December break. Wow. Is it actually possible that 2009 has gone by this fast? I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week suffering from an allergic reaction to what I think was a wool hat (I haven't exactly gone to the allergist yet to get tested but so far that little demon is my only suspect) and sleeping. And I mean REALLY sleeping. Last week with Nutcracker and all consisted of everything but sleep and so I made up for it these past few days. Literally. Sleeping until 1 pm, waking up to eat, falling asleep again and sleeping until 6 pm waking up and falling asleep at 10 pm and then doing the whole thing the next day again. I wasn't sick, although many people probably would have thought I had the flu. I was just tired, and itchy, and didn't wanna deal with being cranky and allergic, so I took all the antihistimines the doctors told me to take and just slept. I wasn't even really awake enough to celebrate Christmas, which is my FAVORITE holiday.
But anyway, now it's Sunday. My allergic reaction has subsided and I've gotten so much sleep that it's 4:13 AM and I'm not even the least bit tired. (I need to get back on a normal sleep schedule.) A week ago I was still swept up in the magic of the Nutcracker and I remember through it all thinking to myself, I have to blog about this I have to blog about this I have to blog about this. Well of course, I didn't actually have any time to sit down and blog about it while it was happening and then the few days right after were spent sleeping so now it's been a week and I still haven't blogged about it. And honestly, I wouldn't even know where to begin. It was amazing. It was fun. It was emotional. It was inspiring. It was hard. And I mean, I'm onstage the entire second act. I sit there and watch the whole thing onstage, and I think that was harder than any of the dancing or pantomime peices I had to do. To be in a ballet, and to be watching the ballet (mind you I've seen these pieces done over and over again for six years and I know most of the choreography by heart just from watching it so many times) and it wasn't boring but it was hard. To sit with my back straight with a regalness and to watch my friends and fellow Nutcracker-ees perform was physically painful. Not to mention when they would start talking to us. Sometimes the dancers when they're facing upstage would say things to me and either my sister or Lexi, whoever was playing Clara at that performance, and it was just so hard to keep a straight face. They're fun. They're real people. Even the professionals like to play around. It keeps the energy alive and playful. And that's what this ballet is. It's playful.
I could go on and on and on about this and maybe one day I'll post another blog with more stories or details - like when our 72 year old artistic director got up on stage, crouched down on his hands and knees and acted like a mouse so one of the 8-year-old boys playing a mouse could understand what his correction was. But since this was my last year with the Nutcracker, I wrote a letter and gave it to all my close friends at the company and I thought I'd share it here:
The Eglevsky Ballet’s The Nutcracker 2009
As you all know, this is my sixth and last Nutcracker. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you and I have been honored to dance alongside all of you on the Tilles Center Stage time and time again.
The Nutcracker holds a very special place in my heart. I love the holiday season (CHRISTMAS!) and since I’m technically Jewish, Nutcracker is my way of celebrating Christmas with the people I love.
The memories that we have created together over the past six years are priceless. From stepping on the Mother Ginger skirt and almost ripping it in two, to watching the soldier doll fall out of his pants in party scene, to decorating the apprentice dressings rooms this year and last, it has been a blast! These memories, and many more must remain alive in our minds and in our hearts.
This summer when I did 42nd Street at Hofstra University with the Gray Wig, the director, Amy Dolan Fletcher, who danced in 42nd Street on Broadway gave an extremely important opening night speech. The show 42nd Street is to her what Nutcracker is to me. She told us not to take advantage of the memories we create and the opportunities we have when we get to perform in a show. At the end of closing night of any show, we always say “until next year”, or “there will always be another one.” But the thing is, that may not always be true. This is my last Nutcracker with you guys, so there won’t be another one for me. That is why I feel that it is so important for me to relay this message to you guys. I hope that you can try and understand the significance of what we have going for ourselves with this ballet company and the opportunities that we have been given. I hope you can see how special it truly is. I hope you can see how precious it is and I hope you can fully embody the magic of it all. It’s so special and unique an experience, that it’s almost impossible to express it in words and do it justice. It’s a feeling that you either have or you don’t, and all of us have it. It’s like we’re our own private little Nutcracker club, a Nutcracker family, and I have been so grateful to be apart of this club and family for the past six years. Even though I won’t be back to perform with you all next year, because of the way I feel in my heart, I will always be apart of the Nutcracker family.
