Opening Night

Opening night has come and gone (Wednesday April 4) It has been both wonderful and stressful. During the Tuesday Dress, TJ fell at the very end of In the City. He has been getting over an injury. Rushed to the urgent care center, he returned at the end of the concert – no dancing for a while. There are no other men. The amazing Tori Walker of button fame was the rehearsal assistant for In the City. She said she could do it. She spent all afternoon going over the choreography. By the time the full cast got together on stage, she was ready. I made a plan to take her out of the andante, since it had a bit of partnering. She said she could do that as well. She was right. She went on last night and was fantastic. She is now a legend in the school.

Next – Kyle Sangil, the lead in Swing Concerto and an ensemble performer in In the City, pulled his calf muscle. He went to the physical therapist and though it as not a bad pull, it would have been hard to dance. We spent most of the day today trying to figure out what to do. One plan was to do Program B – no Swing Concerto. Hopefully, Kyle would be fully functional by Friday and we could go back to Program A. Program A also had the Billy Strayhdorn duet Scene Unseen on it and our Chair, Patty Harrington Delaney spent a chunk of time trying contact them about that possibility. Ultimately they said yes, and more ultimately, we didn’t need to switch programs. Kyle said he could do it. Luckily, both physical therapists who work with the dancers will be at the performance tonight. Onward!

Last night, Saturday April 7, we did program A followed by a reception. It was a truly inspired performance from all the dancers and the reception afterwards was wonderful – great food, great wine and lots of friends and family. There were a lot of alums, most of whom flew in especially for the concert. They are Katherine Rygiel, Reid Conlon, Shauna Davis, Hannah Hess, Alison Leopold, Emily Perry, Lauren Perry, Madison McKay, Aaron Kozak and Bre’Ann Berger (now Mrs. Kozak), Vanessa Trevino (E-mail), Abby Marchesseault and Deepa Liegel (video).

Dancers from Minneapolis kept showing up, some I knew about and others were a complete surprise – Joanne Horn Spencer, Dana Kassel, Gary Peterson, James Davies, Christine McGuinnes, Denise Amstead, Mary Hansmeyer and Cass. My amazing chiropractor, Kevin Smith came with his wife. Dr. Smith has worked with countless SMU dancers and teachers. Neighbors Rod Serrate and Liz Branch came as well as SMU colleagues Hank Hammett and Dale Dietert.

This is the full Minneapolis contingent – Gary Peterson, Dana Kassel, Joanne Horn Spencer, Mary Hansmeyer, me in the front.

Danny and Shauna Davis, Danny and Caeli Blake, Danny and two great neighbors from Roswell Street, Rod Serette and Liz Branch – also Danny with Katie Hopsicker and Elli Hamm, two first years cast in Points. They were great.

I had so much support from the Division putting this concert together. Anne Westwick was rehearsal director for In the City, Brandi Coleman the same for Points on a Curve, Tori Walker helped with all the dances. Myra Woodruff and Shelley Berg have come to all the performances the far. Our Chair, Patty Harrington Delaney worked tirelessly, devoting energy and resources to make the retrospective a success. I am grateful to all of them.

I think we all did a great job with casting. All the women were double cast with the exception of the folk dancers in Swing Concerto. Everyone danced beautifully with great musicality and expressivity.

AND, we have our chairs back. They were used in the Strayhorn duet, Scene Unseen. They are the original chairs bought at an unpainted furniture store in Minneapolis in 1998. It is great having them back.