What a pleasure it has been to work with dancers for two weeks in a row…. In the first week of December I joined the BSO in their Music for Youth series which was a collaboration with the Baltimore School for the Arts Ballet Company in an abridged production of Tchaikovsky’s beloved Nutcracker. Anyone who knows me personally is aware of my love for partner dancing – I started off studying American style Ballroom in the late 90′s, switched to International Style Ballroom when I moved to Baltimore, and my current craze is for West Coast Swing and Hustle dancing. So just being around dancers is fun for me…. These budding ballet dancers are impressively on top of their games at a young age, and put on simply lovely performances for Baltimore area school children. I understand they are this week in the midst of a full-scale production for the public. I include this photo that I managed to snag on my cell phone of one of our rehearsals. This is the Arabian dance, which was danced by a young lady whose flexibility and grace were particularly striking. One arabesque, which she performed flawlessly in each performance with her foot behind her and soaring over her head, drew audible gasps from the young audience. Her partner was there for her at every step; at one point she stands looking graceful and effortless on one leg with the other next to her ear, and he turns her, using only the upper thigh of her standing leg, around 360 degrees.
My next project was a collaboration with the Martha Graham Ballet Company and the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, which presented a production of Clytemnestra in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre. These dancers are so impressive with the incredible flexbility and sharp angular movements called for by the choreography. My own situation for this show was particularly challenging. Given the size of the orchestra pit, it was impossible for the percussion instruments and the 9 foot Steinway grand to be in the pit with the other instrumentalists, which necessitated us being housed in another part of the backstage area, with access to the conductor via monitor and audio feed. In the photo below, you can see my piano in the wings, a dancer onstage, and the monitor which allowed me to see the conductor.