I love you all endlessly,
Becky Kalman - Prince 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Eglevsky in the New York Times
Last weekend a reporter and photographer from the New York Times came to our Nutcracker rehearsals. Today there was an article published in the newspaper about Marina Eglevsky (Andre Eglevsky's daughter) and the 2009 production of the Nutcracker.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/nyregion/13artsli.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/nyregion/13artsli.html
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Is it possible to be too excited?
Today after school I went shopping with my Mom for a dress to wear to the gala. In the ballet world, there's always an opening night gala. It's a fancy party after the performance where all the dancers get dressed up, and there are little itsy bitsy snacks, and people who can afford the pricey ticket (because essentially the whole evening is to raise money, even though they don't tell you that when they send you the fancy invitations), and silent auctions, and big accomplished well known ballet poeple are honored and they give speeches and it's a wonderful evening. So I went shopping for a dress to wear, and I ended up buying presents for my close Nutcracker friends, yet another tradition - everyone gives and receives presents opening night. It was the most time I'd spent with my Mom since Thanksgiving. This Nutcracker season is really close to my heart, so naturally when I get home I'm too excited to function. I managed to get through my homework, but honestly I couldn't have cared less about operant conditioning, taxes and economics, and the gender issues present in A Midsummer Night's Dream. These are things that I usually would have some sort of interest in, well at least the ap psych and ap lit homework, maybe not so much with the eco, but that's besides the point I think. I'm just sort of an excited hott mess (a phrase I picked up this past summer at Grey Wig) and Doug suggested I blog about it. I'm not even sure why I decided to do it. None of this is artistic or intellectual, and blogging about this certainly isn't helping - it's not calming me down - if anything it's making me even more excited. And the one thing I should be doing right now is sleeping, but I'm not. But at the same time, I'm scared to publish this post because I know that the minute I do, I'll be tempted to put the christmas music back on and dance around my room again, which will wake up my Mom whose sleeping right below my room. And I also don't want to walk away from my computer because my room is a mess from all the festive excitement and I'm really tempted to clean it up, but that too will be taking away from my sleep time. Then again, blogging is also taking away from my sleep time. I'm also scared of going to sleep because the sooner I go to sleep the sooner the morning will come, and time is flying by and I don't want this December to be over. I'm really scared above and beyond anything else of this December ending. I'm scared of finding out what it's going to feel like to have a six-year relationship with a company and a ballet come to an end. I've thought about it, but I'm scared to live it. But meanwhile all of this is coming from excitement and jittery-ness and the need to just talk and talk and talk. I hope none of you actually took the time to read this. It was an unsuccessful attempt to calm myself down, but now I'm even more excited and worked up. And it's almost midnight. I feel like I'm going to turn into a pumpkin soon or something.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Julie Kent Quotes of the day
"Remember that confidences comes from within. It's not given to you by words of praise or compliemtns; it's a trust in yourself, a belief that you know what you are doing and are capable of doing it. If you don't feel it naturally, you must work on it, just as you would work on any technical skill. You will need it and rely on it throughout your career"
"You will make mistakes, but if you surround yourself with the right people, you will learn even more from them than from your accomplishments."
"You will make mistakes, but if you surround yourself with the right people, you will learn even more from them than from your accomplishments."
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Let The Right Ones In
All of the wide shots engage you and pull you in even more. The first couple of times these types of shots happened I kept expecting the camera to zoom in really fast and show something gory and terrible, which is what would probably have happened in any other horror movie. It also gives this feeling of being watched. When the shots are close-ups on the actors face you feel like you're invited to be in the scene with the actors because you almost get the real perception of what the other characters can see based on how close they are standing. But when it's farther away you feel removed, like you're spying on the characters and you weren't invited.
In AP Psych we're learning about learning and how we learn through associations. The use of sound appeals directly to that. Since the director isn't going to appeal to our visual senses with blood and gore, they instead appeal to our hearing. We see a guy hanging upside down with red staining the snow underneathe and the sound of pouring liquid makes us automatically think that the guy just had this throat slit open. The sound could have been water pouring into a bathtub or juice coming out of a jug, but since we've experienced sound affects in movies before, and since we see the red in the snow, our brains put all the information together to come up with blood.
I think the second plot point is when Oskar slits his hand open in front of Eli. That causes her to thirst for blood, to lick it off the floor, and for him to figure out that she's a vampire. Their relationship and the story continues because of his ability to come to accept the fact that she's a vampire.
