April 27, 2023 • 29 mins
The countdown to curtain begins.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Six seven, eight one two three five six seven eight
one two three four and stop.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I'm in a dance studio in Tallahassee, Florida. It's summer
twenty twenty two. In front of me are about a
dozen dancers. They're in a last minute evening rehearsal. It
wasn't originally on the schedule, but there's a show tomorrow
and they have a lot to do before then. For
(00:36):
My Heart podcasts and Rococo Punch. This is the turning
room of mirrors America lants today a day in the
life of a dancer. It's twenty seven hours to curtain.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, because it is better for the stage to be
this way. So you guys, this is pretty good, But
I actually need to go back to the big lift
at the top. You guys need to be a wall.
It's free, backs next to each other.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Dance Theater of Harlem is a touring company. This means
even though they're based in New York, they're on the
road for months at a time. I met them here
in Tallahassee. This is not a memorable to our step.
Nothing out of the ordinary happens. In a few months.
They may have forgotten all of this. That doesn't make
it any less grueling. The company split up this week.
(01:41):
Half went to Houston on tour and half came here
to Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That's it five six, seven eight. They shift to perfect
sixty five six.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
They scheduled a last minute evening rehearsal the night before
the show because with all of these dancers missing, there
are a lot of holes to fill on stage. A
bunch of dancers need to learn new material fast.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Nice He's going to go.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
When David went before.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Kenan's going to go when Dylan went before.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Okay, The artistic director of Virginia Johnson leads rehearsal. She
stands at the front of the studio, her back to
the mirror.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But there's still going to be a space.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's still going to be a space. Right now, they're
reviewing the grand finale of the show. Dancers entered with
tricks and fancy moves, one after the other. A dancer
named David has been promoted to a principal role, so
now his spot is empty, so we need.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Somebody to do double tour one.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Micah Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Micah Bullard covers his eyes bashfully when he's handed the
new part Micah's twenty four years old and one of
the newer company members. It's a second season with the
Dance Theater of Harlem.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
I remember walking into the dth building and it really
felt like I was in some fantasy book or something.
Just seeing all this melanin in ballet costumes. I had
literally never seen before. I've never seen this many black
people doing ballet.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Ever.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I felt like the Chronicles of Narnia.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It felt like.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Walking through the wardrobe and seeing like this magical land
that existed this entire time. It was the first time
I didn't feel like the black one or the black guy.
I was just Micah and I was an individual.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I felt like you guys coming in was good.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So it was really just this thing need to do again. Yeah, okay,
Micah is in this elite ballet company, but there have
been times when he struggled with his confidence in classical ballet.
A couple of times in the past teachers told him
to consider contemporary dance instead of ballet.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
There was a point before all this happened where I
just felt like I was really free in my movement.
I always used to answer for me, and then you know,
after my compts was hit. All I would think about
was my lack of turnout and all the skills I
wasn't able to do, so I would start hiding the back.
(04:13):
I would start not doing certain combinations. If I knew
that it wasn't going to go well, I would start
second guessing myself. And I was so scared that someone
was going to find out that I wasn't strong enough
to be where I was.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Just turn.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
In rehearsal. Today, Mica wears gray joggers and a teeth,
but his tall body, elongated posture, and graceful limbs make
him look regal even when he leans in the bar watching.
He's practicing multiple new parts for this show. One is
a lead role.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Making sure that all the lifts and promenades and everything
are right. That's all nerve working.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
But I don't know. I think it will go well.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
We just have to rehearse it.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
You were turning your shoulders on that first thing. Should
everybody be turning their shoulders.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Another person adapting to last minute changes is Crystal Serrano.
Crystal has a duet in the show. She's danced to
this Potada for six years, but her normal partner isn't here,
so someone else has to learn the parts.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Well, this is my sixth partner.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
The guy who dances it with her these days isn't
here in Tallahassee. He's in the group that went to Houston.
So now Quadio Davis has to learn it. So I
have the Quadio watched a video of the dance to
teach himself the steps. Tonight's their first real rehearsal and
they have to perform it tomorrow six.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Six seven.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Crystal and Quadio run the Pottada straight through. It's from
the first of three ballets in this show. This one's
called Balamook.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So this whole pot we're like slingshotting one another. We're
doing a push pull effect, so counteracting each other, but
somehow flinging each other back into one another, kind of
like tango. And it's really playful and sas and you
get really close and uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Miss Potado has a lot of spinning. Being this close
to the dancers, I realize how acrobatic it is. It's
different than watching from the audience. I can feel the
floor bounce and rumble as they move right away. I'm
almost hit by Crystal's leg when Quadio swings her around him.
In a circle. Crystal loves this stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
When I was fifteen, I had a director call me
the Daredevil because I would just fling myself at the
guy and they're like, be careful. Some of them don't know,
and I'm like, well they're gonna learn. I love being lifted.
I just absolutely love prindering. There's this trust that you
build with a person. It's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Of course, she knows it can be dangerous.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Especially with this pop because there's so much thrown around.
