 |
|
April 25, 2008
a sea of troubles- Linbury, Sadler's and the Bard
Why do I always feel like I should have read Tom’s entries before he posts them? He clearly does not own a dictionary (not a crime, neither do I), but then, he doesn’t have the god given innate sense of correct spelling that I was born with.
The LINBURY show went very well. I didn’t dance in the end, which was disappointing, but all part of the rich tapestry of life I suppose! It’s actually quite a dramatic story- it tends to be with me. I have learnt recently that my life can never just run smoothly- there has to be Hollywood melodrama involved somewhere.
Basically, I was intending to dance, and pushed myself hard (too hard) in class to try to get back jumping and on pointe. I had a rehearsal on the Thursday before the show and tried to do the piece. It was an unmitigated disaster, and there I was in tears, feeling not only extremely gutted that I wouldn’t be dancing for the exalted audience that was present, but also that I was letting others down.
It wasn’t a good day.
This injury has taught me so much, about myself and about life. When I was first injured, I came back too quickly and did too much too soon, and this is probably why my body is complaining and taking its time. I’ve learnt that I personally need to have the courage to admit to myself that there is a problem, not to just gloss it over with smiles and jokes. I’d like to thank Anna, our physiotherapist at school, who has been amazingly supportive and helpful throughout this period.
So at Linbury, I was very busy being very helpful. I went round with a camcorder filming footage of class on stage and getting little interviews with everyone. I’m inordinately proud of the footage, I’ve heard with a little editing, it could be up for a best picture Oscar next year.
This week, despite obvious limitations, has been a very good one. NBT have been at Sadler’s Wells doing Hamlet and I’ve taken class with them twice and am going back tomorrow. Even though I’m not on pointe or jumping, I wanted to get the trauma of meeting people over with and also get a chance to watch the company close up and see how they work day to day.
The first day I was a wreck. So nervous and timid- I felt about five years old again. I was so anxious to make a good impression on everyone that I could hardly speak. I needn’t have worried- the company were absolutely lovely. Class was on stage, (which was breathtakingly thrilling for me) and I was really worried about so many things- taking someone’s space at the barre, doing the wrong exercise, falling over, looking stupid etc. I was acutely aware of one of Bill’s favourite sayings ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression’ I dread to think what first impression I made on the company!! Having said that, if Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy could change their minds about each other, I’m sure all is not lost for me.
I learnt so much in those two short classes. I began to get acquainted with stuff the company do all the time like set warm ups, by keeping my eyes and ears open, thinking on my feet and copying the first person that I saw. Phillip Feeney is playing for their class tomorrow, so I’m very excited.
I had a little nosy around the wings yesterday, getting very excited seeing all the shoe skips behind the stage (big boxes where all the dancers shoes are kept to be taken on tour) and they had all their names on them. And I know it’s a bit silly, but I really can’t wait until my name is on one of them!!!!! I saw the table where all the props for Hamlet were kept, and what amazed me most was this bit of paper, which I remembered Claudius signing in the show. Of course, no-one out front could have distinguished it from Heat magazine, but it actually had proper writing on it- and get this- in german!!!!
So, onto Hamlet. I had a ticket for the first night, and was really looking forward to seeing it- despite all the mixed reviews. I studied the play for my AS level English, so I know it reasonably well, and I did see quite a traditional, solid version of it in Richmond a couple of years ago. However, I do belong in the group of people who find Hamlet as a character unbearably annoying and dithering. I actually had quite an interesting, if slightly random conversation with a guy in a pub once about him, and he was absolutely scandalised at my impatience with the existential dilemmas of what he called ‘the greatest hero of English literature- precisely because he is just a normal bloke to whom abnormal things happen.’ I disagreed vociferously and expressed a much greater admiration for Macbeth- at least he did something and didn’t just think about it.
Anyway, I digress.
I think the point about Hamlet is that everyone has had a reaction of some kind. Even if they didn’t like it, they have had some kind of experience. I think that is primarily why people go to the theatre, go to a gallery, buy a CD, go to a concert, see a film, or turn on the TV. The purpose of Art (yes, with a capital A) is to experience vicariously something one might never do in daily life.
So even if you hated Hamlet, surely you cringed when the woman had her fingers cut off. Surely you jumped out of your seat when that gun went off in act two. Surely you felt as though you were witnessing something inhuman when Ophelia was abused by those soldiers.
The highlights for me were mainly the solos, pas de deux and pas de trois that expressed the relationships between the characters. Ophelia’s solo in act two was particularly moving, the duet with Hamlet and Ophelia in act one was really something else, and Hamlet’s confrontation with his mother was gripping. Feeney’s score was amazing, and I loved the bits with the female singer, very evocative of the period, and the dancing at this point was, for lack of a better expression, wicked!
What’s also worth mentioning in relation to this show, is that everyone’s always talking about how no-one takes any risks with choreography or programming anymore- how companies are dictated to by the box office and little ground breaking new work emerges. It seems to me that if people do take risks- (anyone, big companies, small companies, freelancers) even if they don’t work out, they are not commended for having the courage to dare in the first place. I think the fact that the courage was there for someone to do something a bit different enriches the art form, even if the piece or production was savaged by critics and sold one ticket to the choreographer’s mum.
Brevity is the soul of wit- something i must learn, I'm afraid!!
 |
 | ||||||||
|
| ||||||||
|
| ||||||||
|
| ||||||||
|
| ||||||||