In AP Psych we're learning about learning and how we learn through associations. The use of sound appeals directly to that. Since the director isn't going to appeal to our visual senses with blood and gore, they instead appeal to our hearing. We see a guy hanging upside down with red staining the snow underneathe and the sound of pouring liquid makes us automatically think that the guy just had this throat slit open. The sound could have been water pouring into a bathtub or juice coming out of a jug, but since we've experienced sound affects in movies before, and since we see the red in the snow, our brains put all the information together to come up with blood.
I think the second plot point is when Oskar slits his hand open in front of Eli. That causes her to thirst for blood, to lick it off the floor, and for him to figure out that she's a vampire. Their relationship and the story continues because of his ability to come to accept the fact that she's a vampire.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
First draft - Nutcracker article for the magazine
Who would have ever thought that a professional ballet company is located right here in Herricks, right in our own backyard? The Eglevsky Ballet Company has been Long Island’s only professional ballet company since 1961 when it was founded by Andre Eglevsky, premier danseur of the New York City Ballet. It is now under the artistic direction of Ali Pourfarrokh, one of the ballet world’s most sought after dancers, teachers, and choreographers. It is located in the Herricks Community Center with its affiliated school, the American Theater Dance Workshop. The Eglevsky Ballet Company celebrates the holiday season with its annual production of The Nutcracker. Becky Kalman, one of the apprentices to the company, and a student at Herricks High School, talks about what it’s like to dance with a professional ballet company, and what the rehearsal process is like for such a famous ballet.
October 3, 2009
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many happy tears in my life. Tonight is the night that Ali Pourfarrokh, announces his casting decision for the coveted role, Clara. Every little girl wants to be Clara; She’s a princess around the age of twelve. She lives in a world where every single one of her dreams comes true on Christmas Eve. Who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity to play this part? A week ago, I had been asked to play Clara’s Prince, a role that I graciously accepted and tonight my sister, Sabrina Kalman and her good friend, Lexi Manno, were both offered the role of Clara. The role is always split by two girls to give more dancers the opportunity to play the part, and also to have an understudy just in case. I am so proud of my two little princesses and cannot wait to share this amazing experience with them.
October 24, 2009
Tonight I had my costume fitting. This is the sixth year that I am dancing in The Nutcracker with the Eglevsky Ballet Company, and every year when I try on my costume for the first time, I get a surge of dancing butterflies in my stomach and in my feet. Almost all of the costumes are used again and again, year after year, so there’s a lot of history in them, which makes it really special. Some of the older tutus still have the names of the professional dancers who where the first to dance in them stitched into the sides. Our costume inventory has costumes that were made and worn in the 1970s, but also new costumes that are being made this year.
December 18, 2009
Today is going to be a long day! We have our full day dress/tech rehearsal with the entire company at the Tilles Center Theater. It’s the first and only time we will get to rehearse on the stage prior to opening night. We have a company warm up at 9 AM, and rehearsal starts promptly at 10:30 AM. They give us a break for lunch, and we will probably run through the entire ballet two or three times. Rehearsal ends at 9:00 at night, and my friends and I think we should just sleep at the theater, since we’re going to have to come back tomorrow for the show, anyway. Even though a twelve-hour rehearsal is intense, and exhausting, I look forward to it every year. This is when we see the most bonding between company members, and when the magic of the ballet really clicks together.
December 19, 2009
We open today! Everyone is excited. We have our company warm up in the morning, and then we have two shows, one in the afternoon and one at night. My sister will be Clara the first show, and Lexi will be Clara the second show. I can’t wait to dance with them onstage. Since I’m so close with the two of them, we have great chemistry and I love acting with them. Before the show starts I walk around to the different dressing rooms and wish everyone good luck, or as it is tradition in the dance world, “merde.” When the stage manager makes the half-hour call over the intercom system backstage, I squeal in delight. When the music for the prologue of the ballet begins, I am reminded of how much I truly love what I do. I look forward to The Nutcracker every year. This year holds a special place in my heart because next year I will be going off to college and won’t be able to dance with the company that I have grown to love and admire.
It has been an honor to dance with the Eglevsky Ballet Company and to work with beautiful dancers for the past six years. I am continuously grateful to have been given the opportunity to share the Christmas spirit through the art of ballet.
