Its funny how on tour the focus of your day becomes food and sleep. I honestly have never thought so much about my meals throughout the day except when I am on tour. Safeway has been a big staple for us so far that we have now made it our goal to see if we can hit up a Safeway in each town on tour.
Prince Rupert welcomed us on show day with a power outage from a storm the night before. I apparently slept right through it but Maria and Jeff (the tech crew) had to get ready at 7am in the pitch black, showers and all. They were a little concerned that there would be no power at the theater and were already dreaming up alternate plans but the power outage had been solved by the time they got to the theater. Phew!
Us dancers found time to ravish ourselves in the Aveda bath products that the Crest Hotel supplied and we also enjoyed magnificent fish and chips that literally seemed fresh out of the water. We all highly recommend the fish and chips if you ever find yourself in Rupert.
The show in Rupert went well for us but we noted that the audience was a quiet one. So we just want to remind people that its okay to laugh and clap if you feel inspired, in fact we love it when you do.
The next morning we were back in the vans en route to our next destination, Terrace. We were welcomed by a beautiful gift basket in the hotel room and our poster and postcards around the city, which was super exciting! Jeff and I escaped for a walk through Ferry Island that has gorgeous carvings in the trees by a man named Rick Goyette. It was a great feeling indulging in nature for a bit. While we nature walked Day and Tara taught workshops, then we all met up and had a great dinner at Don Diego’s (an excellent restaurant) before crashing early.
The next morning Maria and Jeff had a 5:30am wake up to get started at the theater so when we (the dancers + Marc) showed up we gave them extra love and thanks for all their great work and early wake up.
After warming up, spacing, stretching, tech running and eating it was finally show time. Tara immediately got some laughs from the incredibly receptive audience and they seemed excited and ready for more by the time the three of us got out there to perform Surge.
We had our best talkback of the tour so far in Terrace. There was a brilliant moderator who had obviously done her research and the audience was keen with great questions. The definite highlight of the talkback was one lady who said “what four excellent examples of powerful woman we have sitting up on the stage, “ (referencing that power is a theme in both pieces). Our hearts swelled…Terrace was a hit.
Hi Meredith - I love your description of the tour. It gives me a sense of what it's like to tour in the north without having to be there! It's great for me, as a Director of MinBC, to get a better understanding of the daily realities of travelling, setting up and performing. Plus I love to hear about food! Thanks, Margo Gram
ReplyDeleteHi Margo!
ReplyDeleteIts nice to hear from you, thank you for responding to the blog! It really is amazing how all I seem to think about is where and when I will eat my next meal and if I will have enough food to last the tech run, its hysterical. But it is such a reality in coming to new towns where you don't know the hotspots to eat. But everyone has been so friendly and given great recommendations that we feel that we have done quite well. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog!
Well wishes to you!
Meredith