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Choreographer's Diary

by Leigh Witchel

Day 32 - September 10, 1999.
6 days until the performance.

A quiet day. Cleaning rehearsals for Scherzo and Armature, both of which are in decent shape. Very little of note happens in Scherzo rehearsal, we clean
the ending of the ballet, run it and end early. I spent a little time with Abraham ("But, Dad!") before the actual rehearsal going over his two solos in Armature, changing the longer of the two slightly to keep him moving and eliminate egg-on-face moments in it.

Peter arrives with a rough edit on CD, which works as I expect it to, but it's a little shock to the dancers, especially the erasures in the violin partita. I think they will have the effect I planned, which is to focus attention on the music by its absence. The most difficult section to deal with is Mary's narration of Adriana's solo, which is at the best tempo we could manage without Adriana's presence, but certain sentences are too drawn out. I get Adriana to move through the solo section by section, finding pauses that Peter can eliminate in the score to bring it to the tempo she's used to.

There's an undercurrent of edginess, but it's normal at this stage of a rehearsal, people are fatigued and nervous, but somehow they all managed to remain collected and things got accomplished. I was glad Morgan had given me some jellybeans before rehearsal, when things got a little tense, I would sidle up to whichever dancer needed it and slip one into her hand.


Day 32