October 3, 2009
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many happy tears in my life. Tonight is the night that Ali Pourfarrokh, announces his casting decision for the coveted role, Clara. Every little girl wants to be Clara; She’s a princess around the age of twelve. She lives in a world where every single one of her dreams comes true on Christmas Eve. Who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity to play this part? A week ago, I had been asked to play Clara’s Prince, a role that I graciously accepted and tonight my sister, Sabrina Kalman and her good friend, Lexi Manno, were both offered the role of Clara. The role is always split by two girls to give more dancers the opportunity to play the part, and also to have an understudy just in case. I am so proud of my two little princesses and cannot wait to share this amazing experience with them.
October 24, 2009
Tonight I had my costume fitting. This is the sixth year that I am dancing in The Nutcracker with the Eglevsky Ballet Company, and every year when I try on my costume for the first time, I get a surge of dancing butterflies in my stomach and in my feet. Almost all of the costumes are used again and again, year after year, so there’s a lot of history in them, which makes it really special. Some of the older tutus still have the names of the professional dancers who where the first to dance in them stitched into the sides. Our costume inventory has costumes that were made and worn in the 1970s, but also new costumes that are being made this year.
December 18, 2009
Today is going to be a long day! We have our full day dress/tech rehearsal with the entire company at the Tilles Center Theater. It’s the first and only time we will get to rehearse on the stage prior to opening night. We have a company warm up at 9 AM, and rehearsal starts promptly at 10:30 AM. They give us a break for lunch, and we will probably run through the entire ballet two or three times. Rehearsal ends at 9:00 at night, and my friends and I think we should just sleep at the theater, since we’re going to have to come back tomorrow for the show, anyway. Even though a twelve-hour rehearsal is intense, and exhausting, I look forward to it every year. This is when we see the most bonding between company members, and when the magic of the ballet really clicks together.
December 19, 2009
We open today! Everyone is excited. We have our company warm up in the morning, and then we have two shows, one in the afternoon and one at night. My sister will be Clara the first show, and Lexi will be Clara the second show. I can’t wait to dance with them onstage. Since I’m so close with the two of them, we have great chemistry and I love acting with them. Before the show starts I walk around to the different dressing rooms and wish everyone good luck, or as it is tradition in the dance world, “merde.” When the stage manager makes the half-hour call over the intercom system backstage, I squeal in delight. When the music for the prologue of the ballet begins, I am reminded of how much I truly love what I do. I look forward to The Nutcracker every year. This year holds a special place in my heart because next year I will be going off to college and won’t be able to dance with the company that I have grown to love and admire.
It has been an honor to dance with the Eglevsky Ballet Company and to work with beautiful dancers for the past six years. I am continuously grateful to have been given the opportunity to share the Christmas spirit through the art of ballet.
Tuesday, Acting Workshop
I was really proud of all the acting kids today. When we were told to do our warm ups by ourselves, we committed to doing what Joy had asked us to do. It takes a really focused group to be able to lead itself that way, and I was proud that we were able to do that.
Today was also great becaue we each got the chance to go twice, which doesn't happen often because we run out of time. Like Joy said, it was really cool to watch the growth of each and everyone of us in our peices over the past couple of weeks. Today I tried really hard to incorperate all of her notes from last week. It was a lot to remember but I had practiced it over the Thanksgiving weekend, so I knew that I could do it. I was proud of myself for being able to carry that out onto the stage with me, with an audience watching.
It was also really interesting because today we were being filmed. But once I got started with the peice, and got rolling with it, I forgot about the camera. When I finished my monologue and came off the stage I felt as if I had been spit into something, played around with it for a bit, and was spit back out again with a feeling of "I did it! Let's do it again!" It was really fun.
Today was also great becaue we each got the chance to go twice, which doesn't happen often because we run out of time. Like Joy said, it was really cool to watch the growth of each and everyone of us in our peices over the past couple of weeks. Today I tried really hard to incorperate all of her notes from last week. It was a lot to remember but I had practiced it over the Thanksgiving weekend, so I knew that I could do it. I was proud of myself for being able to carry that out onto the stage with me, with an audience watching.
It was also really interesting because today we were being filmed. But once I got started with the peice, and got rolling with it, I forgot about the camera. When I finished my monologue and came off the stage I felt as if I had been spit into something, played around with it for a bit, and was spit back out again with a feeling of "I did it! Let's do it again!" It was really fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
