Mike Esperanza came and taught us a fierce piece, Cellar, this weekend! It was a long weekend of dance, but all seven of us tried our best to focus, work hard, and take in the corrections.
This is the first dance I've ever been in that's more than 7 minutes. It took us two and half days to learn, and our bodies are sore. His teaching style was very commendable...productive, focused, and silly. I am happy to see how much work was done, especially with all the laughing and giggling. At the end of each run, Mike and his assistant had nearly 20 minutes of corrections. At one point, I questioned myself, "where is my notepad?! I need to write down all these down so I don't forget!" It is all very detail-oriented. One of my biggest corrections was clarification of my thumbs. Yep, my thumbs. I've got the dinosaur thumb sticking out...7 years of competition dancing will do that to the fingers, I suppose.
This weekend's choreographic process was unlike all the others: short and concise. He knew exactly where, when, how and why he wanted us. Granted, it was easier as a dancer to pick up the choreography, he had all the answers to all our questions. However, I know this dance did not come straight-out-the-box for Mike...he's changed and rearranged the dance a number of times...I think Orchesis Dance Company's version of Cellar might be his third or fourth version? Cellar is clear evidence that dance is always a working progress. I'm excited for our future rehearsals, we've got a lot of work to do. Come February, our hard work will be gold---let's hope it's 18K.
Note – Mike’s dance is now officially titled “Slang.”
Photo: Sara Tollefson
