Joy!

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I thought a lot about joy yesterday and the importance of remembering to be joyful in the moment.

This came about as a result of two excellent rehearsals, which in addition to be productive were also filled with laughter.  Firstly Gold Company’s rehearsal of, “A Fairytale Like No Other.”  We’re making great progress and have already sorted about a boat, the cliffs of insanity and a great deal of the staging.  It’s a brave play stylistically and makes serious demands of the actors who have to snap in and out of character and story frequently.  It’s a real balance of self indulgence and discipline.  Watching the talented actor develop this style is joyous in itself.  

Aladdin was equally delightful with one of the few remaining numbers to be choreographed ticked off and a couple of neglected numbers polished up.  I can really feel the pace hotting up and I’m so excited for the final weeks rehearsals where we can start to enjoy what we’ve worked so hard to create.  A begrudging highlight was Dec and Tom’s (AKA Fahzim and Aladdin) guest appearance in J’ai Ho! alongside the senior dancers.  They do like to stir things up bless them!


Something that occurred to me in both the rehearsals is it was the actors and performers most open to what was going on that had the most joy.  Those cast members that were prepared to dive in with both feet and see what happened, who oozed commitment to the moment, to the character, to the story, to the words, to the movement…the more brave and accepting the approach to the rehearsals the performer was…the more joy they got out of it…and the fact that so many of each cast were in that mode was the reason I finished rehearsals with my heart and head buzzing with the brilliance of the rehearsals I’d had the pleasure of being part of…

 Yew Tree Christmas show tickets can be bought here

Aladdin tickets can be bought here

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