Our little group of adult supporting cast has suffered its first casualty. One of our members has torn ligaments in her ankle, and will be off her foot for the next 6 weeks. Since our performances are in 7 weeks, she's out of the production.
We all wish her good healing and a speedy return to dance. I hope we see her in the audience in December, or the next audition this winter.
Sunday was the first supporting cast rehearsal for Ballet Embody's production of The Maryland Nutcracker. Although it uses the traditional Tchaikovsky music, the choreography is non-traditional. For example, instead of Drosselmeyer, there is Edgar Allen Poe.
When we auditioned, we danced a bit to what most people would identify as "Mother Gigogne". In previous years this has been a dance performed as a male solo, but now will have supporting cast backing. My reaction to the supporting cast choreography for this piece was that it was clearly "girly", but if they wanted me to dance those steps then I was going to do my best.
The exercises and insight my physical therapist has given me has completely resolved my original problem. Unfortunately, I've continued experiencing pain on the back sides of my heels, likely from excessive tightness in my calf muscles, possibly aggravated by my heel spurs.
When I arrived for class Monday I was feeling especially good. During the pirouette exercise I managed one or two (ragged) doubles en dehor. I skipped the jump preparations in favor of a bit more stretching, and the petit allegro was simple enough that I could keep up with the music. The grand allegro combination was particularly fun. Not only did I join the first group to go across the floor in each direction, but I tagged on to the last group a couple of times. I was really quite pleased.