One wrong move or like too much force, or like
him missing my arms and I'm already jumping into his arms,
it could go really wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Crystal's actually dancing on two spreens right now. She got
them from partnering. The first time they run the dance,
Crystal can hear they're not with the music. Quadio's rushing
because I have done it before.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I know the musical cues, but as a male dancer,
they usually lead you. I had to kind of like
look at him or tell him whisper, like slow down
or stretch this out.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Things like that. He has a lot to remember in
this first run, and Quadio, who's a big guy, is
using a lot of force.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Have you ever been in the water and you kind
of have water up your nose. The first one, I
feel like he spun me so fast it felt like
goes underwater. Air went on my nose. I was like,
oh my god.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Because he's so powerful, Crystal can feel him think, can
tell he's thinking hard to get it right.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I tried to connect with him through his eyes so
he knows that I'm here. That's my favorite thing about
doing a PAP because if you connect with that person,
you kind of calm them down. On both ends.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's a little bit of a themeter that you're missing
in the beginning. So one two three four one two
three four you have the witch kick on this. It's
a little bit too late that you were doing that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
After that first run through, Artistic director of Virginia Johnson
walks them through the trouble spots attitude.
Speaker 7 (08:39):
Did I work here? So that's the moment.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Yeah, I think I touch a way.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It just was nervous.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, from the.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Very beginning, just for a little bit. When you do
this and you lean on him, then you have to
you have to counterbalance.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Each other's weight.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So that's it's going to work really well with the
two of you, but it's not happening yet.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
As the three of them talk, they use their bodies
to show what they mean. Crystal and Quadio seamlessly step
into complicated lifts together. Let my arms stretch.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Yeah, like that, and then here, give me a second,
and then yeah, this is really good. Why I started
dancing when I was five, I didn't think that ballet
was real. I thought that it was something like being
a superhero or are unicorn in something magical? Do you
(09:35):
know something that you hear about but it's not attainable?
And I think of the music box type of ballerina,
this beautiful image of a female dancer in like a
tu tuo and she's just propped up on this pedestal.
It's always about a little girl in a fantasy, that image.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Of how does real life as a dancer compared to
this fairy tale, whimsical, imagined creature that you didn't even
think was real. There's so much hardship.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But then, honestly, when you're on that stage, you feel
that part when the curtain rises and you're in this crown,
in this beautiful sparkling tutu, you feel like that mystical
beauty that you've always seen but didn't think it was real.
But you are that part in your head, you know,
(10:37):
and so it becomes real. Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You are there? Any questions? Are there any questions?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
After a few hours, it's time to wrap up for
the night.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thank you, dancers, Rest well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The dancer has been in a few more steps of
practice on their own, get dressed, check their phones, and
make their way to the bus back to the hotel.
Twenty four hours to go. So we are here at
(11:26):
the theater today. It's the tech rehearsal and they're going
to run everything with the lights and the music on stage.
See how the spacing is spacing is different on the stage,
and make sure everyone knows all the steps. And then
tonight after rehearsal is the show two three, four, six seven.
(11:49):
The artistic director, Virginia Johnson leads a tech rehearsal on stage.
Seven and a half hours toccur six seven.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Was that the same ant?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yes, good, Okay, you've got about ten minutes. Okay, thank you.
The dancers are the ones on stage, but there's a
whole team of people to make this show happen. Stage managers,
tech and lighting crew. To start downstairs is a maze
of hallways. Someone from the company has taped up laminated
colored arrows all over the place to tell you where
(12:24):
to go. A green arrow for the green room, yellow
arrow for the stage, an arrow for the artistic director's room,
for catering, for physical therapy. There's also a room down
here with a rolling hangar cart full of costumes. Steam
billows out. One person steams costumes while another sows a skirt.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
That's all I do.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Katie Freeman the wardrobe supervisor, so it's the sewing machine
like she lives in front of it. She's been touring
with the company for years. Make sure everything's steamed and repaired.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
They change off stage.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Manage their shoes.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
I make shoe paint that matches everyone's skin tone.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
She remixes the paint as their colors change with the
seasons or today. Because some of the dancers spent a
lot of time in the Florida sun at the hotel,
pool tech rehearsal lasts hours and by the end I'm
exhausted just from standing around. I can't imagine how the
dancers feel. They break it three for food, four and
(13:38):
a half hours to curtain. There's a catered buffet. They
grab stuffed roasted red peppers on paper plates and PLoP
down in groups at plastic tables.
Speaker 8 (13:48):
They're patching us at the very end of tour, so
we were a little more lively a month ago.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Delaney Washington smiles even when she complains she's one of
the youngest dancers in the company.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
And I'm the baby sothing like to make fun of me.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
She takes some celebras for her herniated disks, two of
them in my lower back, So what does that mean
for you?
Speaker 8 (14:11):
My toes just ache. My heels are all red from
the point she's digging into them.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
My arches are cramping.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
My keelies, yeah, my calves are really tight. My body
needs a break. I don't even know, Like I cannot
put on a point to but I have to in
a few hours.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Because everyone hurts. A lot of them have injuries of
one kind or another. They're only halfway through this tour,
but there's something they're all looking forward to.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
We get to go home tomorrow, the first week we'll
have in New York since April.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, we've been two months.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
We've been going back to.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
New York for like sixty hours.
