Monday, October 31, 2011

Kitimat!

Wow, it sure rains hard in Kitimat! It even rivaled Vancouver :)

This one was a marathon...travel/set-up/performance all in one day but.......WE ALL DID IT!!!! The Kitimat theater is beautiful, and we were received amazingly by the local Concert Association. There was a table laden with all kinds of wonderful food for us at the theater, and they held a post-show reception with even more food! Always a good way to impress a group of dancers...food. Our host at the reception was a pianist and graced us with his playing, which led to everyone getting out there secret talents:
Jessie: piano & singing
Darcy: guitar & singing
Me: piano
Robert: one-word-story game / broken telephone
Marvin: riling up the group!
Jennifer: Hava Nagila while the whole group holds hands and circles the room

It was a wonderful celebration of a successful tour.
Thanks to everyone who made it all happen!

Adios amigos :)

Smithers!

The Della Herman Theater in Smithers was the smallest of all and therefore everyone was expecting the worst...BUT we were all pleasantly surprised to show up on Friday to a completed set and a cheerful Tyson & Jenn (as well as local techs Hans & Heather and an eager group of students). Turns out it was the most straightforward theater of all! The show was a full house...they even had to turn people away!

The community was buzzing about the show both before and afterwards. There as a well attended workshop at the climbing gym where Jennifer led the group through some of the more basic rope work in the piece and spoke about what was behind the show. On Main St., there was a great display in a local bookstore showing pictures of the piece alongside photographs from the Eiger and other mountain climbing ventures and comparing the art of dance with the athletics of mountaineering.

The post-show party was held at my dad's house just outside of Smithers, where we were fed delicious food & drink, and played music around the campfire under a sky full of all the stars that we never see in the city. After a short sleep, we were whisked off to Kitimat from my mothers house (where 5 of us stayed), equipped with fruit and locally baked bagels.

One more show to go!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Prince Rupert!


What a week! We welcomed 2 people on board our tour: Robert Halley and Nicole Dupuis. Friday we rehearsed in Vancouver at Mascall Dance, then h0pped on the plane to Prince Rupert...landing on an island and ferrying over to the town (or city??). It was a unique arrival, in the dark it felt like we were landing in the middle of a forest. Our B&B, Eagle's Bluff, was beautiful! Gorgeous and comfortable rooms right over the waterfront in Cow Bay. Show day started with a lovely and relaxed morning of breakfast, baths and a brisk walk up to the theater. Again, Jenn & Tyson (and an additional local crew) had been working hard getting the rigging & sets set up and the lighting cues ready. We all danced our hearts out and got a great response from the audience. We celebrated our efforts with pizza (one of the only services still open at that time of night!) and wine at the B&B with lots of laughing and debriefing of the night's excitements.
We will reconvene in a few days in Smithers!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

VERNON!


Arrived in Vernon...Brian & Marvin sliding onto the plane JUST in time...phew! Took a hike up the mountain behind the theater and got to know the local wildlife (Cacti! Pictures to come.) We enjoyed the sunset sitting in the grass on the ridge overlooking the town with the lake in the distance...sigh. Dinner in the hotel, with a real creek running through it! Then straight to the hottub & pool. We finished off our evening watching inspirational Sylvie Guillem!

Day 2: breakfast at the Sunshine Cafe, cute little local spot where Brain read us Dr. Suess's Green Eggs & Ham. Straight to the theater and the real challenges begin. Tyson & Jenn have been working solid with the theater's tech team to sort out the rigging, sets & lighting. In the end, with no dress rehearsal we pulled off a great show and will be back on our 40 minute flight back to Vancouver tomorrow. 1 down!

Friday, October 14, 2011

and away we go!

Off to the airport...Vernon is stop #1...looking forward to getting this show on the road!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Introducing Thoenn Glover

 
Thoenn Glover is a dancer from Smithers, BC and is a cast member of Mascall Dance's The White Spider. She has graciously agreed to keep us posted on The White Spider tour, so we'll be hearing from her regularly over the next couple of weeks.  Take it away, Thoenn!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The White Spider warm-up playlist

In case you were wondering what Mascall Dance's The White Spider cast warmed up to this morning, here's a few selections from Rehearsal Director Lina Fitzner's mp3 player:  it ranges from Timber Timbre for roll downs to Patsy Cline for tendus, to Al Green for pirouettes, to Talking Heads for petit allegro...

Here they are in a playlist, ready to go for your listening/dancing pleasure...

Photo by Yukiko Onley

Lina Fitzner on Rehearsal Directing The White Spider


Mascall Dance is about ready to hit the road with The White Spider.  We asked Lina Fitzner to tell us about her role as Rehearsal Director for the piece, and here's what she had to report:

Mascall Dance is nearing the end of a five week residency at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster BC. This coming Friday, the cast, crew and Jennifer will be in Vernon BC for the first of four shows on the Made in BC tour of The White Spider.

I begin the day by teaching class to the dancers, my taste in music varies widely which I feel helps brighten up classical training, the dancers end up singing along and dancing in between sides which warms them up inside and out, connecting their limbs to their cores. I also insert some of Jennifer's concepts so the warm up directs them into rehearsal.  

Because the dancers come from such different backgrounds, I let them finish by stretching or finding whatever else they may need for themselves to be totally warm. The cast works both on and off the ground using professional mountain climbing rigging. It is amazing to watch, grounded one minute, suspend sixteen feet in the air, the next.

Sculpturist Alan Storey has created three notion machines as sets for the work and Composer Jeff Corness has made an exciting and engaging score to compliment the world that Jennifer has built. In this particular remount, Jennifer is focusing on the score. It is difficult for the dancers to listen for tiny sound cues while swinging and partnering but they have such extraordinary focus they are taking in and programming everything.  

The dancers, Darcy McMurray, Marvin Vergara, Brian Soloman, Thoenn Glover and Jessie Kwan have been absolutely wonderful to work with, creative, open and hard working.

In both creating and rehearsing The White Spider, Mascall Dance partners with theatres due to the grand scale of the sets and choreography. We've previously worked at UBC's Chan Centre, the Kay Meek, The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and three times here at the Massey. It's both challenging and inspiring to be in a theatre space, it feels like we're already on tour. We travel so far every day and theatres can be dark and drafty but the space around us brings the dance to a whole new level. The dancers are always aware of their future audiences with their view of 700 empty seats.

We have one more day in residency to add the finishing touches and create the strong sense if ensemble that was so crucial to the teams that first ascended the treacherous Eiger mountain in Switzerland.

I can't wait to see it on stage at Vancouver's Norman Rothstein Theatre on November 25Th. The work we do is so intense and we make such strong friendships quickly. I love rehearsal directing as I get the best of both worlds. Inside information from the choreographers as well as the point of view of the dancers.

Photo by Yukiko Onley