Nutcracker on Ice--a really magical and unique show that my rink is known for. It's also 6 weeks of getting yelled at by parents, cried on by children, and bitched at by other coaches. All for minimum wage. It is my favorite part of our calendar. Perhaps thirteen years of doing it has numbed the area of my brain that should have made me hate it.
Today was the first run-through; no tech, just run the show through from start to end. One hundred eighty-six families, more than 200 children. There are probably close to 500 people in the building at the height of the madness.
Right off the bat, I commit the cardinal sin of assuming someone else is doing a specific job, which turns out to have been MY job, and miss getting two groups onto the ice. This is the only mistake I am present for all day for which I do not get blamed. It is the only one that is actually my fault.
The costumes, which usually arrive a month ahead of time, all get here today. Approximately 200 families descend on the costume room, more or less all at once. There are nearly 400 costumes, and they all need to be fitted by Thursday.
The parents, who all know me because I run the volunteer program, all seek me out to ask questions which a) they don't really need to know, b) don't have an answer, or c) they don't like the answer. The ones in category "c" will continue to ask me the same question all day, on the assumption that eventually they will get an answer they like.
One of the key soloists has decided that he has plenty of time to wander down the street to get a sandwich, as there are two whole 2-minute solos before he has to skate. He does not share this decision with anyone. We finally find him by getting one of the other kids to text him and let him know he needs to be on the ice.
The tots are getting restless. I tell them the story of the Nutcracker, into which they immediately manage to insert scatalogical references.
Speaking of which, the 6 to 10 year old boys are playing "who can fart the loudest."
The littlest girls' coach is gossiping in the stands, so I line them up, except I'm not their coach, so I don't know where they go. Coach comes and reads me the riot act for not knowing where her group belongs. Um...
One of the 6 year old girls decides she can't wait to skate, so she doesn't! We look up and she's improvising a lovely and spontaneous solo in the middle of the Spanish Dancer solo.
Step out trio runs into the group that they share the ice with. Their choreographer seems to want to know why I let them do this. That would be because that's how you choreographed it? Is this a trick question?
Concessionaire has run out of ingredients for her wonderful fresh sandwiches. I have a hot dog for lunch. (I do not eat processed food, as a matter of health and philosophy. This helps me remember why.)
Everyone has to hang around for a staff meeting at the end. I'm sitting around in the office, waiting for it to happen. Except it's happening in the sound booth at rinkside, so I miss it.
The magic starts again on Thursday with the dress rehearsal. Somehow it will turn into a spectacular and professional show; it does every year, despite my griping, the parents' panic, the mistakes and tears and costume snafus.
The Robert Crown Nutcracker on Ice is as magical as today's lovely snow storm, with these hundreds of skaters ages 3 to 50 in beautiful costumes, participating in this wonderful tradition. It is what inspired me, nearly 20 years ago, to encourage my daughter to skate.
If you're in the Chicago area, come and watch. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday December 10 through 12 at Robert Crown Center in Evanston.
Disclaimer-- couple a people were a little put off by this post. Rest assured, details of some incidents have been altered; if you recognize yourself, that's on you! Also, as I said, this is fun--Nutcracker is one of those "I can't believe they pay us to do this" sorts of jobs (and since they don't pay us much, it sorta works out). Really, come and see it!
Showing posts with label rehearsals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rehearsals. Show all posts
Nov 3, 2010
And we begin
It's Nutcracker time at my rink.
Every year we stage The Nutcracker on Ice with nearly 200 skaters, about 400 costumes, and a parent volunteer corps of 80 or more. (Full disclosure-- that counts the parents who sign up, but don't show up.)
We've just finished the first week of rehearsals; I'm "choreographing" the tots, which, for tots, means getting them from one side of the ice to the other before the music ends. Last year we nearly had the soloist take off a kid's head with a poorly placed camel spin. This year looks like they can all actually move; whether they will actually move on demand remains an exciting mystery!
I got to choreograph my first Freestyle 5 solo, including a footwork sequence, which was very exciting for me, since my niche is Learn to Skate. I'm working toward my PSA Master Rating in Group and Registered Rating in Free Skating so it's something I need to be able to do, and it's great to have this opportunity. It's a "couples" number (i.e. two girls) so I also have some Pairs skills in it, which is also an area on the Master Group test. Fortunately, one of the girls' regular coaches is a former Pairs world competitor, so I'm definitely mining him for pointers.
The last group I'm working with is Intermediate Freestyle.
Thirty-eight teenagers.
Kill me now.
Every year we stage The Nutcracker on Ice with nearly 200 skaters, about 400 costumes, and a parent volunteer corps of 80 or more. (Full disclosure-- that counts the parents who sign up, but don't show up.)
We've just finished the first week of rehearsals; I'm "choreographing" the tots, which, for tots, means getting them from one side of the ice to the other before the music ends. Last year we nearly had the soloist take off a kid's head with a poorly placed camel spin. This year looks like they can all actually move; whether they will actually move on demand remains an exciting mystery!
I got to choreograph my first Freestyle 5 solo, including a footwork sequence, which was very exciting for me, since my niche is Learn to Skate. I'm working toward my PSA Master Rating in Group and Registered Rating in Free Skating so it's something I need to be able to do, and it's great to have this opportunity. It's a "couples" number (i.e. two girls) so I also have some Pairs skills in it, which is also an area on the Master Group test. Fortunately, one of the girls' regular coaches is a former Pairs world competitor, so I'm definitely mining him for pointers.