Speaker 8 (14:51):
Though honestly, because it's just enough time to do laundry
and settle down, and then you have to leave again
and repack.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
The dancers walk back to the hotel and the muggy
Florida heat. They have an hour there to kill a
lot of twenty minute power naps. They return to the
theater and sweats on stage. They stretch quietly at portable bars.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
All right, Jesse, let's seegain with our PA's what you
need for fleas to Jimmy's ground forward back side side.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Then they warm up again with another ballet class. We'll
just do.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
One side and.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Balance. As always, they start with slow plia's big knee bends,
deep stretches. They glide their arms through basic positions. It
feels meditative this exercise. The slow pliers are something they
(15:51):
do twice a day always. At the beginning of class,
one person is skipping warm ups though Ingrid Silva is
downstairs in the women's dressing room. Yeah, it's not every
day you see someone in costume changing a diver.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
Not every day at all, but that has been part
of my routine now for what's six months?
Speaker 9 (16:14):
Yeah, healthy m.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Her daughter Laura is a year and a half old.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Now we have to put the shorts slumble.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Ingrid danced during her pregnancy and after Laura was born,
she warmed up at the bar with Laura strapped to
her chest. She literally danced with you the whole class.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
Yes, like from inside my bailey to the outside of it.
And it's kind of cool. And I think that's why
she so connected you dance and so connected to BALI
cause she's been doing it for a long time.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Now, Laura tour is with Ingrid. The entire company helps
watch her.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I mean I was nervous on going on the stage
because all I could think about was her, Like, is
she okay?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
She happy?
Speaker 7 (17:09):
She eating? Like is anybody watching her? What if she
falls in? Things like that? But I feel like now
it's more.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Ease, even with a baby in toe. In the past
two days on tour with her, I've never seen Ingrid
anything but calm. She has a sense of peace about her.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Yes. Yes, now we're gonna put some makeuphone right, Santha, vite,
Santa Okay, help mommy.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Ingrid puts on eyeshadow, false eyelashes, a bright red lip.
Laura sits on the table between her mother in the mirror.
She holds makeup brushes and tiny fists and sweeps them
across her face, mimicking her mom.
Speaker 7 (17:55):
Happen, happy baby. If she'll become a ballerina, We don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Oh my god, I feel I'm swollen. The other dancers
finished the on stage warm up and pile into the
dressing room. She quests for music, say nineties or nine
forty five minutes to curtain. The room is busy, but
(18:26):
calm sure they're getting ready for her performance. But that's routine.
They do this every night. They sit at the dressing mirrors,
some are topless, are naked. They take turns playing with Laura.
The four Crystal puts on the costume she'll wear for
the Potta do with Quadio. She sits on top of
the dressing table. She leans her face towards the mirror.
(18:50):
She starts the transformation into that music box ballerina she
pictured as a kid.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
I just like to be really close so I can
see every detail.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
What are you doing right now?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I'm doing my ash, Yeah, making sure that I contour
and make my eyes look better than they are with.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Bright colors and shapes and shading.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Back back, back back, and trudition return.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Half hours, half hour, thirty minutes to go. Wardrobe supervisor
Katie checks on everyone every day.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
It zipper kisses me off.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Her apron holds needles, threads, scissors, bobby pins, sharpies, and advil.
I have to sew some people into costumes. Yeah, that's
missr earrings.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I gotta put some butt glue on the cheeks.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
Keep everything in butt glue.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
But it's just awesome body adhesive that like keeps everything
in place. Wow, had eight minutes to curtain. Some people
still aren't in costume. I head to the stage. There's
a fog machine that they've started going, so it's the
(20:08):
stage is starting to.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
Get a little hazy, and you can see the light
from the lights above sort of streaming down in stripes,
in like rays through the haze, and it smells like
Halloween fog machines his very otherworldly.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I walk on to the stage. The audience doesn't know
that behind the red velvet curtain, dancers are filtering in.
They stretch and chat, some sit on the floor hades.
Here the wardrobe person cutting some threads off of Micah's costume.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
They're going to do their curtain speech now and then
we'll get rolling.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yes, okay, knock them dead.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Virginia reminds the dancers of the mood of the opening scene.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You remember, you're on the ship in the middle of
the ocean. Your future depends on your happiness. Make it happen,
Make it happen, and point your feet at the same time.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's forgot to win to your feet.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
So sad the pink one two Street.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Four oh together from Okay Marred.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Marred, Virginia says it means shit in French dance, or
speak for good luck. In the final moments before the
curtain opens, they stand in the center cluster that starts
the piece. One of them bounces, remembering steps. She shakes
her head to test the pins in her hair. One
of them makes the sign of the cross Ingrid bends
(21:42):
her knees slowly in place. Delaney and Micah say something
and laugh. Quaudio rubs his hands together. Crystal stands completely still.
