OC, part deux!

The three weeks I spent at NCI went by so quickly; before I knew it, we were starting rehearsals in the theater. After many hours of working and rehearsing, one of the pieces I performed was done and rehearsed well and the other was finished just in time and partly well rehearsed. Part of the beauty of the NCI project is that the choreographers don't have to finish their work, and can even present completely unrelated segments of things they have worked on. Because we had finished the first piece so early, the choreographer had the time to work on some concepts that he hadn't tried on dancers before. Some worked and some didn't, but it was a great experience for both the dancers and choreographers to have the opportunity to experiment freely.

The show was on a Saturday evening at the Irvine Barclay Theater. In reality, the performance was more of a showing of the process of creating a work than a polished, formal show; each choreographer spoke before his or her piece was presented and could even speak between portions if they so wished. There was also an open discussion at the end of the performance moderated by Molly Lynch, the director of the project. I was so very excited to perform the new works, and it was great to reunite with Ted Keener, a former apprentice with Richmond Ballet, and to have Thomas Ragland here to share the experience with me.

Until next time,
Maggie















Maggie and Nevada Ballet Theater dancer Emily Tedesco in class at NCI