Milwaukee has been bustling with dance this hot summer! I just recently performed in the Dancemakers show on July 30. It was exciting to participate in such a fast pace performance scenario. We only had a month to prepare, and for me that was a new experience. I had the opportunity to work with Angie Yetzke who choreographed the piece “The Unaming” and kept a rigorous rehearsal schedule. With three hour rehearsals twice a week, Angie didn’t mess around, and every rehearsal was mandatory for all the dancers because there was a great deal of weight sharing and it was important for the entire group to be aware of what the other dancers’ parts were.
I found myself very anxious throughout the whole process because there were weekly showings of the works to be performed as well as the rehearsals. With every meeting, there were changes to the dance. It felt very much like an experiment constantly testing many different paths the dance could take. There were even changes being made up until an hour before the dress rehearsal. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, but I would try to be more open to the changing because it would have immersed me more into the dance from the get go. For such a short time to prepare the piece, I think I was a little unnerved, but we all came together in the end.
It was a huge challenge sometimes because every dancer in the group had strong voices and opinions about dance along with different body types. The group dynamic felt rushed, and I wish we could have had another chance to perform together. We spent a lot of time entranced by the dancing that I didn’t feel very connected to the other dancers until the end. I think it worked to our advantage because the piece formed around Yetzke’s choreography and our personalities. It became a piece wrapped in our own personal struggles to find calm with one another. In the end, the final performance felt wonderful, and as we left the stage, I felt invigorated only to realize that it was the last and only time we would get to perform the piece as we did that night.
I would love to work again with any one of the dancers or Angie. It wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it all the more!
I am currently working with Angie Yetzke on a piece for Hope College's "Dance 37", which will be performed in March. As I read this post I found myself connecting to many of the things that you commented on, especially how much Angie changes and tweaks different parts of the choreography. I find her technique to be very very effective (although slightly frustrating at time) for the piece that she is currently working on, as the topic is a very "liquid" subject.
ReplyDeleteAngie has by far been my favorite choreographer and teacher to work with both within my college experience taking dance classes, and outside of college from my time training in dance in high school. Granted, she is tough at times, but it's because she knows what she wants and she knows she can get it out of us dancers!