One by one they settle into position, face forward, arms
over your chest, feet together, head down. The stage, lights
(22:05):
go down, the curtain lifts. What happens next is hard
to describe. I've heard this music many times by now,
I've seen them practice these steps, this exact moment, but
this time is different. They move in and out of
(22:28):
lights that filter through fog and change color over time.
The dancers cast long shadows. Their costumes are red, orange,
bright yellow, and green. Their movements are silky fluid in
a way I can hardly believe in the blink of
an eye they might shift from this chaos of each
doing their own steps to moving perfectly in unison, then
(22:50):
back into chaos. They spin in and out of formations.
The fact that this all happens without words makes it
feel like ans. It's beautiful. The piece rubs up as
it goes, and the lifts and turns become more acrobatic.
Quadio swings Crystal around him, and they're potted dea like
(23:11):
they practiced throughout the evening. Dancers come on and off stage,
make their way to the basement to change for the
next number or rest. It's organized chaos.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
I hit Crystal by accident in the face with my
arm and I said, oh shit.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Live theater, Mike's disappointed. After the first piece, I messed.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Up in the last section. I just started getting like
doing my old part in so at one point I
was facing the wrong direction, but I don't think it
was too noticeable. But I'm a huge perfectionist, so I
was like, dang it the whole time. Other parts actually
went the best. It's gone. But all I'm going to
(23:54):
think about now is you messed up that one part.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Then it's time to change for the next number. But
there's a problem. A costume is missing and Delaney has
nothing to wear naked, though they need Katie wardrobe Queen.
(24:23):
Delaney wraps a towel around herself and runs to the
wardrobe room. Soon Katie's steaming a new leotard for her.
No longer naked, Delaney now pieces backstage before the second piece,
shaking out her limbs.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
This makes me a little nervous. Last week was my
first time doing this piece, so thank you, Alex. So
I still have those like it's still a little new jenerous, but.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
She puts those aside. By the time of the final piece,
the dancers are tired, but I feel the energy rise,
like they're loosening up. One more to go my house,
to have stand by house, out stand by warmers, out
stand by, main curtain, out stand by. Micah is excited.
The final piece is a high energy dance that Dance
Theater of Harlem performs constantly.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's the crowd favorite. People go crazy.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
For it, and Micah knows his friend David Wright has
his big role in this one.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Tonight the principal part for the first.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Time, David's first principal role.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
And I had one rehearsal Friday and then one rehearsal yesterday.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Warmers out and lights one go. The dancers rev up
and in the wings they get goofy, hype each other up,
motion to each other from across the stage, main curtain,
out go soundtrack one and light's one point five go.
This last piece is called Return, choreographed by Robert Garland, probably.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
My favorite piece in the rep. It's to James Brown
music and Aretha Franklin and it uses you know, class
bally technique throughout, but it also uses a lot of
those social.
Speaker 10 (26:03):
Dance movement that you'll see black people do at Clobes
in the House on the Street, and relating it to
Valley influences.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Stephanie Lee as another dancer in the company.
Speaker 10 (26:13):
You'll see the four female dancers do this kind of
funky move and then they change it completely to the
Bali version of it, and then they change it back
into the black version of it.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
By the final movement, the guys are dancing in the
wings while they wait to enter. It feels like a party.
In the grand finale, David takes the center while everyone
else dances around him. They whisper encouragement to him while
they dance.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
They would just say, come on, David, you've got this,
while still trying to do their own choreography.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
And then it's his big solo.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
So then we were during the soul Train line.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Really, I'm just trying to remember the.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Steps, and then David makes a split second decision. He
starts to improvise.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
He was doing flips. He was surprising all of us
because he didn't do that during rehearsal.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Kind of in the moment, I'm going to do this,
and then all of a sudden he did an ariel.
I did a side aeriel on stage that I hadn't
rehearse and we didn't follow, and we were all like
audibly like David, Yeah, it was great, and he tore
(27:22):
it up.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
They line up to bow all together. Then in two's
David takes a final bow alone, his first principal role bow.
After the curtain finally lowers, David collapses. He lies on
his back, a huge smile on his face. The other
dancers cluster around him and clap. The show wasn't perfect,
(27:51):
but they're going out on a high. They'll get a
week off back in New York and then they'll do
it all again. They'll learn new parts, have new injury,
travel to new cities, and dance.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But good show tonight, dancer, sim thank you so much
for making this happen. It's been crazy, really good work,
really good work. And guess what, Friday's a day. Definitely
sad travel same, Thank you, Thank you, not get out
(28:29):
of your costumes.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you. Good show.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The Turning is the production of Rococo Punch and iHeart Podcasts.
It's written and produced by Alan Lance Lesser and Me.
Our story editor is Emily Foreman. Mixing and sound designed
by James Trout. Jessica Carisa is our assistant producer, Andrea
assoahe is our digital producer. Our executive producers are John
(29:25):
Paratti and Jessica Alpert at Rococo Punch at Katrina Norvel
and Nikki Etoor at iHeart Podcasts. For photos and more
details on the series, follow us on Instagram at Rococo
Punch and you can reach out via email The Turning
at Rococo punch dot com. I'm Erica Lance. Thanks for listening.
