Rehearsal 10/22

As of Thursday's rehearsal, my work on my piece is DONE!! Now it is up to my extremely capable dancers to take the movement and make it their own. They can now take this piece and inject some life into it, and really live in the moment with it. I am SO excited to see the piece grow and exist on a whole other level.

As always, comments are WELCOME!! And please email me if you would be willing to visit a rehearsal and give me feedback on what you see!! I would really love that more than you'll ever know!!

Rehearsal 10/20

Last night's rehearsal was very productive, and I believe it was due to two things that were different about my rehearsal. I believe that the presence of Mary Buckley, Whitney Fetterhoff, and Maida Withers for the first forty-five minutes of my rehearsal really focused my energies on one aspect of the piece, and for a longer period of time than I would have allowed myself to work on this section. We looked at the begining of the piece, with Billy moving from upstage to downstage, and vice versa, and the rest of the dancers crossing on the horizontal plane. Focusing on the movement of Billy, versus the movement of the rest of the dancers, and what specifically they are doing across the floor, amplified that section.

I made the executive decision last night to cut the other pieces of music I've been using, and to use the "Rods and Cones" piece by the Blue Man Group for the entirity of the piece. It is going to take some doctoring to make my structure fit the dynamic shifts in the music, but I think that this decision will work out for the best. I am very happy with the ending I tagged on to the piece last night as well. I made the decision to use the diagonal as a theme in the piece, and as such, the piece ends with the cast around Billy, walking him offstage on said diagonal. I feel that this ending speaks to the quote, "And then I climbed the sharp hill that lead to all the years ahead."

Here is video footage from my rehearsal of the piece, as of 10/20. Enjoy!!

10/8 Rehearsal

On Thursday, a number of visitors were at my rehearsal, among them Kadie Del Sordo, Courtney Coughlin, and Maida Withers. I am SO very thankful for their feedback and constructive criticisms!! Courtney filmed me speaking to my cast, and without further ado, here is said video:

10/6 Rehearsal

Tonight's rehearsal was such a success, and I owe it all to my capable cast and my rock star ASM, Rebecca!! I feel that in these rehearsals I have created a family environment, where ideas and suggestions can be shared, both good and bad, and in the end we are all looking out for each other. What with this being such a personal piece, I could not ask for more from the people involved in sharing and creating this art.

Tonight, we played with a couple ideas I have been mulling over in my head. We worked on creating "dashboard ornament phrases." These phrases consist of combinations I have taught which move through space, except I have asked my dancers to create their own phrases based on this movement, but the only catch is that they must stay in the same place. I found this movement to be extremely personal, and in the video from rehearsal you will see Billy, Brooke M., Brooke S., Remy, and Ricci perform their phrases. I am trying to find a place for the rest of my cast to perform their phrases because they really are quite stunning!!

We also played with combining the phrases we have worked on, utilizing two differing music tracks, and attempting to create a string of phrases. I am very pleased with this permutation of work we created tonight. I must applaud my dancers because their focus and drive to accomplish this task tonight was STELLAR!! We accomplished SO MUCH!! I hope to have guests come and watch my rehearsals live, so that my dancers can have someone to perform for, other than Rebecca and myself. If anyone reading this blog would like to come and visit a rehearsal, please let me know!! We rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8-10, in Building J. Email me at rick.westerkamp@gmail.com. I would LOVE the feedback!!

Without further ado, here is the permutation of work we created today.