SECOND STORY REHEARSAL #44

August 23, 2017

CREATING WITH A TOUCH OF NOSTALGIA

​We did not rehearse on August 16th as most of the team was away on vacation.  With Mandy and Sherri still out of town, Jonathan and Lorena return to the studio today.  They are accompanied by Dawn and Daniel, dear friends/former dance colleagues and roommates who have flown in from England to visit Jonathan and his family.  The close personal and professional bonds between Dawn, Daniel, and the Second Story dancers are evident when they attend today’s rehearsal.  What a wonderful reunion!

It’s great having 2 extra pairs of hands for child care – but the four adults are outnumbered by 5 kids:  Dawn and Daniel’s 8-year-old daughter Elizabeth and 3-year-old daughter Mary, Edgar, Eliza, and Sebastian.  Fortunately, all the children are very familiar with the dance studio environment and generally play well together.

Since she hasn’t taken class for years, Dawn is excited to join Jonathan and Lorena for the warm-up.  Daniel chooses to stretch on his own.  Since Lorena is eager to dance, everyone agrees on an abbreviated version of exercises and across-the-floor sequences.  Dawn does well, her years of training in evidence.  The dancers all have a great time doing what they love most – together!

During a brief break, the parents set up the kids with a movie on a tablet.  Daniel volunteers to take the kids to the lounge area and supervise movie time.

With the children in another room, Jonathan and Lorena can fully focus on augmenting the big phrase in Jonathan’s piece.  This segment of the dance was originally created for Mandy, but Jonathan wants Lorena and Mandy to dance it together.  Lorena initially learned the material a couple of weeks ago, but watches a video of the section to refresh her memory.  While practicing, Lorena makes a couple of mistakes that Jonathan actually prefers to his original steps; Jonathan calls them “happy accidents.”   

After making a few more adjustments, Jonathan choreographs new material to add on to Lorena’s part.  We see a lot of movement on hands and knees and rolling on the floor.  Jonathan develops choreographic ideas and tests them out with Lorena.  Together, they evaluate the material, refining certain movements and changing others.  With Dawn offering feedback on their choices, the dancers experience a satisfying collaboration.  Jonathan is delighted that he and his colleagues have completed choreography to a big chunk of the music.

​All too soon, the kids return to the studio.  But Jonathan and Lorena are excited about the quality of their work and grateful to share their process with Dawn and Daniel.  This has been a true celebration of   the creative process, life-long friendships, and parenthood.