Resilient Repetoire

As regular readers of the blog or people who follow me on facebook probably know I've been involved with the creation of Powerhouse Ballet. The repetoire shown and being worked on by Powerhouse at present is traditional in that it is  pieces which will require collective rehearsal by the entire cast for a significant part of the process.   this post is my personal thoughts on a topic and should be taken to be official  artistic  or organisational policy  unless and until it is ...

So what is 'Resilient Repetoire' and why is it important/relevant to an organisation like Powerhouse?

'Resilient Repetoire'  is a term I've started to use for pieces that are assembled of 'modules' but are a piece that is more than just a single dance...  So what might be defined in this group ?

A couple of examples of this are

- The 'Christening Variations'  in Sleeping Beauty, where each of the six Fairy Godmothers performs a variation in close succession, with limited interactions

- Elite Syncopations - a plotless 35 minute piece  choreographed by
 Kenneth Macmillan  which consists of a number of different separate dances with some linking pieces

Why would repetoire  like this be appealing to to a company like  Powerhouse ?
at it's most simple and base :-Geography ... 

Among our signed up members the furthest reach of our members is the North Yorkshire coast, down to Lincoln on the east and  across the Northwest from Lancashire  across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and into Wales and down to the West Midlands ... 

this means getting  a whole cast together  for rehearsals can be complex  and costly...  so pieces that are built up of building blocks  that can be put together   with  little or no more  rehearsal than you  would have anyway when getting in to a  theatre / performance space is very appealing, it also  allows people to  rehearse their  bit with others involved at their convenience and  place of their choosing ... You can't rely on standby space when people are travelling  100 + miles to come to rehearsal  you have to book the studio space in advance...


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