Saturday, March 27, 2010

Rehearsal



I vividly remember i enjoyed the rehearsal part of ballet performances. Dancers stretching, doing slits so effortless while chatting about the latest celebrity gossip, fashion news with a few other ballerinas. Warming up our muscle while waiting for ballet director's cue for us to take place. Bags filled with pointe shoes, band-aids, toe-pads, sewing kit, hairpins, hairspray, make-up bag, leg-warmers, ballet wrap skirt... lying on the floor.

The drama going on backstage is just as exciting as the drama on stage. Production staffs, choreographers, dancers, light technicians, stagehands handling setpiece engaged in a orchestra like drama. Everyone is busy with their task of making this ballet look perfectly flawless on stage.

But there are nothing flawless about ballet performances, dancers often dance so exquisitely onstage, adrenaline may cause the ballerinas to dash off into crisis- nearly smacking into a setpiece, costumes falling off... A seamstress rushes in to fix her costumes, ballerinas wipe the sweat off her face, sip tiny bit of water... All these drama goes on backstage!