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March 02, 2005
February 05 - Brisbane debut of Swan Lake
Arriving in Brisbane on Monday afternoon was everything it promised to be ... 30 degrees and sunny, a nice change from Melbourne's inconsistent summer. We all checked into the Rendezvous Hotel and tried to settle in, for the week ahead promised to be big.
The word must be out in Brisbane about the success of Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake, as it was sold out upon our arrival which is very exciting. The company had spent the previous week working with Graeme and Janet Vernon in our Melbourne studios going over the motivation behind the movements and defining everyone's characters, which really seemed to breath new life into the production once again for Brisbane and of course in preparation for the U.K tour.
On Tuesday we bumped into the theatre and after class the 3rd cast had a technical run-through on stage. I must admit I was happy to have a quiet day to settle back into theatre life as I haven’t performed for 6 months due to injury. The sets looked incredibly beautiful on the Lyric Theatre stage.
Wednesday was the 1st dress rehearsal. Steven Heathcote (Prince Siegfried), Madeliene Eastoe (Odette) and myself ( Baroness von Rothbart) were all conscious to not go too hard, and to remember it was a rehearsal, especially for myself as I had personally been away from the difficulties that lights, costumes and live orchestra can throw at you. It went O.K, nothing went badly enough to worry us for the next day.
On Thursday we had notes and got to tidy up all the little dancing and technical hiccups from the dress. I was feeling fairly relaxed all things considered.
Opening Night: Act 1 seemed to go particularly well, which was a relief because this was what felt the worst the day before. Given Swan Lake was the first show back for the whole company, there was a sense of nervous excitement in the air back stage. By the end of the show the audience were on their feet clapping and very generous with their ovations, especially when Graeme appeared on stage with the cast. At the post-performance function, the three of us weren't standing for too long as the show's impact started to hit us all.
The next day we were back in costumes shooting some new photos for the overseas tour. It gave us a chance to talk about some things from the night before calmly in preparation for our next show tomorrow. The matinee performance seemed to go even better (calmer I suppose), and the large amount of children there made for a great audience. I had a spare minute to talk to guest teacher Johnny Eliason who said how much he enjoyed it and how lucky we are to have this production in our repertoire. Likewise, the whole company feels pretty lucky to have had him here for the last month, taking class and working on La Sylphide, he’s such a wonderful teacher.
Click on picture for larger image
Photo Branco Gaica
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