Le Grand Continental: Rehearsal 12

Last night marked something of a milestone in our rehearsal process for Le Grand Continental. Not only did we learn the last few moves in "Cumbia," but we were also taken through the start of the penultimate section of "Champagne." This means that apart from the rest of "Champagne" (which we will presumably be learning on Wednesday), the piece's intro and conclusion, and a short section in the middle when we're lying on the ground and most of the movement is mercifully ceded to a group of children who will join us in January, we now more or less have all the choreography in our bodies!

To mark this achievement Lara had us put all six sections together in order ("Gogoprado," "Stockfunk," "Ima," "India," "Cumbia," and the start of "Champagne") with the music for our first (again, more or less) continuous run-through. We stumbled through it, some better than others. I had several brain farts along the way when I couldn't remember for the life of me what step came next. But the important thing was that I kept moving and always found my way back into the choreography. And while our lines were looking a bit amorphous and misshapen at various points--especially in Group A, as we were missing several dancers--we did remember to check in with each other and recover our grid formation when we could (or when Lara shouted at us to do so--which, I have to remind myself, won't be happening in performance).

Of no less minor consequence was the fact that my position has changed on our dance chess board! Caroline informed both Hilary and I of this news at the top of rehearsal: specifically, that Hilary was being moved to the back outside edge (gulp!), and that I was being moved as well so that we might stay together (awww...). At least for the time being, as Caroline let us know that our current positions may very likely change again, not least because she herself covets Hilary's spot.

I was a bit traumatized at first--I'm not good with change. But I quickly got used to things and one of the happy byproducts of such shuffling is that one gets to kibitz with more people. I'm now between Leslie and Cheryl, who is a lot of fun, and near enough to Sara and Jane to engage in plenty of witty banter at the back of the room.

Onward!

P.