The last group I'm working with is Intermediate Freestyle.
Thirty-eight teenagers.
Kill me now.
Apr 25, 2010
That is never going to come together
Ever watch the first day of the ice show rehearsal? What a mess. I always lose my voice because those kids are Never Going To Pay Attention.
But by the third or fourth rehearsal it really starts to come together. We're lucky at my current rink, because we get six 30-minute rehearsals with the ice to ourselves, plus a run-through, plus a tech/dress rehearsal. But even at my former rink-- with three and four groups sharing the ice for a rehearsal, only 3 weeks, no run-through, and two casts, it followed pretty much the same pattern-- chaos giving way to a really good time.
Here's how choreographing the ice show tends to work.
Once the music has been assigned, the pro or pro's in charge of each group number listen to the music and map out a basic pattern. Some coaches do this on the fly at the first rehearsal, some do it in advance. I love seeing people's different notational systems; since there isn't a set system it's like reading heiroglyphics. First rehearsal for some reason NEVER has all the kids there. I've had first rehearsals with fewer than half the participants. So you sketch it out, see how it fits the music, then clean it up as the rehearsals progress and parents remember to start bringing the kids. sigh.
Here's a good sign-- if the kids run over the music by 10 to 20 seconds at the first rehearsal, it's going to work out with very little additional choreography. This is because as inexperienced skaters get comfortable with a pattern, they will skate faster, and will also tend to jump cues and shrink the pattern. So choreography that's too long for the music at the first rehearsal with tighten up and fit. Choreo that's on time or, worse, short, will need to be expanded.
There's a LOT of yelling in rehearsal. The kids have more ice, and know that it's just for fun (I agree) so they're a little less disciplined than in class. There's also not that much time in each rehearsal, so the coaches tend to yell a lot. Sorry.
You will usually start to see it come to together in the third rehearsal. If it really starts to come together you can add dance steps and other fun accents. I don't start to worry until the last rehearsal. If it's still not coming together there, you're in trouble. But I've seen numbers get fixed at the run-through and even at the dress rehearsal. I always remind the kids not to let on if there's a mess up, because the people in the stands won't know unless you signal it. After all, they don't know the choreography!
Oddly, it's the higher level numbers that seem to have the most problems. Even though the choreo is going to be more complex, I somehow expect the older and more experienced skaters to pull it together sooner, but this is not usually the case. It's the little guys that seem to rock the choreography.
Here's my advice to parents-- don't watch the rehearsals. Let it all be a surprise, with the lights and the soloist and the music at the actual show. Let your child have her mess-up with her team; she's entitled to do the hard work without having to share the mess ups with you. You'll find it's really enjoyable when all you're seeing is the end result.
But by the third or fourth rehearsal it really starts to come together. We're lucky at my current rink, because we get six 30-minute rehearsals with the ice to ourselves, plus a run-through, plus a tech/dress rehearsal. But even at my former rink-- with three and four groups sharing the ice for a rehearsal, only 3 weeks, no run-through, and two casts, it followed pretty much the same pattern-- chaos giving way to a really good time.
Here's how choreographing the ice show tends to work.
Once the music has been assigned, the pro or pro's in charge of each group number listen to the music and map out a basic pattern. Some coaches do this on the fly at the first rehearsal, some do it in advance. I love seeing people's different notational systems; since there isn't a set system it's like reading heiroglyphics. First rehearsal for some reason NEVER has all the kids there. I've had first rehearsals with fewer than half the participants. So you sketch it out, see how it fits the music, then clean it up as the rehearsals progress and parents remember to start bringing the kids. sigh.
Here's a good sign-- if the kids run over the music by 10 to 20 seconds at the first rehearsal, it's going to work out with very little additional choreography. This is because as inexperienced skaters get comfortable with a pattern, they will skate faster, and will also tend to jump cues and shrink the pattern. So choreography that's too long for the music at the first rehearsal with tighten up and fit. Choreo that's on time or, worse, short, will need to be expanded.
There's a LOT of yelling in rehearsal. The kids have more ice, and know that it's just for fun (I agree) so they're a little less disciplined than in class. There's also not that much time in each rehearsal, so the coaches tend to yell a lot. Sorry.
You will usually start to see it come to together in the third rehearsal. If it really starts to come together you can add dance steps and other fun accents. I don't start to worry until the last rehearsal. If it's still not coming together there, you're in trouble. But I've seen numbers get fixed at the run-through and even at the dress rehearsal. I always remind the kids not to let on if there's a mess up, because the people in the stands won't know unless you signal it. After all, they don't know the choreography!
Oddly, it's the higher level numbers that seem to have the most problems. Even though the choreo is going to be more complex, I somehow expect the older and more experienced skaters to pull it together sooner, but this is not usually the case. It's the little guys that seem to rock the choreography.
Here's my advice to parents-- don't watch the rehearsals. Let it all be a surprise, with the lights and the soloist and the music at the actual show. Let your child have her mess-up with her team; she's entitled to do the hard work without having to share the mess ups with you. You'll find it's really enjoyable when all you're seeing is the end result.
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