointe piece since......since..... since Rebekah French's solo in Season 1. Which doesn't really count, because it was a solo and also because she ended up not doing my choreography. But that's another story for another time. We're doing Celebre Tarantelle, and I love that it's being created at the same time as Sacre because of the opposing duality between both pieces: One is ultra-classical, ultra balletic, petite allegro and pointe work that involves many releves in a row and fast footwork. The other is as far from ballet as you can get-- very angular, very athletic, very Horton. We are going to be in great shape by the time this ballet is finished. In the meantime, we will be very sore.

Today's rehearsal was also a happy occasion because Diana came back! We haven't seen her in a long time (since Big Range), and we sure did miss her. In addition, we recently welcomed Robin Lynne Evans to the Ensemble. She is a recent graduate of Sam Houston State University, where she received a bachelor's degree in dance. Welcome to the family!