Friday and Saturday nights are sold out, but you can still attend the Saturday afternoon performance at 2 p.m. Don’t miss it!

Miami City Ballet Dancers are back in the studios after an exciting opening weekend at Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami. I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was a wonderfully successful weekend!

On Friday night (opening night), there were obvious nerves onstage before the curtain went up at 8:00 p.m. Everyone was waiting impatiently while welcoming speeches were made. I was standing in the wings on stage right with the rest of the Company to cheer on our friends and colleagues as they performed. Personally, I just love the moment when the curtain comes down on a ballet and everyone in the wings explodes with applause and screams “bravo!” The whole evening was filled with smiles, roses, and energy both onstage and offstage, which was simply contagious.

The next couple of days, we returned to the theater to receive a congratulatory speech from our Artistic Director, Edward Villella and a wonderful review in The Miami Herald.

I brought the Flip camera with me to the theater this past weekend to document backstage moments as we prepare for opening night. There is so much that happens behind the scenes, and I hope this will give you a little insight into what our performances look like from our point of view.

My name is Rebecca King and I am a member of the Corps de Ballet. This week, the Company gave me the Flip camera and asked me to document the activities that go on while the dancers and staff prepare for opening weekend. I am so excited to take you from the studios to the theater!

While preparing for opening weekend, we spend most of our time working on the ballets that we will be taking to the theater. Everyday our director, Edward Villella, teaches an hour and a half ballet class, which is followed by six hours of rehearsals. Needless to say, it is busy around the studios during this time, but all the dancers are very excited to get into the theater. We all enjoy performing at the Arsht Center here in Miami and appreciate the wonderful audiences who always receive us so warmly.

This week I filmed some rehearsals and other behind the scenes moments that I hope will give you a bit of insight into our studio rehearsal days.

So, the Company is off to the theater on October 22 for a dress rehearsal and I will be taking the camera with me to capture all the exciting moments of our 2009-2010 Season opening weekend!

MCB will be performing Allegro Brillante, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Company B and Symphony in Three Movements at the Adrienne Arsht Center on October 23rd and 24th at 8:00 p.m. and October 25th at 2:00 p.m.