By Rebecca King, Miami City Ballet Dancer

Miami City Ballet has not hit the stage since opening weekend of its 25th Anniversary Season, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy! We are focused on other upcoming ballets, but Program I is always in the back of our minds.  Many nights when I am trying to fall asleep, choreography is running through my head like a broken record.  Often, I take this time to review steps in order to challenge myself by remembering ballets we haven’t worked on in awhile, or to re-enforce something I learned recently.  Fanfare has been my choreography playlist recently .  As we prepare to take this ballet to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, one thing I am always thinking about is the orchestra.

Dancing with a live orchestra is such a great pleasure and a welcome treat, but along with our newly-revived luxury comes a few challenges.   When rehearsing and performing to a recording, we have become accustomed to hearing the exact same notes, with the exact same tempo every time.  With live music, that all changes.  The dancers really need to be on their toes (no pun intended) by listening closely to the music, as the tempo is never exactly the same.  Also, with the orchestra in the pit, many times we hear different notes played by different instruments that we never noticed in the recording.  Recordings can never completely capture the full effect of live music, which is why it is so important for us, as dancers, to understand the musicality of the choreography and constantly count the music.  Dance is an illustration of the music; in order for us to represent the music as the choreographer intended, we need to hear each and every element of the music.

If you haven’t seen Miami City Ballet’s company premiere of Fanfare, accompanied by the Opus One Orchestra, you still have two weekends to choose from: Program I is showing November 12-14 at the Broward Center for Performing Arts, or November 19-21 at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Buy tickets online at www.miamicityballet.org or call 305.929.7010.