April saw Dance
Crew performing at Rusoord Retirement village.
It was an experience we all enjoyed and the packed performing area, the
dinning area, was filled with smiling people which made us feel it was
reciprocal. They applauded strongly after
each item with some holding their hands out to the dancers.
The event
was extremely well organized by the centre’s Event & Marketing Co-ordinator
Charmaine Baker and ran very
smoothly.
I set the ball rolling by introducing myself and told the audience a
little bit about our school and company.
I then asked who in the audience had learnt ballet. There was quite a show of hands. I realized
we had a knowledgeable audience and invited everyone to give us feedback
afterwards. One lady and her husband wanted
to sit as close as they could as she had been a dancer and she wanted to see
the dancers feet up close.
We started with a short barre sequence to warm up the dancers proceeding
to an adagio followed by sequences of allegro including turns from the
corner. There were a few tricky moments
when the grande jetes were performed as the hanging lights were fine for
standing under but were not meant for people jumping fairly high with their
arms extended as well. The audience
loved these athletic movements and by the time they were doing pose turns and
fouettes from the corner they were getting really excited and applauding each
dancer as they proceeded one after the other to do their multiple turns.
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| Leanne's Feet |
Whilst the dancers changed into pointe shoes I discussed our Precious Gem
production. The dancers would be performing the Diamond Suite. The musical composer of the work, Gordon
Mackay was introduced to the audience.
When we finished the performance there were interesting queries as to
size of the company, funding, where we were situated and when the next season
would take place. No one showed any sign
of wanting to rush away. Then people
started to move towards us to talk individually. The lady who wanted to see the feet was ecstatic
and thought the dancer’s feet were all so beautiful. Although Diamond is a
contemporary piece, on pointe, the audience was fascinated by the dancers and
the music.
Thank you Rusoord for inviting us and thank you to all members of the
audience I sincerely hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
