Frustration

If you dance, this will be full of some interesting things to keep in mind.

First off, when you're dancing with a partner, never change choreography without first telling your partner, and then practicing the changes you discuss by actually dancing those changes in the dance before going on stage in front of an audience.

Seems simple, but as a solo dancer, you may forget that you can't make changes on the fly without telling anyone.

Imagine this combination: You are with a partner pivoting in place with waltz timing, then after one turn you chasse back and the girl is lifted, then moving from that position travel to the right in a pas de bourree, glissade, and then lift the girl again.

Simple? Okay, to the non-dancers the answer is, "yes. simple."

So now let's imagine one say, goes through a tech week before the run of a show consisting of five run throughs with the choreographer of the dance present at each one and things are great, going the same every time, things are good.

Now let's imagine say... an opening night. On this night the female 'dance captain' says something about a possible run-through of this dance at intermission for everyone to warm up for it which happens during the second act of the show.

Now let's say one male partner is present at said intermission although they are wanting to instead rest, but their partner is not present. Understandable, yes? I mean they both went through five shows of doing the dance during tech week, things should be great.

However when the dance happens, a simple 'fish' move (ballet style dip) doesn't work because the female dancer doesn't hit a pose and freeze in it so the male can lift them to spiral her around and do the fish. Then the choreography of the male running her off stage left is suddenly changed as the female grabs the male after the failed fish and pulls him ungracefully off stage... right?

Interesting so far? Let's keep going to further explain why the title of this post is lovingly called, "Frustration."

So after this opening night dance, the male gives the female a note about how to do the fish correctly by her hitting her pose and staying in it until the male lifts her at which time the female stays in the pose until the lift ends.

The whole 'leaving stage right' even though that didn't happen any of the five tech week practices with the choreographer present, and even though the female did it without telling the male in advance, or ever practicing that exit with the male in advance was unprofessional, but let's assume the male is now over it.

Second night. Intermission. The dance captain again is going over this dance, and the male from the previous examples is present, but no partner to be found. Again, understandable since the note given must have been completely understood by the female partner, and leaving off stage right instead of left is now assumed to be, "what she wants."

The dance starts. Remember the combination from before? Here is a refresher: pivoting in place with waltz timing, then after one turn you chasse back and the girl is lifted... oh what's this? After the pivot in place the girl is dragging the male across the stage from stage left to stage right during the counts they are supposed to chasse back and lift the girl! Once in this new location, which is right next to the presidium (in fact the male reaches out and touches it) the counts they are now at include the pas de bourree to the right, glissade to the right, and then a lift.

Instantly a few flags should pop up in your head.

1. Why did one partner (for the second time) throw in new choreography which was different then the five tech week rehearsals with the choreographer present, and why did they not inform the other partner they were making said change, or practice that change prior to being in front of a live audience?

2. Why did this partner skip out on the practices during intermission if they wanted a change?

3. What will happen from this new position if the couple does the pas de bourree to the right, followed by a glissade to the right, and then a lift that travels a few steps?

To answer the third question, they would end up in the wings before the lift even began.

So how did the 'fish' go after that combination and after the male had clarified the 'fish' the previous night with the female not attending intermission practice so all was assumed to be understood?

Here is a clue: The girl took the male's hand, spun into him, them put one arm around the male's neck. Her left arm. Around the back of the male's neck. For a fish lift.

Need another clue? IT FAILED.

I'm not even going to say who this 'male' and 'female' was, but think all dancers out there can learn from them, and the female's mistakes.

Moral of the story?

First off, when you're dancing with a partner, never change choreography without first telling your partner, and then practicing the changes you discuss by actually dancing those changes in the dance before going on stage in front of an audience.

Secondly, never think you're so hot you don't need to practice when a dance captain gives you the chance to during an intermission. Especially if you messed up the dance the night before.

Personally? I think the female is a good dancer.

I never understood why she wasn't pursuing dance later in her life until the show tonight happened.

Thus ends my 'Frustration' as I'm over it, like the times before.