Hey Everyone!
I hope all is well in Milwaukee! Here in Rochester, things have jumped to a new level.
On Tuesday morning, as all of the 18+ dancers were warming up in the large studio, a surprise guest walks in...our very own Ferne Bronson! My heart almost jumped out of my chest! I couldn't believe it! Seeing her face and feeling her presence was exactly what the doctor ordered. We were all so close to "E" on our gas tanks but as soon as Ferne's bright face came walking through the door we were instantly filled up. The "Day in the Life" however, came the following day.
Tuesday started out normally. Technique came first, but instead of Yoga for Dancers, Ferne was asked to teach a master class in African Dance. I felt so prepared for this class that I was confident heading in to class. However, what Ferne threw at us a step up from any class I've taken from her in the past. Her classes have always pushed my limits, but this master class was on another level. We were doing combinations across the floor to the tempo's of her Kothi Dance Company. I can't speak for everyone, but when the class was over, I wanted to collapse on the floor from exhaustion.
Another factor of my fatigue came from Garth's invitation to join his company for their evening company class and rehearsal on Tuesday. I was one of nine students invited to company class and was overwhelmed with excitement (okay, and terror). What did this mean? Why me? Am I going to look like a fool? But when 6pm on Tuesday night rolled around, I was ready and willing to throw myself into this opportunity. Their company class was similar to the Technique classes we've been taking every morning, but with variations. I went through that with little confusion. Then, we came across the floor.
Norwood Pennewell had one company member demonstrate the across the floor exercise twice and then off we went. The first combination was "easier" to grasp and I was fairly confident after three or four times of doing it. Unfortunately, as soon as I was getting a hang of things, we moved on. The second across the floor exercise was shown to us twice by a different company member and every single step, with the exception of two, was a jump, a leap, a hop, o or a skip. We never had more then one foot on the floor at a time. The facings changed and the counts were anything but a constant 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The five or six times we did the right side, I maybe got the first five jumps. Granted, this phrase was three times the length of the first phrase, it was still incredibly challenging. Finally we learned an adagio. This adage was almost entirely on releve or forced arch and moved slower then anything I've done before. Watching Nicolette (another company member) execute this beautiful adage was a sight in its own, and I know I tried my hardest to do it justice. After class we had a 15 minute break and we all came back. We came back to Natalie assigning each of us a company member. I was partnered with Travis. The company showed us the opening to a piece called "Prelude" and then we were told to shadow our company member for the second section. We were shown no steps, no counts, no anything. Just follow and don't stop moving. We ran the piece with the company once, watched the company do it themselves now that we had gotten a look at it, and then ran it with them again. It was an amazing experience that I will not forget for a long time.
Luckily for us, on Wednesday we were invited back to company class and it was almost identical to Tuesday nights class. Not so lucky for us, Ferne (our very own Ferne) murdered us in master class, so our energy level was down the drain. But when push comes to shove, we all shoved. The floor warm-up and the standing warm-up were a "breeze" (compared to the across the floor) and we moved on to the same three center exercises as Tuesday night. This night we started with the second combination and this time, Norwood broke it down for us. After running through the jumping exercise in three parts, I went into it full speed ahead and only goofed here and there. A much better experience for all I think. Then, we went right into the adagio, because Garth showed up and wanted to see. Norwood broke down the counts for us again (by us watching Nicolette do it twice), and off we went. Garth asked us to do it a second time, because our timing was crap, but after the second time, he was satisfied. We then moved on to the first combination, and we got no second demonstration. Like I said earlier, I felt confident right when we moved on the night before, so this time around, I was ready to go. That one went by on the right and left side (twice each) and it was time to run "Prelude" again This time, we ran it once and it went by much smoother then the night before. Immediately after Garth stands up and says "I like dancers who retain my movement. I want to see Ben do his opening solo from "From Before" and Ben and Andrew do PJ's solo". The music came on and off Ben went. The company clapped and hollered for him and it was show time for us both. We got to the back bend when the music started to skip but we kept going until Garth stopped us and the company once again cheered and clapped for us. It was an extremely overwhelming, exciting, and life changing moment.
Ben and I took our seats and then we were treated to what I can only call a gift. Garth then told us that he wanted to show us a few solo's from his Rep. We got to see a solo from Khama Kgari, Steve Humphrey, Nicolette Depass, and Vitolio Jeune, as well as the kick section and hunter section of "From Before" and the first two sections of a piece called Udan. Every single solo brought me to tears (that I hide of course) and the first two sections of Udan were equally amazing. At one point, Ben and I looked at each other and said, "We are sooooooo lucky to be here". Before every solo and every piece Garth spoke about each piece and told a little bit of his inspiration. For Khama's, all we got was Xena's (the warrior princess) warrior cry from most of the company members but for Steve's we were told about slavery, for Nicolette's it was religion (to any higher being), and for Vitolio's it was African drums used for communication. The way Garth spoke about his dancers and his movement was inspirational. You could tell that he stood by his art and would back his dancers up in a heartbeat and after watching them dance, I would back them up.
It is hard for me to write down exactly how amazing Wednesday was. We went from being completely exhausted to having a once in a lifetime experience. Even now as I write this up I get choked up. I saw so many amazing dancers dancing amazing choreography right in front of my face. I danced with those same dancers in their class and in their piece. I followed one of them step by step and held my own (hopefully) through a piece I never even saw. I got to show them what I could do with Garth's movement in my "From Before" duet with Ben and they all seemed so incredibly supportive. I was in the same room with a Tony Award winning choreographer and three Bessie Winners (Steve Humphrey, Natalie Rogers-Cropper, and Norwood Pennewell). I cannot put into words what that night meant to me. I was pushed to my physical limits that night and I have to say, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
The intensive is almost over (two days left) and I feel like I've experienced a year of my life but only three weeks have gone by. I'm not sure what else I'll be able to write about (I'm sure something will come up) but I have to say this now. If any other UWM students are interested in this Institute, I say do it. I say do it as soon as you can. The other students, the faculty, the company, and Garth are such an amazing group of people that it is impossible to come back from this and be the same person. I know that I have grown as a dancer, as a human, and as a student in these three short weeks. I cannot wait to come back to UWM and continue this process!
