Last night we watched the first run through of all the pieces together in the theatre. There were no lights yet, but sound was used. It was incredibly exciting to see the work filling the space of the theatre. Over the past days we’ve become used to observing the work ‘up close’ from the edge of the studio — even seeing the reflections of the dancers in the mirrors on the wall in tandem with the ‘real’ action.
In rehearsal, we were at the edges of the process but still able to engage; saying hello as we entered the room, sometimes being addressed by the choreographers or dancers — being asked what we thought.
Sitting in the theatre, we were distanced from the work in space but still felt a strong connection — being fascinated to see how certain moments from rehearsal ‘translated’ to the stage, seeing how the dancers ‘performed’ as opposed to ‘rehearsed’. There’s one more day of rehearsal today before tech runs tomorrow so the work is not yet ‘finished’ but I enjoyed the atmosphere in the theatre last night, the sense that the work is really going to happen. The days in the studio seemed ‘elsewhere’ as the work arrived in its ‘home’ in the theatre…