Leigh Witchell's 'Dance As Ever' ballet group are reviewed by Jack Alexander, who admires 'A Shropshire Lad' with NYCB's Peter Boal. Alexander tells us that the rest of the programme faced that nightmare of the small company, an indisposed dancer.<P>Our Moderator Jeff Salzberg was the lighting designer for the programme.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/arts/02BOAL.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/arts/02BOAL.html</A>

Yes, I was.<P>. . .And now I'm back in lovely Sarasota, FL (where any place worth driving to is worth driving to ve-e-e-e-ery slowly), having purchased the perfect souvenir of Manhattan -- a genuine $12 watch, purchased from a street vendor.<P>The show went well. The ballets were lovely (even the one I was the least sure I'd like). The dancers were lovely. I was lovely.<P>From a lighting standpoint, I was very pleased with the result, especially for Peter Boal's solo.<P>Speaking of which. . . .<P>It seems a little odd to speak of a choreographer's playing to a dancer's strong points when referring to Peter Boal, who has almost <I>nothing</I> but strong points, but I really think that's one of Leigh's. . .well. . .strong points.<P>It's noticeable when he's working with dancers of less reknown, but it's particularly striking when he working with a Peter Boal.<P>Jeff, who almost stole Peter's wallet. . . .<P><P>------------------<BR>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<BR>Jeffrey E. Salzberg, Lighting Designer<BR>Online portfolio, now including "This Day in Arts History":<BR><A HREF="http://www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg" TARGET=_blank>http://www.suncoast.quik.com/salzberg</A> <P><BR>

It comes as no surprise to those here that Jeff '..was lovely'.<P>Delighted that the show went well. Was the 'missing dancer' a problem throughout the run?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Was the 'missing dancer' a problem throughout the run?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Was she missing throughout the run, you mean? No, but that's not the same as being a problem throughout the run. . . .<P>I'm joking, of course; she was perfectly fine to work with.<BR>

Hi - I figured that since I was being discussed it would be easier if answered your questions.<P>What happened was the dancer in question had a sudden schedule conflict that she was convinced would never occur, but discovered on the morning of the performance that she could either perform for me, or be fired on the spot from the other job, which unfortunately was a good deal more pay and employment than I was. I understood her position to a point, but unfortunately, no matter, the result was the same. <P>I was lucky enough to remember that Morgan, a dancer I had worked with for three years running and only did not work with this year because of her wedding plans being a conflict with rehearsal, had changed her honeymoon plans and had asked me a few weeks before if there was anything she could do. She's a favorite dancer of mine and a quick study, so I took a chance and called her. It was either that or cancel two ballets on the evening the Times was to come, and I knew they could not and would not reschedule. Morgan was able to clear her schedule and be at rehearsal by 4 pm. We taught her a 20 minute Mozart ballet as best we could (rechoreographing sections) in 2 hours. We removed one woman from Summer Dance to make it a duet, the other women doubled the missing part at one point. We did that in about 15 minutes also as best we could. Because of <I>his</I> conflicts with City Opera, Morgan's partner did not arrive until 7:45. I held the curtain for 30 minutes to teach them the pas de deux and other smaller sections they did together. My friend Amy quickly took a non-dancing part in the final ballet.<P>It was a very exhausting day. The dancer did all the other performances with no incident, and we tried to go on as before as best as possible.<P>Thank you for the kind words.

I forgot to mention that Leigh was lovely.<BR>

Leigh, thank you very much for the vivid description of what happened behind the scenes. A General once said, 'No battle plan survives the first five minutes of engagement with the enemy.' It certainly pays to have a flexible approach, but I hope you never have to be <u>that</u> flexible again.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited October 04, 2000).]