Winter Dance Concert Report

Winter Dance Concert Run Crew Working on the run crew for the winter dance concert was a fascinating experience that proved to be both informative and entertaining. My primary role was to be Jim’s eyes and ears backstage, facilitating communication between him and the dancers and occasionally providing status updates. Over the course of the rehearsal period, I acquired a few additional responsibilities, including adjusting the shutters for a pair of lights before the first piece each night and then opening them for the rest of the concert, turning the projector on and off for Jenny’s big piece, and carrying the microphone on stage for the poet prior to Cate’s piece. Additionally, I worked with the rest of the crew to ensure that everything was ready prior to each rehearsal and performance. The floor had to be dust mopped then dry mopped, the appropriate number of chairs had to be on each side of the stage, and all of the teacups and platters had to be present and in working order.

At first the dancers were pretty good, but they were still a bit out of sync and not necessarily hitting their marks consistently. Not only did they have to be in time with each other, but the lights, music, projections, and scrim movement all also had to be on time. We started off doing each of these things individually. For instance, in Jenny’s big piece, Micah controlled the lights, Matt Inglis the sounds and projections, Matt Dodson and Colby the scrims, and I told Jim when the dancers were in position so he could keep everyone together. By opening night, however, nearly all of the sound and light cues were tied together, the dancers had their timing down, and Jim could tell Colby and Matt when to raise and lower the scrims based almost solely on the music, and he knew the dances well enough to tell Matt when to hit light and sound cues based on dancer