Dancing for a company has it pros and cons.  I am grateful for their resources, knowledge, and the opportunities they offer, but it is easy to lose sight of one’s individual creativity when learning to blend with the ensemble and the already established repertoire.  It is good to be reminded of my own creativity every once in a while, just as I was reminded last night when Andrea and I met up to rehearse for Saturday’s Arts Party.

A proper dance studio with decent floors and mirrors would have been ideal as we collaborated together to rearrange choreography to fit two dancers.  I wasn’t able to find a studio so we made do with the next best thing: a grassy knoll in Central Park.  Practicing on grass wasn’t exactly easy, especially when the choreography landed me in a patch of mud several times, but it was bliss, Reader… utter bliss.  Two dancers, one practice skirt, a pathetic excuse for a music-playing phone, a little notebook with our maps and drawings of the stage, and a curious audience of passer-byers; that was all we had and that was all we needed to create works of beauty.

Andrea and I left our relaxing rehearsal refreshed and excited.  Creativity has that effect; it is incredibly satisfying!  (The sorbetto we indulged in after practice has that effect too, but our refreshment, excitement, and satisfaction was mostly due to the creative process.)  Come to the East Village Arts Party on Saturday to see what came of our blissful rehearsal in Central Park!

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