Six seven, eight one two three five six seven eight
one two three four and stop.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I'm in a dance studio in Tallahassee, Florida. It's summer
twenty twenty two. In front of me are about a
dozen dancers. They're in a last minute evening rehearsal. It
wasn't originally on the schedule, but there's a show tomorrow
and they have a lot to do before then. For
(00:36):
My Heart podcasts and Rococo Punch. This is the turning
room of mirrors America lants today a day in the
life of a dancer. It's twenty seven hours to curtain.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, because it is better for the stage to be
this way. So you guys, this is pretty good, But
I actually need to go back to the big lift
at the top. You guys need to be a wall.
It's free, backs next to each other.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Dance Theater of Harlem is a touring company. This means
even though they're based in New York, they're on the
road for months at a time. I met them here
in Tallahassee. This is not a memorable to our step.
Nothing out of the ordinary happens. In a few months.
They may have forgotten all of this. That doesn't make
it any less grueling. The company split up this week.
(01:41):
Half went to Houston on tour and half came here
to Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That's it five six, seven eight. They shift to perfect
sixty five six.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
They scheduled a last minute evening rehearsal the night before
the show because with all of these dancers missing, there
are a lot of holes to fill on stage. A
bunch of dancers need to learn new material fast.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Nice He's going to go.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
When David went before.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Kenan's going to go when Dylan went before.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Okay, The artistic director of Virginia Johnson leads rehearsal. She
stands at the front of the studio, her back to
the mirror.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But there's still going to be a space.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's still going to be a space. Right now, they're
reviewing the grand finale of the show. Dancers entered with
tricks and fancy moves, one after the other. A dancer
named David has been promoted to a principal role, so
now his spot is empty, so we need.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Somebody to do double tour one.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Micah Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Micah Bullard covers his eyes bashfully when he's handed the
new part Micah's twenty four years old and one of
the newer company members. It's a second season with the
Dance Theater of Harlem.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
I remember walking into the dth building and it really
felt like I was in some fantasy book or something.
Just seeing all this melanin in ballet costumes. I had
literally never seen before. I've never seen this many black
people doing ballet.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Ever.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I felt like the Chronicles of Narnia.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It felt like.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Walking through the wardrobe and seeing like this magical land
that existed this entire time. It was the first time
I didn't feel like the black one or the black guy.
I was just Micah and I was an individual.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I felt like you guys coming in was good.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So it was really just this thing need to do again. Yeah, okay,
Micah is in this elite ballet company, but there have
been times when he struggled with his confidence in classical ballet.
A couple of times in the past teachers told him
to consider contemporary dance instead of ballet.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
There was a point before all this happened where I
just felt like I was really free in my movement.
I always used to answer for me, and then you know,
after my compts was hit. All I would think about
was my lack of turnout and all the skills I
wasn't able to do, so I would start hiding the back.
(04:13):
I would start not doing certain combinations. If I knew
that it wasn't going to go well, I would start
second guessing myself. And I was so scared that someone
was going to find out that I wasn't strong enough
to be where I was.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Just turn.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
In rehearsal. Today, Mica wears gray joggers and a teeth,
but his tall body, elongated posture, and graceful limbs make
him look regal even when he leans in the bar watching.
He's practicing multiple new parts for this show. One is
a lead role.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Making sure that all the lifts and promenades and everything
are right. That's all nerve working.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
But I don't know. I think it will go well.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
We just have to rehearse it.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
You were turning your shoulders on that first thing. Should
everybody be turning their shoulders.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Another person adapting to last minute changes is Crystal Serrano.
Crystal has a duet in the show. She's danced to
this Potada for six years, but her normal partner isn't here,
so someone else has to learn the parts.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Well, this is my sixth partner.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
The guy who dances it with her these days isn't
here in Tallahassee. He's in the group that went to Houston.
So now Quadio Davis has to learn it. So I
have the Quadio watched a video of the dance to
teach himself the steps. Tonight's their first real rehearsal and
they have to perform it tomorrow six.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Six seven.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Crystal and Quadio run the Pottada straight through. It's from
the first of three ballets in this show. This one's
called Balamook.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So this whole pot we're like slingshotting one another. We're
doing a push pull effect, so counteracting each other, but
somehow flinging each other back into one another, kind of
like tango. And it's really playful and sas and you
get really close and uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Miss Potado has a lot of spinning. Being this close
to the dancers, I realize how acrobatic it is. It's
different than watching from the audience. I can feel the
floor bounce and rumble as they move right away. I'm
almost hit by Crystal's leg when Quadio swings her around him.
In a circle. Crystal loves this stuff.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
When I was fifteen, I had a director call me
the Daredevil because I would just fling myself at the
guy and they're like, be careful. Some of them don't know,
and I'm like, well they're gonna learn. I love being lifted.
I just absolutely love prindering. There's this trust that you
build with a person. It's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Of course, she knows it can be dangerous.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Especially with this pop because there's so much thrown around.
