Work Day

This last Sunday was work day for The Nutcracker. There is always a work day three Sundays before every show. It is called work day because the parents come into the studio and help get certain props ready. They also fix any costumes that need repairs and posters are picked up to be distributed around town. Work day is also one of the longer rehearsals for all of the dancers. I had to be there from 12 -5. The day started out with meeting my arabianettes. I am an arabian and arabianettes are girls who are about seven years old. They stand in the back and move their hands for most of the dance but in the end they follow the arabians. The only thing that they have to do is lift their leg but they complained about it the entire rehearsal. Then I had to go and warm up with the company and apprentice company and we only had one studio and it was crowded. Ten minutes into warm up everyone was sweating because it was so hot with everyone crammed into one studio. Next I had to go to tap rehearsal which is probably my favorite piece in the Nutcracker because of the kick line. I have always wanted to be a Rockette but sadly I am not quite tall enough so for this one dance I get to live my dream. However, this year tap hasn't been so great because many of the younger girls are having trouble keeping up. They don't seem to be able to count to ten and they always do to many kicks. Luckily, tap looked excellent on Sunday and there wasn't any screaming but I am sure that will soon come. After tap I had to rehearse waltz and I wasn't one bit worried about it because it was the same part that I had last year. I could do waltz quartet in my sleep but I was still scared that it wasn't going to look good. My nightmares didn't come true and waltz looked amazing . After dancing all day I still had one more piece to rehears and that was snow. This year I am just a snow fairy so I don't have that large of a part in snow. However, I am the person who has been in snow the longest so I have to try and lead the younger girls. On workday I had to make sure that all of the snow fairies knew when to go on stage and that wasn't any easy task. It was very frustrating for me because when I was younger I knew when to go but it is almost like the younger girls don't care at all. The end of workday was a relief because I was exhausted. I had never sweated so much and all of the energy had been drained out of my body. I know that all the hard work will be worth it in three weeks when I dance on the stage. Starbucks= Love