This week we’d like to get back to the questions and have you ring in with your answer…we’ll be posting ours and alerting you below when the answer goes up, as usual.
This week the question is for dancers… What was your greatest experience on stage?
Most dancers have a moment where everything just comes together. Where you feel at one with the music, the audience, the choreography, etc. We’d love to hear about yours. It’s different for everyone, so please feel free to share whatever comes to mind when you hear that question…
If you aren’t a dancer, we’d love to hear what the greatest thing you have ever seen on stage is in terms of dance. It would be neat to hear the perspective from the other side of the stage as well!
Catherine’s response: Is live on 4dancers.
Henrik’s response: posted on Tights and Tiaras
David’s response: Coming soon
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
One of my favorite moments was while performing in a museum. We were on the same level as the audience and very close, so there were several times when, for a moment, I was eye-to-eye with an audience member.
I loved being able to see that they were enjoying themselves while I was enjoying myself. For that moment we had a very personal connection, and that is really what dance is all about for me.
thanks for sharing your experience! I don’t really like when the audience gets “too close”, I guess I’m a bit shy (does that make sense?)?! I guess it’s a question o what one is used to…
My experience with the stage hasn’t been on it exactly, but in the pit right in front of it. I always liked ballet. My real obsession, however, was with music, primarily the violin, which as everyone knows is the voice of god ☺. You have to realize that we in the pit accompany the production but we can’t exactly turn around and watch, we have our backs to the dancing. We watch the conductor. It’s not so much that we aren’t interested as we can’t really be too interested or disaster might ensue. But during my last season playing, I noticed something that was always there but I just never paid proper attention to it. You can hear the dancing in the pit. I could hear it! Obviously there are things that can’t be heard, but once I started listening, I was amazed at how much I could follow by ear. That was when dance and music came together for me. Years later I can still hear the distinctive thudding sound of pointes or swift movement sound of leather soles brushing against the stage floor when I play certain pieces on my violin in my living room. It was eventually what drove me to seek out dance lessons. Where the music was once separate from the dancing, it was hearing dance not actually seeing dance that led me to really experience ballet.
That is one thing about this site that I love–we have all kinds of unusual perspectives here! Different voices and different viewpoints–it’s great! Thanks for sharing that Lorry–I never would have thought of it myself! You have had an experience with dance that not many people have–totally unique to musicians in the pit.
And btw…the dancers really do appreciate you. There’s nothing like dancing to live music on stage. And yes–the violin is pretty amazing!
Hi Lorry. I want to express how much it means to me for there to be a live orchestra playing at a ballet performance. I went to see Cinderella and a Dracula ballet where the music was pre-recorded and it felt one dimensional and awkward. The most awkward part is where the scene ended and the audience can hear the ‘clicks’ from where the CD track ends for a song. Then there is that very rare moment when the CD skips. It is revolting actually.
However, I have been to see the New York City Ballet at Saratoga Springs in the summer and the orchestra music was so 3-dimensional and rich that it made the whole experience was 10 times more fulfilling for the senses. Sometimes, during the unending ‘happy villagers dancing’ scenes of Coppelia, my focus would turn to the orchestra and the conductor (a female) and I would just watch them.
I agree! Nothing compares to having live music. It’s magical! A ballet without is just unprofessional, at best…
The most fantastic is when the conductor manages to create a “dialogue” between the dancers and the musicians – you know those moments, where everything fits… Good tonation and the right “feel” in the music can make a HUGE difference for the dancers, and by doing that, it improves the whole performance!!!
I have never been on stage and may never be. So, I don’t have a greatest moment on stage. However, I was once in a short film about a man in a ballet class. The title was “Love at First Tendu” which was something I had said during my interview with the journalist.
Off stage, in adult ballet class, I have had many great experiences. I will share one, since you are asking.
Over the three years, I have had 6 ballet teachers in two different schools. My most treasured moments were in the intermediate class that was taught by a 24 year old Sari Ostrum. She had been performing in ballets all her life and even went to New York City Ballet. She left them because it was making her unhappy. However, since dance is her life, she became a dance teacher of ballet, jazz, modern, etc. Being that she was so young and fresh from leaving the professional ranks, her body can still do some AMAAAAZING things. She is famous for making class difficult with long combinations of movements to remember.
My greatest experiences were in her class at the barre, especially when she played this one peppy piano version of the song “Hello Dolly”. The combination of being in this secret universe called a ballet class, along with that song “Hello Dolly” made me feel more peaceful and happy than anything else.
Thanks for sharing, David! Glad to see you “drop by” also here at Pas de trois
It can be really inspiring to have teachers that is able to still dance the variations they ask. Although, some students are uncomfortable with “good” teachers (as in, good dancers as teachers) because they might feel they “show-off” or compete with their students. But, obviously, this depends (only) on the personality of the teacher, and his/her students…
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