LooseLegs2 Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 so we are doing the fairy variations from Sleeping Beauty this year for our performances. From the very start, i wanted lilac fairy. i have somewhat archy feet therefore all the hops in the other variations are hard for me and although i have gotten better, i still dont look good doing hops. they haven't cast the variations yet, they are waiting until close to our first performance in march. but they gave each of us 2 variations to work on and said we would each perform one of them and they may double cast so we'd do both. I got finger fairy and the lilac fairy. so sure i should be happy. but the other girl they chose to work on lilac fairy seems to have a better shot just because she is shorter, and they seem to like her better. i dont really enjoy finger fairy because i dont feel pretty doing it. im feeling a little discouraged right now, and although the official casting isn't done yet, how am i supposed to stay motivated? i feel like im a terrible dancer, and i dont understand what happened. because all the other girls also thought i would get lilac... i just feel like ive hit a wall. sorry for such a long post. but i figure you all could give me some words of encouragement. and if it helps, im known for my extension... you could say its my trademark. so its hard for me to do the fast stuff that is in finger fairy. so any advice on making the finger fairy variation look good would be welcome as well. thanks again! Link to comment
jazzyme Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Now is definitely not the time to be negative! When you're put up against another dancer in any kind of audition, it's always stressful. It's very easy to look at your competition and compare their advantages to your disadvantages. What you need to be doing right now is looking at your strengths and dedicating yourself to this task; let others see your willingness to work and cooperate and step into this role. The point is: You haven't hit your wall yet! They haven't yet chosen, so don't get ahead of yourself! Just know that if you're this negative about yourself, your abilities, and your chances of getting cast, it will be visible in your attitude and your dancing. You definitely don't want to set yourself up for disappointment like that. Even if you aren't cast as lilac, you should be able to say you gave it your absolute best. Good luck! Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Change your expectations, don't lower them. You're being given a challenge by being given two of the most difficult Prologue variations, so there's no shame in that. These are both great classics, and it sounds as though you're giving up before you've even got fairly started; don't do that! Learn to do "the fast stuff". Do you know that the finger variation was set by Petipa after he went to a science lecture where the demonstrator had a static generator and caused sparks to jump spectacularly, but harmlessly, from his fingertips? The whole idea of the finger variation is angularity and "modernity". Does that help you with an image? Link to comment
LooseLegs2 Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 just thought id post a quick update on this... after i got over the immediate upset-ness, and thought over what y'all said, i decided to just expend all possible energy in every rehearsal to make both variations look as good as i could possibly make them. i focused on staying positive, gaining confidence, and feeling beautiful while dancing classical roles. they decided to double cast... but since we were doing 3 shows, someone would get to do it one ore time. i was immediately ready to be content performing it once, well to my surprise i will be performing lilac fairy for our gala performance on opening night AND on our closing night! i am so happy that the energy and research ive spent on these roles paid off. i just hope that my joy and happiness shows through when i perform it! the next step that will be hard, though, is they are using these performances to cast who will do which fairy for our large end-of-the-year performance. so as stressed as i am about that aspect, i am ready to go out there and show everything ive learned from this experience! Thanks so much for all of your help! and keep good thoughts going for me on the weekend of march 17,18,19 so that they will see how thankful i am! thanks again! Link to comment
tututrina3 Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 Looselegs-how did your March performances go? It's so funny that I'm working on both Lilac and Finger fiary right now for a June show; we're doing Sleeping Beauty excerpts. I already know I'm the understudy for Lilac [ who is great & several years older; she danced in a majpr company and i'm a pre-peo]. Like you, I did Not Like the idea of Finger Fiinger Fair-at all. Now i'm in the middle of a journey. I'm getting better at Finger Fairy and doing her variation is making me stronger. I'd done Lilac before and actually 'feel' better in it, but I'm determiend to learn a lot by doing Finger-and I'll also do other classical and contemporary pieces. Link to comment
LooseLegs2 Posted March 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2006 thanks so much for asking! our performances went really well. the friday and sunday show (both of which i did lilac) went great. i couldn't have had a better time doing it! saturday night, when i did finger fairy, didn't go so well. all around it was a weak night for everyone, but it was definitely rough for me as well. we find out after spring break the casting for our huge end of the year show, so im nervous, but i know that i did the best i possibly could, and got many many compliments on my performance. so the only thing i can do now i just be content and prepare for the worst! thanks for all your support to everyone. this message board is absolutely wonderful! Link to comment
tututrina3 Posted March 25, 2006 Report Share Posted March 25, 2006 congrats! I have a feeling you'll get "Lilac"!!!!! i know how very, very difficult Finger Fairy is. It's such a tough variation to do witth any grace at all. The musuc for 'Lilac' is so so dreamy, isnt it? Link to comment
LooseLegs2 Posted March 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2006 i agree, finger is definitely a variation that takes stamina and strength! and its amazing the difference you feel performing it versus rehearsing it in the studio! when i rehearsed in the studio, i was happy that my ankles were finally getting strong enough where the parts where you must plie en pointe were no longer a struggle. but when i performed it, i got through nearly most of them, and during the last set, my ankles rolled off pointe (thank goodness my ankles were weak enough that it didn't hurt me, only surprised me). but its so different performing as opposed to rehearsing. i agree about the music for lilac... everytime i hear it i get chills. and the first time i heard it it brought me to tears. i love all the fairy variations because there is such variety. everything from the more relaxed falling crumbs fairy to the spastic canary to the "violent" finger... its just so great! Link to comment
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