One wrong move or like too much force, or like
him missing my arms and I'm already jumping into his arms,
it could go really wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Crystal's actually dancing on two spreens right now. She got
them from partnering. The first time they run the dance,
Crystal can hear they're not with the music. Quadio's rushing
because I have done it before.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I know the musical cues, but as a male dancer,
they usually lead you. I had to kind of like
look at him or tell him whisper, like slow down
or stretch this out.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Things like that. He has a lot to remember in
this first run, and Quadio, who's a big guy, is
using a lot of force.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Have you ever been in the water and you kind
of have water up your nose. The first one, I
feel like he spun me so fast it felt like
goes underwater. Air went on my nose. I was like,
oh my god.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Because he's so powerful, Crystal can feel him think, can
tell he's thinking hard to get it right.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I tried to connect with him through his eyes so
he knows that I'm here. That's my favorite thing about
doing a PAP because if you connect with that person,
you kind of calm them down. On both ends.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's a little bit of a themeter that you're missing
in the beginning. So one two three four one two
three four you have the witch kick on this. It's
a little bit too late that you were doing that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
After that first run through, Artistic director of Virginia Johnson
walks them through the trouble spots attitude.
Speaker 7 (08:39):
Did I work here? So that's the moment.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Yeah, I think I touch a way.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It just was nervous.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, from the.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Very beginning, just for a little bit. When you do
this and you lean on him, then you have to
you have to counterbalance.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Each other's weight.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So that's it's going to work really well with the
two of you, but it's not happening yet.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
As the three of them talk, they use their bodies
to show what they mean. Crystal and Quadio seamlessly step
into complicated lifts together. Let my arms stretch.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Yeah, like that, and then here, give me a second,
and then yeah, this is really good. Why I started
dancing when I was five, I didn't think that ballet
was real. I thought that it was something like being
a superhero or are unicorn in something magical? Do you
(09:35):
know something that you hear about but it's not attainable?
And I think of the music box type of ballerina,
this beautiful image of a female dancer in like a
tu tuo and she's just propped up on this pedestal.
It's always about a little girl in a fantasy, that image.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Of how does real life as a dancer compared to
this fairy tale, whimsical, imagined creature that you didn't even
think was real. There's so much hardship.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But then, honestly, when you're on that stage, you feel
that part when the curtain rises and you're in this crown,
in this beautiful sparkling tutu, you feel like that mystical
beauty that you've always seen but didn't think it was real.
But you are that part in your head, you know,
(10:37):
and so it becomes real. Yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You are there? Any questions? Are there any questions?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
After a few hours, it's time to wrap up for
the night.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thank you, dancers, Rest well.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The dancer has been in a few more steps of
practice on their own, get dressed, check their phones, and
make their way to the bus back to the hotel.
Twenty four hours to go. So we are here at
(11:26):
the theater today. It's the tech rehearsal and they're going
to run everything with the lights and the music on stage.
See how the spacing is spacing is different on the stage,
and make sure everyone knows all the steps. And then
tonight after rehearsal is the show two three, four, six seven.
(11:49):
The artistic director, Virginia Johnson leads a tech rehearsal on stage.
Seven and a half hours toccur six seven.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Was that the same ant?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yes, good, Okay, you've got about ten minutes. Okay, thank you.
The dancers are the ones on stage, but there's a
whole team of people to make this show happen. Stage managers,
tech and lighting crew. To start downstairs is a maze
of hallways. Someone from the company has taped up laminated
colored arrows all over the place to tell you where
(12:24):
to go. A green arrow for the green room, yellow
arrow for the stage, an arrow for the artistic director's room,
for catering, for physical therapy. There's also a room down
here with a rolling hangar cart full of costumes. Steam
billows out. One person steams costumes while another sows a skirt.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
That's all I do.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Katie Freeman the wardrobe supervisor, so it's the sewing machine
like she lives in front of it. She's been touring
with the company for years. Make sure everything's steamed and repaired.
Speaker 8 (13:08):
They change off stage.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Manage their shoes.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
I make shoe paint that matches everyone's skin tone.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
She remixes the paint as their colors change with the
seasons or today. Because some of the dancers spent a
lot of time in the Florida sun at the hotel,
pool tech rehearsal lasts hours and by the end I'm
exhausted just from standing around. I can't imagine how the
dancers feel. They break it three for food, four and
(13:38):
a half hours to curtain. There's a catered buffet. They
grab stuffed roasted red peppers on paper plates and PLoP
down in groups at plastic tables.
Speaker 8 (13:48):
They're patching us at the very end of tour, so
we were a little more lively a month ago.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Delaney Washington smiles even when she complains she's one of
the youngest dancers in the company.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
And I'm the baby sothing like to make fun of me.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
She takes some celebras for her herniated disks, two of
them in my lower back, So what does that mean
for you?
Speaker 8 (14:11):
My toes just ache. My heels are all red from
the point she's digging into them.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
My arches are cramping.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
My keelies, yeah, my calves are really tight. My body
needs a break. I don't even know, Like I cannot
put on a point to but I have to in
a few hours.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Because everyone hurts. A lot of them have injuries of
one kind or another. They're only halfway through this tour,
but there's something they're all looking forward to.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
We get to go home tomorrow, the first week we'll
have in New York since April.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, we've been two months.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
We've been going back to.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
New York for like sixty hours.
