Tech was upon us, and at that
point, I was still feeling very overwhelmed and unsure about the fight. For
one, the previous week I’d had a rehearsal scheduled that only three of my
girls ended up attending because people were leaving for Fall Break. I was
upset and so was Anjanette, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of notice, and we
were in this last push to get everything put together for the final show. I was
trying to resist calling extra rehearsals outside of tech, but I had to put in
at least one because I needed to drill them as much as possible. The bright
side was, the girls who did show up worked extremely hard trying to fix their
issues, and I saw them both taking a lot of initiative to solve their problems
themselves. Also, I’ve watched Natalie form into a great fight captain, and
trusted her to run fight call when I couldn’t be there.
We came to Monday before tech, and
it was the first time I saw the show in its entirety. We worked the spacing of
my piece before and during the run, but for the most part, I sat back and
watched everything that they had created come together. I have to say, it was
an extremely emotional experience. The show had so many funny, moving, deep,
cathartic moments, and I frequently found myself in tears. I shared with the
cast my feelings after the run. As someone who started this process with them
and then ended up getting further removed from it, it was so amazing to see
what they created. Each and every one of them had their mark on the piece, and
knowing that all of the words, movement, scenes, and emotions came from inside
of them caused this cathartic experience. I knew that some of them had
struggled in getting the show to the point it was, and they still had a long
way to go, but I wanted them to know they had an effect. And were going to have
one on everyone they would perform this piece for.
I crammed in a rehearsal to get the
fight up to tempo and to work some traffic patterns and everything started to
fall into place. Also, once we got in tech, they looped my section of music to
make it longer, so the girls were able to take their time and it didn’t feel
like the fight was being rushed over, which was a main concern of mine. I
showed Dusten a video of the fight, and his reaction was very positive. He gave
me a few tips, such as encouraging more vocals, that I passed onto the girls.
Opening night. I ran fight call,
gave a few last corrections and tips, and then called the girls in for a
huddle. I was so proud of them, and was thankful for the time they were able to
put in in addition to all of the other elements of the production they had to
work. I drilled them for a reason: I wanted everything to be safe, I wanted
them to feel confident, and I wanted to make them look good. With one last hug,
I sent them on their way. It was out of my hands.
The show started. Seeing it with
all of the tech elements in place made it even more powerful. Eventually it
came to my piece. The movement that Cleo, the assistant director and
choreographer, had put together was very well-done, and I truly saw that I had
served my purpose within the piece. Everything flowed nicely, and it was a very
dynamic moment that elicited a lot of reaction from the audience. When the
fight itself came, I sat up in my seat, ready for anything. It started, and I
won’t lie, I started tearing up. They rocked it! All the intentions and targets
were clear, no one went up on anything, the timing and spacing worked out, and
overall, they sold that fight like pros. I turned to Cleo afterwards, and gave
her hand a squeeze. I had done, they had done it, and the show was a success. I
got through my first experience as a fight director, an experience that will definitely
inform my work as I continue on in this
field.
The reaction after the show was
very enthusiastic. Adam enjoyed the fight, Anjanette’s husband was a big fan,
and a friend of mine with previous combat experience said she really
appreciated the clean choreography. A video does exist out there, and I will
try to post it when I get it. I gave all my girls big hugs, and everyone
celebrated a job well-done. I wasn’t able to be at the next performance, so I
left it in Natalie’s hands.
 |
| All my fighters, except Audrey, who left early. |
