We've entered "tech week" for The Maryland Nutcracker. After having last weekend off for the US Thanksgiving holidays, we spent both days of this weekend in rehearsals. Saturday's rehearsal was noon to 4pm, starting with selected dances and ending with a full run-through. Today, Sunday, was 10am to 3:30pm, including two complete run-throughs followed by some clean-up of some problems.
Add on about 4.5 hours of driving back and forth, and I'm bushed.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I pulled something in my right foot or ankle that's made it painful to flex my ankle. I've been following my physical therapist's recommendations of gentle mobility exercises and using a massage gun on my calf muscles. This has helped the pain and stiffness to slowly subside to where I can walk fairly normally most of the time, though it's still not back to what it was last weekend. I skipped much of today's cast barre warm-up because my plié depth is very limited by my ankle, and I didn't want to aggravate it by putting too much stress on it.
I'm skipping all my regular classes for the next couple of weeks until this thing heals, but I'm committed to Nutcracker this coming weekend.
The injured dancer I mentioned previously attended the rehearsal Saturday. Attended, but did not dance. Her ankle is still slightly swollen, but appears to be healing well. She'll dance on pointe again, but not in this production. She's not going to be replaced, so we're down one crab.
This coming weekend is going to be brutal. We start with a rehearsal Friday evening between 5pm and 9pm. Saturday starts with company barre at 11am, followed by a tech run between noon and 2pm. After a 30 minute break to reset and dress, we launch into a full dress rehearsal from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. We get 90 minutes for dinner, then have a 6pm call before the 7pm performance that wraps up just before 9pm. Sunday we get to do it again, with a noon call time for a 2pm performance.
Will someone please remind me why I thought this was a good idea?
I'm doing he party scene again this year with a local company. Fortunately, our rehearsals are timed so the Act I cast is required for only as much as 90 minutes. There's no barre for the "party parents." Good luck with the injury. That which doesn't kill you can make you less mobile.
ReplyDeleteHi "Anonymous"!
DeleteI think "The Maryland Nutcracker" runs for about 90 minutes. I'm on stage for about 7 minutes of Act 1, and not again until curtain call. However, when I am on-stage I am mostly front and center, and I do get a brief comedic dance with one of the pros. That's far more than I'd get if I were supporting cast with a large pro company, where I'd be lucky to be visible behind the corp de ballet, so I'm not complaining (at least not loudly).
Thanks for the good wishes! I'm trying to give my foot time to heal properly so I DON'T lose mobility. I discovered the most painful thing in my role is running on stage for curtain call.
Merde!