The Choreographer

She walked quickly, knowing she would be late. This was her first rehearsal and she, the choreographer, was giving off the wrong impression.  Not only was she late but she had not been given the music for the dance yet. Emailing the executive committee the week before had given her a vague non-answer and only made this first rehearsal more daunting then it needed to be.

That morning she read ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ examining the first couple of pages for some kind of reference she could use for her dance.  Nothing. All she knew was there were four characters: two women and two men. Her husband, her brother and his sister based on prior events, was accusing the main woman of being crazy. Not a whole lot to go on and considering her lack of theatre experience blocking the ‘acting’ portion was going to be very difficult.

Halfway down the Coburg hill she was beginning to see King’s College appear from behind the many trees. Her speed accelerated briefly as her phone jolted her.

“…lary…hello?”

“Hello? Jaime?”

“Hey, I’m at the Frasier room. Frasier? Frazee, oh. Well there are a lot of old people here, are we at the wrong spot?”

Her heart skipped a beat. Not only was she late but there was already a miscommunication with the practice room. This was the second time this week one of her rehearsals had gone wrong.

“Alright, I’m almost there, I have no idea what is going on though,” she admitted nervously, her speed walking now turning into a slight jog.

She threw open the doors to the New Academic Building and looked at the two girls sitting in the lobby. Not only was there something going on in the Frazee room but two girls were already missing from rehearsal. She looked frantically around the lobby for signs and found a paper with a conference listing. Frazee room: A. Morrison, 3:00 – 5:00. Oh good, a philosophy conference that spanned the entirety of the rehearsal.

“Have you guys heard from any of the exec?” she asked, hoping for something. Both girls shook their heads. She sighed and pulled out her phone.

“Julia? There is a conference in the Frazee room and Sidey and Emily aren’t here.”

“Frazee room? Why are you there? I’m with Sidey and Emily in the Dance Space.”

“The schedule you gave me said to go to the Frazee room.”

“Really? Oh well come here it’s empty.”

She turned towards the window, away from the other dancers, and took a deep breath. She was now in a role of authority and was not going to let the girls see her frustration. The exec this year seemed to have no knowledge of what they had put in their schedule and was continuing to change rehearsal times and rooms without telling the choreographers and the dancers. Not only did she have no idea what she was going to do with her dancers, she was going into this rehearsal with the wrong attitude.

The three girls walked to the Space exchanging polite conversation. Jaime, the outspoken girl of the group had short curly brown hair. Her soft features gave off a more demure look that allowed her to get away with more then she maybe should. Caroline, new to the choreographer, was a small pleasant looking girl with a soft nervous laugh. This helped soften her mood as she stepped into the uncomfortably warm Space. Julia stood at the speakers, her warm smile welcoming the three of them. Sidey sat against the mirror at the front of the room watching as the three girls threw off their heavy fall clothing. Emily, the youngest of the girls, sat a little apart from everyone, her eyes darting back and forth to any person speaking. They gave quick introductions allowing everyone to learn names before diving into blocking.

The choreographer looked at Julia nervously before starting. She did not know exactly what to do and thought back to her roommate explaining, with no enthusiasm, the games she had to play before every cast rehearsal.

“Character walks,” she said looking at her girls. They all stared blankly back at her. She turned slightly to Julia who gave her an encouraging nod and smile. She spent a few minutes explaining their characters and the girls began to move slightly around the room. This was going to be more difficult then she imagined.

“Stop looking self-consciously at me, this is a safe space and you’re all doing great.” The girls gave small smiles and continued to move around the room.

“Okay, how about Jaime and Sidey begin. Then Emily will come on the stage and then Caroline. Could we try…” She was cut off by figures in Karate gi’s moving in the doorway. Sidey quickly ran out of the room to see what was going on.

“They have the Space booked at 3:30,” Sidey said as she came back.

The choreographer shot a confused and slightly annoyed look at Julia, who had told her only twenty minutes earlier that they had the Space time booked.

With her frustration building, she began to grab her things to head to the Arts and Administration building, where they were going to use the second floor hallway to rehearse. Emily ran through the doors of the gym to catch up to them.

“They bowed to me twice before I could leave the Space. Once before I exited the room and once when I was out. I didn’t know if I should bow, so I just ran.”

And again, her girls brought up her spirits, allowing her to realize how much fun working with them would be. That was all she needed to focus on, fun.