Hello! Cleanup on aisle 12!

Polaris dancers at rehearsal

Polaris Dance Theatre had their third and final open rehearsal at the Polaris Contemporary Dance Center this Friday, November 19th at 6:30 p.m. to an enthusiastic audience.  Artistic Director, Robert Guitron, began rehearsal sharply at 6:30 p.m. when hardly any audience was present and directed his dance company for roughly a half hour without even noticing if a public audience had arrived or not.  He rehearsed as if it were a normal rehearsal getting his dancers prepared for their upcoming REPO concert.  At one point the dancers were talking amongst themselves and Robert shouted, "HELLO! Cleanup on aisle 12," getting the dancers' attention and showing them he means business.  With only a few weeks remaining before the performance of REPO at the Lincoln Performance Hall at PSU December 9-11, Robert and the Polaris dancers realize there is no time to waste.

Rehearsing Solomente

Spending the better part of the first half of rehearsal on Red Tied, an excerpt from REPO, Robert had the dancers run the piece over and over again, working on making sure all company members were aware of the exact movements on the exact counts.  He would say, "Ready and 1,2,3,4,5...ugh. Stop.  Let's go again."  Robert strives for perfection and group cohesiveness.

The Company and Robert

Finally, after about a half hour of intense rehearsal with Robert's back to the audience he turns around to welcome us all and is shocked at the turn out since rehearsal started at 6:30 p.m.  Just about all the seats are full as the public trickled in to see rehearsal in action.  Robert begins to explain the dances and why the counts are so crucial.  In Red Tied, not only are the dancers in complicated groups doing partner work and weaving in and out of each other, but they are also in dramatic costumes where red fabric is hanging from the ceiling, connected to the dancers.  The fabric is constantly twisting and untwisting in the fly space as it's tangling and untangling with the dancers and at one point even getting braided then unbraided.  Now it makes more sense why the counts are so important and the weaving movement in necessary for the dancers are constantly getting tangled and untangled from each other.  I thought the dance seemed completed enough, but after hearing Robert explain the dramatic costumes, I can't wait to actually see the dance in it's entirety.

In the midst of his sentence explaining the dance Red Tied, Robert is thrilled to see a friendly familiar face as iconic Portland dancer/choreographer, Josie Moseley is present.  Josie arrived slightly after 6:30 p.m. with her daughter and sat off to the right in the studio.  As Robert and Josie share smiles, Robert welcomes any critique she might have regarding Red Tied.

Now that the audience has a better understanding of the dance, Robert runs the dance with the music and the whole audience is still in amazement.  I hear a man lean close to a women and whisper, "This is terrific!"

Dance M'Liss and Director Robert

By the end of the two hour rehearsal the dancers seem physically exhausted, but mentally happy.  This group of dancers have known each other for a while and watching them interact is like watching a family at a Thanksgiving dinner.  They are joking, laughing, being sarcastic and then focussing up when Robert speaks.  After seeing the first open rehearsal where Robert drilled into his dancers that they need to dance more like a group during the partner work instead of like individual soloists who happen to be dancing together, at Friday's rehearsal the dancers seemed as one.

As the audience members and I file out of the studio, everyone is asking where they can buy tickets for the REPO concert while one little girl keeps starring into the studio at the dancers as if she sees Cinderella at Disneyland.

For more information regarding tickets, click here