Dancing in the Desert

“Why don’t we make our new family Christmas show in the Desert?” I hear myself say to the company. They all look a little perplexed but can see my mind working over time. A few months passed by, and then, that’s exactly what we did….

Last month Commotion dancers, Aimee, Lottie and Rosa, along with Dougie, our musician boarded a plane to possibly one of the hottest places in the world, Dubai, where they met me at the airport ready to start phase one of our rehearsal period for our new show:

WHERE IS CHRISTMAS.

Heading out of the airport and onto the very efficient, self-driving metro we started to whizz through the city, engulfed by high rise building upon high rise building – each one seemingly more grand and extravagant than the last. Getting off at our stop “Emirates Towers” this was the gang’s first experience of the temperature, at just 8.30am in the morning it was almost up to 30degrees! Finally finding the accommodation we then settled into our home for the week.

Day one of rehearsals

Up bright and early on a Sunday morning (yes Sunday is the start of the working week here!) we headed to the very wonderful DUCTAC Theatre in the Mall of Emirates to start day one of our rehearsals. As I had been in the city for some time already I had experienced some of the fantastic dance classes here with the very talented Sharmila Dance. Training every week with her gave me new inspiration to develop my choreography and class material. So we started the day with a new class led by myself. The dancers commented on how already after an hour they were sweating so much – I’m not sure if this was down to the class or to the Dubai heat!

For the rest of day I taught a new unison section for the show, whilst Dougie worked on setting up all the musical equipment we would need. I am so excited that we have a live music element for the first time, exploring the way the music works with the choreography has a whole new meaning when it’s live.

After rehearsals each day we would debrief, collecting our thoughts for the day and working out what the next day had in store. To be able to explore the city at the same time, I decided to lead each meeting in a new and exciting place. Day one was at the very picturesque Pier Seven in Dubai Marina. The view of the harbour, its grand yachts and boats surrounded by high rise architecture was simply breathtaking from the 7^th floor.  It was a slightly surreal setting to discuss, tinsel, robins and snowflakes!

Discovering Presents

Day two, started with our Dubai style class once again, only this time with a coffee (the jet leg and time difference kicking in) and then we moved on to exploring Christmas presents. Using over 100 cardboard boxes as the set design for the show, it’s the perfect back drop to try and find Christmas in amongst all the plain looking boxes.  The day’s task for the dancers was to create a motif development of the phrase learnt the day before, to discover their very own Christmas present.  With a musical interlude to accompany the phrases, this will become the punctuation throughout the piece, or, if you like the” next chapter “to the show. Each present opened will discover a new world and adventure to dive into with our audiences in order to find Christmas.

The second debrief took place at the must see tourist attraction Burj Al Arab seven star hotel, (well near there anyway, our personal budgets couldn’t quite stretch to a visit!). We discussed my vision for the show in more detail, piecing together the plot and storyline, unpicking each world that the dancers would discover with the final world being that of all things Christmas!

Choreographing Music

Day three was all about the finale to the show, where all the magic comes together and creates a winter wonderland. What I love about working with Dougie is that we work so collaboratively together. As I set the dancers an improvisation task, Dougie is able to understand the mood and tone of the task and improvise with his music too. This took place for most of the day, exploring, playing with ideas until, as choreographer I start to set the material unfolding. Unpicking the material created, merging it with others, cutting and pasting until it fits. The day was a turning point to the show, with everyone getting rather excited about the end product and its magical Christmas ending.

After rehearsals we headed to Jumeriah beach for a well earned break after the first three intensive days. Although never one to stop, we had to get a couple of pictures dancing on the beach in October of course! Watching the sun set as a Commotion family was very special after such a rewarding day in the studio.

Dancers in Dubai

Day four saw the structure of the piece coming together, working through each section, stopping, starting and tweaking with the dancers working extremely hard to remember all the material and new order. The day was very productive and half way through a run through I had a wave of emotion take over, watching the ideas come to life through these very talented people I work with.

Our debrief took us to a different beach this time as we explored the beach night life culture that starts up as the sun goes down. We discussed marketing, social media and set design but of course with a live DJ paying music, how could we not continue to dance on the golden sands too (although it was bedtime by 10.30pm as the last day of rehearsals was upon us!).

Final rehearsal and a Dubai Brunch

Our final rehearsal took us through the full piece from beginning to end, albeit stopping and starting and remembering! We pushed through lunch to make the most of the time we had in the studio. Of course, the scene wouldn’t set without a few rehearsal sweets to keep us going and a Christmas hat or two! Finishing the day I felt overwhelmed by what we had achieved.

One thing is for sure, when visiting Dubai a famous Friday Brunch is certainly in order. So as our final day in the desert happened to be our first actual day off, we ate to our hearts content in the very wonderful Double Tree by Hilton restaurant. With our bellies extremely full and bodies achy from our hard core week, we bobbed about in the bath like sea until the sun set with Rosa and Lottie calling out “We simply must have our debrief in the water!”. It was a truly wonderful way to end our very productive week of Christmas magic making.

This process of total immersion has been one I have never fully experienced before, with my mind usually on many different projects at once, but I very much hope to do it again. To start with an idea two years ago and now have the full picture is a truly wonderful way to work, taking the time it needs for ideas to fully develop and grow.  I cannot wait to share the new work with everyone at The Spring in Havant next month and hope people enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed making it.

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