Nov 18, 2010 Comments
Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet
Half an hour before the curtain rises on a Miami City Ballet performance, the audience members are probably just arriving at the theater, or in route. But what are the dancers up to? As I continue to bring you behind-the-scenes of Fanfare, this week I bring you backstage at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, at half hour call on Friday night.
Nov 5, 2010 Comments
Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet
Since opening weekend of the 25th Anniversary Season, Miami City Ballet has not again hit the stage, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! Although we are focused on other up-coming ballets, Program I is always in the back of our minds. Many nights when I am trying to fall asleep, choreography is running through my head like a broken record. Often, I take this time to review steps in order to challenge myself by remembering ballets we haven’t worked on in awhile, or to re-enforce something I learned recently. What has been my choreography playlist recently? Fanfare. As we prepare to take this ballet to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, one thing I am always thinking about is the orchestra.
Dancing with a live orchestra is such a great pleasure and a welcome treat, but along with our newly-revived luxury comes a few challenges. When rehearsing and performing to a recording, we have become accustomed to hearing the exact same notes, with the exact same tempo every time. With live music, that all changes. The dancers really need to be on their toes (no pun intended) by listening closely to the music, as the tempo is never exactly the same. Also, with the orchestra in the pit, many times we hear different notes played by different instruments that we never noticed in the recording. Recordings can never completely capture the full effect of live music, which is why it is so important for us, as dancers, to understand the musicality of the choreography and constantly count the music. Dance is an illustration of the music; in order for us to represent the music as the choreographer intended, we need to hear each and every element of the music.
If you haven’t seen Miami City Ballet’s company premiere of Fanfare, accompanied by the Opus One Orchestra, you still have two weekends to choose from: Program I is showing November 12-14 at the Broward Center for Performing Arts, or November 19-21 at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
Oct 26, 2010 Comments
Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet
Opening weekend was a huge success as everyone anticipated. I took some footage on the Flip camera to bring you behind the scenes of Fanfare. Hearing the orchestra in the pit again for the first time in two years was an exhilarating experience that was felt by every person on stage and in the audience. I hope you enjoy. Until next time…
Oct 14, 2010 Comments
Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet
Here we are! Day one in Adrienne Arsht Center, kicking off our 25th Anniversary Season! We just completed our first, of two, dress rehearsals. It is taking a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things; like not having a mirror, wearing costumes, and having stage lights shining down on us. The Fanfare costumes are so beautiful and full of color! We are looking forward to debuting this ballet for our Miami fans tomorrow night!
I took a few photos to bring you behind the curtain on our rehearsal day.
Stay tuned for some video footage I have taken, coming soon!
Oct 12, 2010 Comments
Post by Rebecca King, Corps de Ballet
The dancers of Miami City Ballet are very excited to be preparing for the 25th Anniversary season, which kicks off in just a few days. Among the exciting elements of this opening weekend is the return of the Opus One Orchestra. Miami City Ballet has been without an orchestra for two years now, so we are bringing them back in style.
Leading off Program I is Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, which was created especially to “introduce you to the instruments of the orchestra,” as the narrator explains before the ballet begins. The orchestra has four different sections: the strings, the woodwinds, the brass, and percussion. As you can imagine, the ballet has a large cast that fills the stage with bright colored costumes as the curtain rises. Former New York City Ballet dancer Ben Huys set this ballet on the company in April, at the end of our 2009-2010 season. When we were learning the ballet, the premiere seem so very far away, and here we are, already in October with opening night just around the corner. Mr. Huys returned last week to put some final touches on the ballet before we debut it for our Miami audience.
I really enjoy this ballet; not only do I find it fun to dance, but I love the choreography and the picture it creates for the audience. In my opinion, the best part is the last section of the piece. One may call it a finale, but because this piece is all about the orchestra, we call it “the fugue”. In terms of music, a fugue is when two or more instruments play based on a theme. The theme is introduced at the beginning and reoccurs throughout. In our fugue, the instrument to introduce the theme is the piccolo. One by one, the instruments join in, building upon that theme. All the dancers enter the stage, at the same time as their instrument does in the pit, and dance a variation on the theme steps. After every section has entered, the stage becomes split among the men and the women. Now, the orchestra plays one slow melody underneath a fast, spritely melody. The men dance to the slower melody with completely different steps from the women, who are quickly and precisely dancing to the other melody. All the dancers again split into their different sections to create a final picture as the curtain comes in.
I am happy that MCB has again asked me to bring you a behind the curtain view of opening weekend. I will be taking the Flip camera with me to bring you some footage as this exciting night approaches. Stay tuned for more about Fanfare as Miami City Ballet continues to prepare for this exciting company premiere!
Feb 26, 2010 Comments
Leigh-Ann Esty got her hands on the Flip camera once again and headed straight into the studios for some thoughts on Open Barre. What are you looking forward to seeing during Open Barre 2?
Friday and Saturday nights are sold out, but you can still attend the Saturday afternoon performance at 2 p.m. Don’t miss it!
Oct 28, 2009 Comments
Post by Rebecca King
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.
Oct 16, 2009 Comments
Post by Rebecca King
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.
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