The night before a show is always an in between time. All the choreography is done, the lights have been set, tech and dress rehearsal have come and gone. If the tech/dress has gone well, you go home with excitement and expectation. If there are problems, you go home with dread and anxiety. But it's really out of my hands now, it's up to the dancers to work their magic and make the choreography come alive, to the lighting designer to add his expertise and make the space sizzle and to the musicians to smash the atoms of sound to create a sonic wonderland. It's a lesson in giving up control and trusting that all the hours of rehearsal will carry everyone along in a groundswell that builds into a tidal wave of perfect wonder and awesome power. I have experienced performances like this, both as a performer and an audience member, and this is what I crave when I go to see live performance. Something that takes me out of myself or conversely something that brings me deep inside, that connects me with a force or energy, that touches my heart and stimulates my intellect. Tonight when I watched the dancers in dress rehearsal, they transcended their everyday personas and became archetypal, a fascinating transformation that is possible in performance. This is what we all want to give to an audience - a moment in time that encapsulates timelessness, that unites everyone in a shared adventure, that speaks of the human experience and leaves one hungering for more. More art, more life, more, more, more. So that's what I'm left with, the hope that this work will touch both the audience and the performers and leave them with something more than when they first sat down in their seats before the curtain rises.
