The first main project for work is to prepare for Dance in Concert. This year, instead of a selection of modern dances, we will be presenting a program about the Women of the Mormon Battallion. Last Friday, I attended a run-through of the program as it has been prepared so far. It is amazing! Anything relating to the pioneers catches my heart, but it is seeing the dance, hearing the narrations in movement, and listening to the wonderful and powerful arrangements that make it a performance worth attending. I cannot image how powerful it will be on stage with lighting, sound, costumes, and multimedia. Just by what I saw at practice, I could feel the spirit so strong and almost cried with some of the narrations. I am so glad to take part in the production of this program. I look forward in touring with them in February.
Today, I met with the artistic director to begin gathering and organizing the multimedia needed for this program. We expect at least a hundred images and video clips to be used through the numbers. We have portraits, Mormon Historical paintings, and contemporary photographs of landscapes. Then there are videos of the dancers taken out in the canyon. It will be very difficult and challenging to collect these, but when we get it all compiled and present it with the program, it will heighten the show even more, adding to the power it holds.
The Dancers' Company consists of 5 men and 19 women who will add movements to the events and stories about crossing the plains as the men part for the Mormon Battallion. It tells stories of trials, heartache, love, sorrow, and the truthfulness of the gospel no matter what they may go through. It will pull at the heart and make anyone cry. That I promise you. This will be the most powerful performance I have been privilaged to work with, and I have been blessed with many wonderful productions put on by the BYU Dance Department.
It is through experiences like this that comfirms my belief that this job is my mission is life. I am able to take part in creating performances that spread the spirit of the gospel through dance.
From September 2009 to March 2011, I will be posting to my other blog. For those who want to follow my mission experiences in Florida Fort Lauderdale, please go to:
dancetechinservice.blogspot.com
Monday, January 14, 2008
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Stagehands have astonishing learning curves. It's not unusual for stage crews to have trucks full of unknown scenery arrive at a theatre on Monday, which we need to assemble and understand to open a show we've never seen before... on Tuesday night.
Most people, if confronted with such a task, would flatly say it was impossible.
Stagehands find ways to make it possible. We learn quickly, we draw upon years of experience, skills and training, and (all too often) we drink lots of coffee and work all night.
I've had one longstanding handicap in my career as a stagehand. I don't drink coffee.
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