Setting the ‘Table.’

While the past collection of posts perhaps looks more like Barbie's dream vacation than the life of an ABT dancer, I haven't only been exploring in Europe with Ken and Skipper. Last Saturday night I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to dance "The Green Table" at the Chatelet Theater in Paris; an experience I will never forget.

It is hard for me to adjust to the differences in my schedule tour to tour and while normally it would be uncommon to be off all week, I wasn't about to be complaining while in Europe. Taking class and rehearsing kept me busy enough but for some reason the pressure seemed double the normal amount when I finally got to my show. Being on every night begins to get your body into a routine and mentally you feel the rhythm of the stage and audience interaction. Having observed from the wings or audience the whole week leading up to Saturday night, as I began putting on my costume I was already sweating and nervous. This seemed especially strange, as "The Green Table" is a ballet I have performed countless times over the past year but I still felt unprepared for the rising of the curtain.

To me there really is nothing like performing this ballet and I love that the character I portray is so far removed from who I actually am. Being all of 20 years old, I was understandably nervous about being cast as "The Old Soldier" but feel that as the year of performing it has progressed I have started to take on a sort of double personality when I do this part. While some ballets call for minor character development, from the moment I lunge out onto stage I try to throw myself into the mind of a worn but dutiful soldier. Standing in the wings I take a breath as Matt and then try to peel out of that skin. Whether or not that is accomplished, I will never know, but the challenge is something I will never forget

As we had been reminded before the tour, this tour isn't just ANY performance; it is the 75th anniversary of the ballet so we had to make it seem as fresh as the day it was created. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you look at the subject matter: war) the ballet is timeless but especially topical at the moment. Pounding chords came through the speakers alerting me that we were only 12 counts away from the lights coming up on the "Table" scene. The following 34 minutes are a bit of a blur in hindsight but I felt like for that brief time our cast went to another place. We realized that we were in the place where years earlier the bells signaling the end of war had chimed as this ballet was being performed and we threw ourselves in. Sometimes on stage you see people but you aren't really looking at them, last Saturday I could tell you how many eyelashes people had. Whether everyone was on technically or not, it didn't seem to matter; I could sense us pulling together in the wings sending out supportive energy to make this the best it could be. After five curtain calls, I felt like we had accomplished what we intended to.

Something about European audience's applause doesn't feel obligatory which made it that much more meaningful to have such a prolonged response. There are those flickers where you can sense your childhood self watching the present with a giant grin while you can’t quite acknowledge the "coolness" of the situation in the moment. Walking forward and back to bow was such a moment. I'm going to be 10-year-old Matt for a minute and say that night was pretty fucking cool. Not the most eloquent phrasing but it gets the point across. Being as exhausted as I was after that show, for all the right reasons, made me proud and thankful to be fortunate enough to have this platform to express myself.

(Carson comes to the stage door to show some love.)

Comments

[Jennifer]

I wonder what the European audience thought of that politically charged piece! fabulous job, wish I was there to see the performance....

[Chimene]

OMG Matt,

I finally saw 'TGT' performed last night, 14 Feb 07, by the Joffrey Ballet, and it was so awesome and appropo. They danced it phenomenally! The cor. is really emotional, beautiful & sad without being violent. My hat is off to Kurt Joos, his dtr Anna Markard and the dancers.

A Joffrey dancer, Michael Smith, told me they had just recently gotten the actual 'green table' & set design back from ABT, who borrowed them. That table gets around.

I am sure you are doing the "old soldier" role proud and am sorry that I couldn't see it :-)

[M]

Chimene,
To me "The Green Table" is one of the most perfectly structured ballets I have ever seen. I know it is not some people's taste but the synthesis of the music, the movement and the emotion is beautiful to me. I could go on and on about this ballet! I have one more show here in London and it's Green Table on Saturday! Can't wait.

As far as the Joffery goes, we are all a little bitter right now because we got so used to those costumes and now they are gone! Sure, sure, it's THEIR production....but what about US ;-) It's funny how superstitious I can get about things. Putting on the new costume before the show the other day made me more nervous than usual! The comfort was gone....and maybe that helped us be more on the ball for the show.

see the ballet again if you can, it only grows better with time.