Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 13

Even though we have another impromptu rehearsal scheduled for this Thursday, last night was officially our dress rehearsal. Diane had requested that we all wear our performance clothes, which meant we were awash in a sea of white--including Mark and his fellow musicians. It was really quite stunning visually--and that was from within the dancing cloud. I can only imagine what we look like from a distance, walking up towards Celebration Hall at the beginning of "Spiegel im Spiegel." It's true, some folks' white wardrobes are more impressive than others--Suzie and Hilary, in particular, were wearing gorgeous dresses--but everyone had made an effort with their outfits. Kitted out as we were, it felt like we were a real performance ensemble--that, or members of a religious cult (which, given the locale, wouldn't be such a stretch of the imagination).

There was no futzing with individual pieces or specific sections. It was straight into a full run-through of the entire piece, which we did three times to live musical accompaniment. Our timing was off in a few places and I for one made a series of small mistakes at various points (including stepping on poor Suzie's toes twice); however, overall things went fairly well. It was especially helpful to finally connect the three different sections of choreography, and to have the musicians there to give us specific cues to help with the transitions. One thing I have to remember is to be near the top of the triangle for the start of the mixing bowl bit of "Spiegel," as otherwise Suzie and I will be out of place for the waltz section.

There were lots of other small notes that Jessica and Hailey gave us, but mostly they reassured us that we looked great and that they could tell we were having fun. We had compliments, as well, from several curious passers by who paused to watch our antics or were drawn in by Sarah's booming voice.

Now we just have to hope that this gorgeous weather holds through to Sunday!

P.