We are back after the trip to Victoria!
The trip sped by because there was so much to do. On the first day we arrived we had to be at the bus terminal at 6:45. It had snowed heavily overnight and it was not easy for everyone to get there on time. We took the bus/ ferry to Victoria and arrived at the hotel just before noon to find out that our rooms were not all ready.
We had to share a couple of the free rooms so that we could unpack and do our hair e.t.c. In an hour we managed to get everything organized and get to the theatre for warm up class, blocking and runthrough (we were very speedy!).
For me the Victoria show was quite stressful because I was an adult in Act 1, a Snowflake, and a Flowers soloist. The soloist part was my first "big" part in one of the Goh Ballet's shows so I was really excited to perform it but also really nervous..
Stupidly I have spent the last couple of months freaking out about losing my part and thinking the entire time that they were going to take my out of it for sure. I was so certain of it. I know it sounds stupid, but last year that is what happened to me. Two weeks before the show I was switched from A and B cast snowflake to just B cast. That really upset me last year, and made me extremely neurotic this year. It wasn't until after the runthrough on stage that I realized that I would really be doing the flowers soloist part... That was really exciting and scary at the same time because such a big part of me had been preparing to lose my part. I had been thinking so negatively that I was sure it would shine through.
To see highlights of our Nutcracker click here
The first night I was exhausted but could barely sleep because so many thoughts were going through my head. I had a quick change between Party scene and Snowflakes that involved me taking off my high heels, hair piece, hair pins earrings, necklace, bracelet, cutting myself out of my dress, and then putting on my toe pads, pointe shoes, two tiaras, one with a veil thing that had to be pinned, and snowflakes tutu as well as rewarming up my feet! I would literally tear off my heels, hike up my skirt and run to the dressing rooms as soon as I got off stage from party scene.
The next day everyone was very sore. Being in the theatre all day is very different from in the studio because it is much colder, you do not really use the same, and you also are under a lot of pressure/ have a lot of adrenaline going. That really affects the body! We were in the theatre from 11:00 a.m -10:30 p.m. most days but we did have breaks where we were able to run to get a bite to eat, some tea or coffee. I enjoyed it because really we had nothing else to think about besides ballet, ballet, ballet. Sometimes it is nice not to have all the distractions of life begging for your attention
The principals for the Nutcracker in Victoria were Mara Vinson and Karel Cruz from PNB. Not only were they kind but they were gorgeous. Just to be able to dance like that would be amazing!!! She had such beautiful feet, strength, turns. I really liked her expression too. It was different than other sugar plums that I have seen, strong and confident. He had amazing legs! Literally they were the longest legs I have ever seen. And then way he jumped! His landings from his double tours were super elastic and so, so, so quiet (Karel Cruz's bio)! They both were amazing performers and all of us enjoyed watching them from backstage.
All of the performances went relatively smoothly, there were a few slips due to a fog machine that was not working quite properly. It spewed out an oily feeling substance on the ground during dress rehearsal which disrupted the dress rehearsal until they got it cleared off. And although they fixed it a bit before our first performance, the downstage left part of the stage still became slippery. Fortunately it was sorted out after that performance and we did have a problem with the fog after that! The spacing was a little scary because it was much smaller than what we were used to. For snowflakes which meant that our lines were not as perfect as they should have been. That was not good.
We got very good reviews though and everyone who saw the show was very pleased with it.
I really enjoyed the experience. Going on tour is really stressful but really fun too. We got a very good review after opening night which was a morale booster.
http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Nutcracker+sparkles/3895973/story.html
I am really glad that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to experience everything.
Our days were so packed that they disappeared so quickly though and I do wish we had stayed on tour longer. Nevertheless we still have 8 more performances in Vancouver. Please come and watch them! Tickets are through ticket master here.
http://www.ticketmaster.ca/The-Goh-Ballet-tickets/artist/1431959
The trip sped by because there was so much to do. On the first day we arrived we had to be at the bus terminal at 6:45. It had snowed heavily overnight and it was not easy for everyone to get there on time. We took the bus/ ferry to Victoria and arrived at the hotel just before noon to find out that our rooms were not all ready.
We had to share a couple of the free rooms so that we could unpack and do our hair e.t.c. In an hour we managed to get everything organized and get to the theatre for warm up class, blocking and runthrough (we were very speedy!).
For me the Victoria show was quite stressful because I was an adult in Act 1, a Snowflake, and a Flowers soloist. The soloist part was my first "big" part in one of the Goh Ballet's shows so I was really excited to perform it but also really nervous..
Stupidly I have spent the last couple of months freaking out about losing my part and thinking the entire time that they were going to take my out of it for sure. I was so certain of it. I know it sounds stupid, but last year that is what happened to me. Two weeks before the show I was switched from A and B cast snowflake to just B cast. That really upset me last year, and made me extremely neurotic this year. It wasn't until after the runthrough on stage that I realized that I would really be doing the flowers soloist part... That was really exciting and scary at the same time because such a big part of me had been preparing to lose my part. I had been thinking so negatively that I was sure it would shine through.
To see highlights of our Nutcracker click here
The first night I was exhausted but could barely sleep because so many thoughts were going through my head. I had a quick change between Party scene and Snowflakes that involved me taking off my high heels, hair piece, hair pins earrings, necklace, bracelet, cutting myself out of my dress, and then putting on my toe pads, pointe shoes, two tiaras, one with a veil thing that had to be pinned, and snowflakes tutu as well as rewarming up my feet! I would literally tear off my heels, hike up my skirt and run to the dressing rooms as soon as I got off stage from party scene.
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| Mara Vinson in PNB's Sleeping Beauty |
The principals for the Nutcracker in Victoria were Mara Vinson and Karel Cruz from PNB. Not only were they kind but they were gorgeous. Just to be able to dance like that would be amazing!!! She had such beautiful feet, strength, turns. I really liked her expression too. It was different than other sugar plums that I have seen, strong and confident. He had amazing legs! Literally they were the longest legs I have ever seen. And then way he jumped! His landings from his double tours were super elastic and so, so, so quiet (Karel Cruz's bio)! They both were amazing performers and all of us enjoyed watching them from backstage.
All of the performances went relatively smoothly, there were a few slips due to a fog machine that was not working quite properly. It spewed out an oily feeling substance on the ground during dress rehearsal which disrupted the dress rehearsal until they got it cleared off. And although they fixed it a bit before our first performance, the downstage left part of the stage still became slippery. Fortunately it was sorted out after that performance and we did have a problem with the fog after that! The spacing was a little scary because it was much smaller than what we were used to. For snowflakes which meant that our lines were not as perfect as they should have been. That was not good.
We got very good reviews though and everyone who saw the show was very pleased with it.
I really enjoyed the experience. Going on tour is really stressful but really fun too. We got a very good review after opening night which was a morale booster.
http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Nutcracker+sparkles/3895973/story.html
I am really glad that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to experience everything.
Our days were so packed that they disappeared so quickly though and I do wish we had stayed on tour longer. Nevertheless we still have 8 more performances in Vancouver. Please come and watch them! Tickets are through ticket master here.
http://www.ticketmaster.ca/The-Goh-Ballet-tickets/artist/1431959
