I had the pleasure of performing in the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremonies. The content for the Opening Ceremonies had to be kept secret until the moment we stepped out on stage. This is why I have not been able to share our preparations with you.
To start from the beginning, back in October the company make a final decision to participate in the Opening Ceremonies in addition to the
Cultural Olympiad (in which we would be performing Joni Mitchell's
The Fiddle and The Drum). Jean Grand-Maître (our Artistic Director) would be choreographing for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We created the majority of the material at home in Alberta but as usual much of the work changed before the final product was achieved.
Along with the thirty dancers from Alberta Ballet, dancers from the city of Vancouver, across the country and members of
Ballet BC joined us in this event. In total we would be 60 dancers all together. I knew a few Ballet BC dancers from my time at
Banff Centre's Festival of Dance and this project was a great chance for me to see some new faces and catch up with old friends.
The content of our eight minute section of the ceremonies was inspired by the way Canadians experience Vancouver Island's MacMillan Provincial Park. The world would join us on a spiritual journey, as the beauty of the rain forest consumed us.
After many dress rehearsals, four plus an extra the run through to be exact, it was time to perform for the world. MAC Cosmetic Artists from around the world flew in just to do our makeup. But this time while our makeup was being done, the athletes of the world were preparing to make there entrance into the stadium. We ran out of the dressing room as soon as we heard athletes were passing. There was cheering for each country that passed by. Many of the athletes filmed us as we took pictures of them. This alone was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I have the feeling the opportunity to perform on the world stage will only happen once in my career. The emotions, nerves and our relationship with the audience would all be experienced in a new way. In a theatre, what you share with your audience is intimate and it takes courage to use that venerability to take the audience with you. In a stadium, the audience is all around you and for the most part a far distance from where you are performing. While the screaming audience has an overwhelmingly warm impact, due to the expansive stadium floor, I felt disconnected with the audience. While I was dancing, the fact that billions of people were watching was not apparent to me. It was almost comforting to have that distance from the audience. It was as if there was less pressure and I really experienced what it was like to dance for myself. I have to say hearing the thousands of people in the audience screaming for what I had done could not have felt any better. Then to realize this was all part of the
2010 Vancouver Winter Games was even greater.
In the days building up to the Olympics the city was buzzing in anticipation and the excitement in the street as we were walking back to the hotel could only confirm the incredible experience we had. Crowds of people roamed the streets with excitement. Whether it was in a bar, a hotel lobby or on a giant out door screen, they were all watching the Opening Ceremonies. The world was watched my performance.
This year it was my turn to host the family festivities over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Busy with shows until the evening of the Dec 23rd, I made sure that I had finished shopping for all the friends and family on my list as well as some groceries for my Christmas Eve dinner. My sister arrived the evening of Dec 23rd from Ottawa. When I got home from the theatre, she arrived shortly after and we were able to visit without the parents until part way through the next day. The morning of Christmas Eve, me and my sister slept in, did some last minute grocery shopping and then I starting preparing for dinner as she went out to finish her last christmas shopping. My parents arrived mid afternoon, in time for appetizers and wine before in dinner. We had asparagus wrapped prosciutto and baked brie with apples, cranberries and walnuts. For dinner I baked a maple dijon glazed ham with sweet potato fries. In addition I made a beet and goat cheese salad. My mom brought lots of home baking, which we enjoyed over a movie.
Next thing I knew it was Christmas morning. I didn't prepare a Christmas Tree but we were all blessed to find many gifts awaiting us. First we open our stockings which were filled by Santa(my mom). Next we take turns opening gifts. I made pancakes and breakfast sausages and we were all spoilt with many gifts. Next we took a walk along the river and even stopped at Starbucks for a coffee. That evening we were hosted by the Garbowski's(a generous family who took me in on my arrival in Calgary). We played many games before and after dinner which took me and my family by surprise. It was a great evening as I got to catch up with old friends and experience traditions unlike our own.
The next day arranged for my family to watch both shows of the Nutcracker on Boxing Day. I planned it so that my family would watch me dance Flowers in one show and Chinese in the next but as you'll read in the next blog I ended up dancing chinese twice Boxing Day. My mom and sister managed to take advantage a few sales when the weren't at the ballet.
It was wonderful to be able to spend Christmas with my family and for my family it was a special treat to see me dance.
During the last day of Nutcracker shows in Edmonton an injury occurred and the casting changes rippled through the whole company. It wasn't until about 5 minutes before the curtain went up for the second act that our ballet mistress realized that only three out of four male flowers were cast to dance. It was then decided to I would learn a new place in the Waltz of the Flowers. The majority of the dancing was opposite to my original spot and in the finale the role took a completely different pattern. Learning the part and the getting my costume on was rushed but once I got on stage the thrill of it all gave me extra boost of energy. It was exciting to suddenly be thrown into a new role when I had been repeating the same part up until that point. The show went really well and all the ballet staff were really pleased with my accomplishment. They even asked me to dance the same part in the evening show. These shows gave me the opportunity prove my reliability and practice my quick learning skills.
After little rehearsal and many performances of the Waltz of the Flowers, I was given a chance to dance Chinese. Most of the other dancers cast in the role of Chinese performed it last year and all have had more performance experience than myself. It would be my first time performing a soloist role with Alberta Ballet. Knowing that it would be my responsibility to carry a portion of the show was both extremely exciting and nerve-racking. Chinese is one of the shortest diverter's in the ballet. It was essentially over before I knew it. Because it was my first time dancing Chinese on stage with the full display of sets, I felt flustered and my spacial awareness was not as sharp as I would like it to be. After the majority of the dancing was over I felt quite please with my effort but I knew I could do better. None the less I was extremely happy to get the first show out of the way, as I now know what to expect for my next Chinese show. To my surprise, while casually passing the ballet staff in the hallway, I received compliments on my performance. Dancing the role of Chinese has been a great learning experience and I am really pleased to be given the opportunity.
On Sunday night, the other company members and I flew to home to snowy Calgary, after three days of performances in Victoria. We were told it was going to be raining during our whole stay in Victoria but lucky for us we had sunny skies with the exception of one rainy day. There is such a glorious atmosphere in downtown Victoria. The architecture is such that I almost felt as if I had left North America and landed in a European town. I had a wonderful view of the city from my room at the Grand Pacific Hotel. I only wish I had had more time to check all the cafés, restaurants and boutiques. We will be back to Victoria in the New Year, so I will be sure to hit a few more spots then.
We arrived late afternoon on Thursday, checked into the hotel and then it was off to an evening rehearsal. That night we met the students we would be performing with in Victoria and spaced as much of the ballet as we had time for. The stage is higher and narrower in width compared to our Calgary stage or even the studio. In each city we have a different group of children performing with us. The young students actually make up a good portion of the ballet. They had been working on their pieces for The Nutcracker for a few months prior to our arrival.
The next day we had a dress rehearsal and the opening night show. On Saturday we had two shows and on Sunday one matinee performance before heading out to the airport. I got to perform the Waltz of the Flowers five times in Victoria. I was also a parent at the party for two shows.
The trip was a lot of fun. I have never flown with a group of this size. It was nice to have friends and colleagues around to make the flight more enjoyable and it was really great to spend a little time in my home province.