Speaker 8 (14:51):
Though honestly, because it's just enough time to do laundry
and settle down, and then you have to leave again
and repack.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
The dancers walk back to the hotel and the muggy
Florida heat. They have an hour there to kill a
lot of twenty minute power naps. They return to the
theater and sweats on stage. They stretch quietly at portable bars.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
All right, Jesse, let's seegain with our PA's what you
need for fleas to Jimmy's ground forward back side side.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Then they warm up again with another ballet class. We'll
just do.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
One side and.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Balance. As always, they start with slow plia's big knee bends,
deep stretches. They glide their arms through basic positions. It
feels meditative this exercise. The slow pliers are something they
(15:51):
do twice a day always. At the beginning of class,
one person is skipping warm ups though Ingrid Silva is
downstairs in the women's dressing room. Yeah, it's not every
day you see someone in costume changing a diver.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
Not every day at all, but that has been part
of my routine now for what's six months?
Speaker 9 (16:14):
Yeah, healthy m.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Her daughter Laura is a year and a half old.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Now we have to put the shorts slumble.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Ingrid danced during her pregnancy and after Laura was born,
she warmed up at the bar with Laura strapped to
her chest. She literally danced with you the whole class.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
Yes, like from inside my bailey to the outside of it.
And it's kind of cool. And I think that's why
she so connected you dance and so connected to BALI
cause she's been doing it for a long time.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Now, Laura tour is with Ingrid. The entire company helps
watch her.
Speaker 7 (17:01):
I mean I was nervous on going on the stage
because all I could think about was her, Like, is
she okay?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
She happy?
Speaker 7 (17:09):
She eating? Like is anybody watching her? What if she
falls in? Things like that? But I feel like now
it's more.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Ease, even with a baby in toe. In the past
two days on tour with her, I've never seen Ingrid
anything but calm. She has a sense of peace about her.
Speaker 7 (17:28):
Yes. Yes, now we're gonna put some makeuphone right, Santha, vite,
Santa Okay, help mommy.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Ingrid puts on eyeshadow, false eyelashes, a bright red lip.
Laura sits on the table between her mother in the mirror.
She holds makeup brushes and tiny fists and sweeps them
across her face, mimicking her mom.
Speaker 7 (17:55):
Happen, happy baby. If she'll become a ballerina, We don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Oh my god, I feel I'm swollen. The other dancers
finished the on stage warm up and pile into the
dressing room. She quests for music, say nineties or nine
forty five minutes to curtain. The room is busy, but
(18:26):
calm sure they're getting ready for her performance. But that's routine.
They do this every night. They sit at the dressing mirrors,
some are topless, are naked. They take turns playing with Laura.
The four Crystal puts on the costume she'll wear for
the Potta do with Quadio. She sits on top of
the dressing table. She leans her face towards the mirror.
(18:50):
She starts the transformation into that music box ballerina she
pictured as a kid.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
I just like to be really close so I can
see every detail.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
What are you doing right now?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I'm doing my ash, Yeah, making sure that I contour
and make my eyes look better than they are with.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Bright colors and shapes and shading.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Back back, back back, and trudition return.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Half hours, half hour, thirty minutes to go. Wardrobe supervisor
Katie checks on everyone every day.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
It zipper kisses me off.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Her apron holds needles, threads, scissors, bobby pins, sharpies, and advil.
I have to sew some people into costumes. Yeah, that's
missr earrings.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I gotta put some butt glue on the cheeks.
Speaker 8 (19:44):
Keep everything in butt glue.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
But it's just awesome body adhesive that like keeps everything
in place. Wow, had eight minutes to curtain. Some people
still aren't in costume. I head to the stage. There's
a fog machine that they've started going, so it's the
(20:08):
stage is starting to.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
Get a little hazy, and you can see the light
from the lights above sort of streaming down in stripes,
in like rays through the haze, and it smells like
Halloween fog machines his very otherworldly.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I walk on to the stage. The audience doesn't know
that behind the red velvet curtain, dancers are filtering in.
They stretch and chat, some sit on the floor hades.
Here the wardrobe person cutting some threads off of Micah's costume.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
They're going to do their curtain speech now and then
we'll get rolling.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yes, okay, knock them dead.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Virginia reminds the dancers of the mood of the opening scene.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
You remember, you're on the ship in the middle of
the ocean. Your future depends on your happiness. Make it happen,
Make it happen, and point your feet at the same time.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's forgot to win to your feet.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
So sad the pink one two Street.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Four oh together from Okay Marred.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Marred, Virginia says it means shit in French dance, or
speak for good luck. In the final moments before the
curtain opens, they stand in the center cluster that starts
the piece. One of them bounces, remembering steps. She shakes
her head to test the pins in her hair. One
of them makes the sign of the cross Ingrid bends
(21:42):
her knees slowly in place. Delaney and Micah say something
and laugh. Quaudio rubs his hands together. Crystal stands completely still.
