Author Topic: New Choreographer / Old Set  (Read 2692 times)

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BayAreaSM

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New Choreographer / Old Set
« on: Dec 17, 2012, 04:44 pm »
This year my ballet company is producing a new production of The Nutcracker. However, we're using borrowed sets and costumes from another ballet company. We've made adjustments to fit the sets into our venue, as it was built for a theater with 100 linesets and a much larger stage. However, there were several questions as to how to make this set work how we wanted it to work for our new ballet scenario. While we had the drawings, we had no information as far as assembly or function. Many pieces were broken and, as it sometimes happens, dimensions and design don't always match the drawn plans.

A first for me in ballet, I spent a lot of time helping the choreographer figure out how to attain her vision for the production (and this was also her first large-scale ballet). I broke it down to her like this, "Tell me your dream - and we'll do what we can to attain it. If we can't make it work exactly how you want it, we'll figure out what will work. Give me a starting point." From then on, she spoke "in my dream" - and it made it easier for her to convey her technical wants and needs.

Has anyone else worked on a ballet or other new work that used someone else's "blueprints" (for lack of a better word)? What was your process and how did you achieve a successful show?

 

riotous