One of the works in 2BLoved is Naughty Boy, a fast-paced favorite of many in the community. Since performing it last, however, we have many new dancers and a new, more intimate theatre. Ballet Mistress Tamara Hoffmann gives a glimpse inside the challenges of restaging such a piece.What are my biggest challenges restaging and reteaching a work? It is an overwhelming amount of work!
Restaging or reteaching a work that has been done before is perhaps one of the most time consuming processes in dance. If there are nine dancers in a piece, and it is 25 minutes long, you have to make sure everyone knows exactly what, when, and where they are doing their steps for the entire piece.
In Naughty Boy, there are 4 different couples who dance as a pair, and at various times as an ensemble. There is also a soloist Cupid role who interacts with all the different couples. In 8 counts of music many, many steps can happen, and with several different people, you have to know the music, the steps, and the arrangement of the different bodies on the stage.
It is an enormous amount of information to learn, and teach. The dancers are very helpful in the process, and have to be quick on their feet (in more ways than one.) Someone has to have the overall knowledge of the entire piece and its many components or it can be chaos!
In dance, we have a very large vocabulary of steps that is understood by all professional dancers, but there are endless additional body movements and gestures that don't have names. They have to be learned in great detail.
Especially in more contemporary ballet based work, the movement possibilities are endless. It is a much faster pace than a classical piece like Swan Lake, which is also incredibly difficult – in its own right. However, in Swan Lake, there aren't as many different movements packed into a phrase of music.
Once the dancers know the steps, we work on the execution of the total piece. Like any professional athlete, the physical component has to be worked on and constantly perfected. Dance is an art form, and is made up of so much more than just difficult physical movement. It's made up of nuances, musicality, movement quality, emotions and the overall artistic vision. It's combining the two that makes coaching fun.
When choosing a particular dancer for a piece, I find that it is helpful to knowing their particular style and body. I know what individual dancers may excel in or struggle with in a movement or phrase, and that affects how we cast the ballet. Once we cast the overall ballet, we focus on a dancers' specific role. From there, I can anticipate problems with certain skills and just give that
section a little more rehearsal. Of course, there are always surprises.
In Naughty Boy, Stephanie Mei Hom is cast in the lead role of Cupid. It is a whimsical, playful part, but it requires incredible athleticism and complex musicality, which she has! Hideko Karasawa is also learning it. She has the technique, but now we
will work on more strength and her delivery, as well as finding her own personality.
Crystal Brothers and Rafael Ferreras are cast as the lead couple and dance one of the most difficult complex pas de deuxs I have ever seen; they are incredible together. With his strength, and her agility, it is truly magic! We are having lots of fun putting it together. Virginia Pilgrim and Brandon Ramey are also learning it, which makes another wonderful partnership.
We've been working on this piece for several weeks now, many hours a day. We can't wait to show this piece to you in a few short weeks!
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