sarahw Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 PV am now waiting with bated breath to hear how festival goes...... I think there will be plenty of material for your memoirs there...... and good luck to your dd x 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Again thank you lovely Balletco posters! SarahW have a feeling there will be a thread of our festival disasters, I can sense it brewing. Every time I visualise DD stepping out onto that massive stage I feel a bit sick. But what could go wrong you ask? She has to lay an egg. No, that's wrong her partner has to lay an egg and she has to catch it. Teacher is rolling it on from the wings. The almost infinite opportunities for this to end badly are breathtaking. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I feel your pain, PV. No one wants their child to have a public disaster. Good luck to your little dd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Thank you fiz I'm stealing myself. Should anyone feel like unburdening themselves of their own festival related predicaments it would be much appreciated. Misery loving company and all that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cara in NZ Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Again thank you lovely Balletco posters! SarahW have a feeling there will be a thread of our festival disasters, I can sense it brewing. Every time I visualise DD stepping out onto that massive stage I feel a bit sick. But what could go wrong you ask? She has to lay an egg. No, that's wrong her partner has to lay an egg and she has to catch it. Teacher is rolling it on from the wings. The almost infinite opportunities for this to end badly are breathtaking. You have my deepest sympathy – any time I see a prop being rolled/thrown in from the wings I hold my breath that it arrives successfully. Last competition featured a child stepping out from a wardrobe clothes rail hung with strips of blue fabric. I was pondering why anyone would step out of shower for a demi-character, but turned out it was a 'waterfall sprite'. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Hahhahaga but of course! Ahh the gap between intention and reality. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huddsballetmum Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Again thank you lovely Balletco posters! SarahW have a feeling there will be a thread of our festival disasters, I can sense it brewing. Every time I visualise DD stepping out onto that massive stage I feel a bit sick. But what could go wrong you ask? She has to lay an egg. No, that's wrong her partner has to lay an egg and she has to catch it. Teacher is rolling it on from the wings. The almost infinite opportunities for this to end badly are breathtaking. After 10 years of festivals and 8/9 dances per festival I still hold my breath every dance! If you start a thread on festival disasters I can contribute to it in spades ha ha. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Ahh, the disasters are one of the best things about festivals IMHO. My DD has danced in festivals for about 12 years and is pretty much finished with them now - she may do one or two more but focus is elsewhere now really. We were talking about this fairly recently actually, and whilst she has of course enjoyed it when she has won trophies and medals, she doesn't have particularly strong memories of her successes. But we were both literally crying with laughter recalling the various mishaps that have befallen her and her friends over the years. I am sure you will have great fun together PV. My advice is always to go with the flow and don't take it too seriously,and I have a feeling you will be very good at that! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 PV - I agree you can't take it too seriously -then you will have fun. I will admit that the first time dd performed at a festival I felt sick and couldn't eat all day.... she was fine of course. It has slowly got better as she has become more consistent. I can now watch all her dances - in the past I did cover eyes fairly regularly! At least after the first time you know they know what it's like and if they go back again at least they are informed.... My most embarrassing moment will be after my dd first dance when I unknowingly walked back into auditorium in middle of next section (vocal eek) and toddler with me started objecting loudly and everyone turned round. I still feel embarrassed years on!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Talking of props and disasters - my problem was that I was/still am extremely short-sighted. My mother refused to believe that her "baby ballerina" should be wearing glasses and so I never wore them except for school to see the blackboard or in the cinema (whilst it was dark and no-one could see me). I had a dance where I was supposed to choose between two apples and at the end of the dance I threw one away and pretended to eat the other. Have you ever tried finding an apple on stage when you can't see? The next girl was waiting to dance and I was still desperately searching for that stupid apple. I hated that dance - it was a nightmare finding the apple at the end. This stupidity went on for years, with me getting on to wrong trains, waving back to someone I didn't know etc etc. Thank goodness at 17, after my first year at the RBS, they insisted I get contact lenses. Oh the joy of actually recognising people's faces and of being able to read the adverts in the tube! The awful thing is that I still can't bear the sight of my face in glasses - oh vanity thou art my downfall........... 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 I don't know which is worse. Props or Costumes. Costumes revealing boobies and bottoms just make me go eeeek but at least a mishap with a prop is kind of understandable albeit amusing Whenever I see a dance with a prop I'm just waiting for something to go wrong and am never actually watching the dancing at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 DD and I have just binge watched three episodes of the new Dance Moms season 6 (oh yes. Out of the closet DM fans) and they had a girl INSIDE a huge inflatable balloon that only gave her five mins of oxygen. There but for the grace of God....! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Romeo and Juliet is a prop hazard - all those swords! In the production I was in as Nanny, one got left on stage after the fight scene just before the bedroom pas de deux - bang in the middle of the front of stage. I thought perhaps, having narrowly avoided tripping over it during the pas de deux, that Romeo might grab it when he ran off stage. That would after all have made sense. However he didn't and I was given the task of getting rid of it somehow! Well, I bustled on stage with Juliet's gown in my arms and made a big show of "What's this sword doing here in Juliet's bedroom?". Shaking my head in bewilderment, I picked it up and dropped it into the wings, before continuing in my scheduled choreography. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from the audience that the annoying sword had finally been removed! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Great save! You need to be able to think on your ballet feet at times don't you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahw Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 PV - that may be a sackable offence... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Whenever I see a dance with a prop I'm just waiting for something to go wrong and am never actually watching the dancing at all. It's not so much the impending doom of prop usage that distracts me sometimes though it's just, I tend to struggle with the implausibility? I've only ever seen (live) "My First Swan Lake" so ummm I won't be posting in performances seen about this (!) but when The Prince was dancing with his crossbow and preparing for the hunt all I could think was; Young man your hunting equipment doesn't look like its fit for purpose. It looks more like a harp. A TINY harp. Swans are big creatures too and notoriously bad tempered. Unless you are planning to strum or mime it to death you are going to need considerably more fire power. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 A few days ago I saw a couple of swans having a go at each other and it was nasty - they were very big and very violent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 They are cranky beasts! Wouldn't fancy Princey's chances not one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petalviolet Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Although I was watching a ballet not a wildlife documentary so perhaps should try a bit harder to suspend my disbelief. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 It's not so much the impending doom of prop usage that distracts me sometimes though it's just, I tend to struggle with the implausibility? I've only ever seen (live) "My First Swan Lake" so ummm I won't be posting in performances seen about this (!) but when The Prince was dancing with his crossbow and preparing for the hunt all I could think was; Young man your hunting equipment doesn't look like its fit for purpose. It looks more like a harp. A TINY harp. Swans are big creatures too and notoriously bad tempered. Unless you are planning to strum or mime it to death you are going to need considerably more fire power. About a decade ago a friend of mine saw a Russian company tour Swan Lake - Poor things, their props had been held up at customs and the men appeared onstage with coat hangers as a substitute for crossbows....True story. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 (edited) Still the lovely thing about ballet IS that it's all so implausible! You just have to suspend your common sense for a couple of hours and forget about reality! I mean princesses turned into swans - honestly! And what about Willies making the "baddy" dance to death???????????? So who says a harp can't shoot a swan? Edited January 28, 2016 by Dance*is*life 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annaliesey Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 (edited) Yeah, but coat hangers? Coat hangers!!! I wonder if they matched or if there was one red plastic one, one skirt hanger, one scented padded one ... Sorry I just got this image in my head of coat hangers as none of ours match at home!! Edited January 29, 2016 by annaliesey 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now