An Indestructible Ballet

   One such dilemma occurred during the Wedding Celebration of the two star characters, Prince Florimund and Princess Aurora.  

   The music went scratchy and turned on and off as the two dancers struggled to collect themselves within their dance. Through the confusion the audiences clapping began. The curtain then closed reopened with the audience still clapping.

   This became their music as the two characters restarted their dance. These two dancers were Vitor Luiz and Cecilia Kerche, previous performers for the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro.

   They did not falter and from the applause it was obvious with or without music, their performance was astounding.

   Brett Raphael, Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Ballet, later joked how the audience members of the first performance, saw “one performance with music and one without.”

   Kate Loh, an apprentice of the CT Ballet, who danced as several characters, said, “The performance was difficult with the sound problems, but the audience was good.” Franny, Francesca Cara, 12, a violin page, agreed and liked how the audience kept clapping. She joined in the standing ovation of the performance.

   The dancers were upset about the music problems, despite the crowd not being. Raphael said, “Though [the dancers] do not show it on the outside they feel it inside.”

   He added that part of the reason is, “[the dancers] don’t have a plan B because they don’t practice without music.”  Also, the dancers have no control of the music during their performance but must react to whatever they hear. All of this proves what Raphael says, “[that such problems are] maddening.”

   Luckily, the dancers seemed to follow Raphael’s advice, “[The dancers] got to have iron nerves and just got to go out and do it.” He didn’t just mean they should do this when dealing with music problems. The dancers also have to deal with performing on different stage sizes throughout their tour.

      The stage in Woodland is several times smaller than the stage the dancers preformed on during opening night at the Palace Theater in Stamford. This meant not only did the dancers have to adjust to music problems but they also had to shorten the span of their dance to a smaller stage.

    “The most challenging was moving into a smaller stage, sizing it down,” said Raphael. This is because the dancers must go “[from having to leap] eight feet to leap three feet.” This takes extra time and tests the physicality and quick thinking of the dancers.

   Raphael stated that the dancers “have to learn the ropes and this was one of the experiences to help.” Both the music and stage obstacles were good practice and training for the dancers, especially younger dancers who may have never experienced such things before.  

   So what could have been a disaster became a work of art with an added appreciation of the effort the dancers put into their show. The Connecticut Ballet dancers created an indestructible ballet.