Reciprocated Respect and Love

The bond a dancer has with the choreographer can be wrought with love, devotion, frustration and commitment.

That commitment is reflected in (I feel) the process of the dance making and also the final outcome--the performance. Some choreographers use the term, "dancers are a dime a dozen" and discard a dancer as if they are worthless. While the statement is true, I feel that I have worked hard to pull together the right group of dancers for this project!! I respect my dancers and their lives and work well with each of them. In turn, each one has reciprocated that level of commitment and devotion inherent in the dancer/choreographer relationship.

In today's rehearsal, the dancers' performance made me certain that our show in October is going to be spectacular. For me to say (as the choreographer), one month before a show, that our performance is going to be good is a feat in and of itself. I run rehearsals hard to the very end and will continue up to the last week before our concert.

In this rehearsal, I witnessed for the first time (after 3 months of work) my idea materialized through movement and space. The energy that the dancers created amonst themselves was deep and brought my idea and artistry to a level that was very meaningful for me. You should have seen me today: I was hopping around the dance studio and there was one moment that I ended up running all around the dancers shouting "Good!" "Great." "Keep that!!" "Great decision!"

Each one of them, through the past 3 1/2 months have demonstrated their devotion, commitment and love to this project--to me.