One by one they settle into position, face forward, arms
over your chest, feet together, head down. The stage, lights
(22:05):
go down, the curtain lifts. What happens next is hard
to describe. I've heard this music many times by now,
I've seen them practice these steps, this exact moment, but
this time is different. They move in and out of
(22:28):
lights that filter through fog and change color over time.
The dancers cast long shadows. Their costumes are red, orange,
bright yellow, and green. Their movements are silky fluid in
a way I can hardly believe in the blink of
an eye they might shift from this chaos of each
doing their own steps to moving perfectly in unison, then
(22:50):
back into chaos. They spin in and out of formations.
The fact that this all happens without words makes it
feel like ans. It's beautiful. The piece rubs up as
it goes, and the lifts and turns become more acrobatic.
Quadio swings Crystal around him, and they're potted dea like
(23:11):
they practiced throughout the evening. Dancers come on and off stage,
make their way to the basement to change for the
next number or rest. It's organized chaos.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
I hit Crystal by accident in the face with my
arm and I said, oh shit.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Live theater, Mike's disappointed. After the first piece, I messed.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Up in the last section. I just started getting like
doing my old part in so at one point I
was facing the wrong direction, but I don't think it
was too noticeable. But I'm a huge perfectionist, so I
was like, dang it the whole time. Other parts actually
went the best. It's gone. But all I'm going to
(23:54):
think about now is you messed up that one part.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Then it's time to change for the next number. But
there's a problem. A costume is missing and Delaney has
nothing to wear naked, though they need Katie wardrobe Queen.
(24:23):
Delaney wraps a towel around herself and runs to the
wardrobe room. Soon Katie's steaming a new leotard for her.
No longer naked, Delaney now pieces backstage before the second piece,
shaking out her limbs.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
This makes me a little nervous. Last week was my
first time doing this piece, so thank you, Alex. So
I still have those like it's still a little new jenerous, but.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
She puts those aside. By the time of the final piece,
the dancers are tired, but I feel the energy rise,
like they're loosening up. One more to go my house,
to have stand by house, out stand by warmers, out
stand by, main curtain, out stand by. Micah is excited.
The final piece is a high energy dance that Dance
Theater of Harlem performs constantly.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's the crowd favorite. People go crazy.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
For it, and Micah knows his friend David Wright has
his big role in this one.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Tonight the principal part for the first.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Time, David's first principal role.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
And I had one rehearsal Friday and then one rehearsal yesterday.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Warmers out and lights one go. The dancers rev up
and in the wings they get goofy, hype each other up,
motion to each other from across the stage, main curtain,
out go soundtrack one and light's one point five go.
This last piece is called Return, choreographed by Robert Garland, probably.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
My favorite piece in the rep. It's to James Brown
music and Aretha Franklin and it uses you know, class
bally technique throughout, but it also uses a lot of
those social.
Speaker 10 (26:03):
Dance movement that you'll see black people do at Clobes
in the House on the Street, and relating it to
Valley influences.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Stephanie Lee as another dancer in the company.
Speaker 10 (26:13):
You'll see the four female dancers do this kind of
funky move and then they change it completely to the
Bali version of it, and then they change it back
into the black version of it.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
By the final movement, the guys are dancing in the
wings while they wait to enter. It feels like a party.
In the grand finale, David takes the center while everyone
else dances around him. They whisper encouragement to him while
they dance.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
They would just say, come on, David, you've got this,
while still trying to do their own choreography.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
And then it's his big solo.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
So then we were during the soul Train line.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Really, I'm just trying to remember the.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Steps, and then David makes a split second decision. He
starts to improvise.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
He was doing flips. He was surprising all of us
because he didn't do that during rehearsal.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Kind of in the moment, I'm going to do this,
and then all of a sudden he did an ariel.
I did a side aeriel on stage that I hadn't
rehearse and we didn't follow, and we were all like
audibly like David, Yeah, it was great, and he tore
(27:22):
it up.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
They line up to bow all together. Then in two's
David takes a final bow alone, his first principal role bow.
After the curtain finally lowers, David collapses. He lies on
his back, a huge smile on his face. The other
dancers cluster around him and clap. The show wasn't perfect,
(27:51):
but they're going out on a high. They'll get a
week off back in New York and then they'll do
it all again. They'll learn new parts, have new injury,
travel to new cities, and dance.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But good show tonight, dancer, sim thank you so much
for making this happen. It's been crazy, really good work,
really good work. And guess what, Friday's a day. Definitely
sad travel same, Thank you, Thank you, not get out
(28:29):
of your costumes.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you. Good show.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
The Turning is the production of Rococo Punch and iHeart Podcasts.
It's written and produced by Alan Lance Lesser and Me.
Our story editor is Emily Foreman. Mixing and sound designed
by James Trout. Jessica Carisa is our assistant producer, Andrea
assoahe is our digital producer. Our executive producers are John
(29:25):
Paratti and Jessica Alpert at Rococo Punch at Katrina Norvel
and Nikki Etoor at iHeart Podcasts. For photos and more
details on the series, follow us on Instagram at Rococo
Punch and you can reach out via email The Turning
at Rococo punch dot com. I'm Erica Lance. Thanks for listening.
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