BALLET STORIES

Hi, everyone! I'm excited to post this new blog about my upcoming workshop at the Massachusetts Dance Festival this August! My workshop is called Ballet Stories and is on August 22nd, Sunday at the Boston Ballet School and on August 29th, Sunday at the Univ. of Mass at Amherst from 2-3pm. More info can be found on the Mass Dance Festival website: www.massdancefestival.org and email: info@massdancefestival.org.
Phone is 508-429-7577.

Enchanting class for 5-7 year olds. Combines ballet with creative movement. We will read a story and explore the ballet through music, costume and dance! Fun, age-appropriate choreography will be part of the exhilarating experience of learning one of the most enjoyable ballets in the repetoire! Children will leave with a smile and be excited to continue their study of dance. Appropriate for children with little to no dance experience as well as those who have already begun their dance training.

I have just finished my Tell-Tale Heart production and have uploaded a couple of light-hearted moments at the Boston Center for the Arts.

FINISH LINE!!

Hi, everybody! This is to bring you all up-to-date on the AWESOME progress that we have had on preparing for the World Premiere of Kira Seamon Presents: the Tell-Tale Heart Ballet, based on the famous Edgar Allen Poe short story. Rehearsals have been a pleasure to participate in as our Narrator is doing an amazing job bringing the short story to life with her drama. The music is meshing so well with my choreography that, the production has that seamless quality to it where you think all the elements come together so well, that the production is the best that it could be! I am happy that my vision for this short story has been completed and we are ready to perform!! Come see the Tell-Tale Heart at the Boston Center for the Arts! Tickets are 617-933-8600 or www.bostontheatrescene.com (search Tell-Tale Heart)

P.S. Here are some photos taken at the Boston Center for the Arts during my performance week. Some show me at the kiosk outside the Center, some show me at the sandwich board outside the Center, some show pictures used to create the poster, some show me at the piano in my dance costume (I like to accompany my singers on the piano as part of my show).

The Tell-Tale Heart Part 2

Hi, Everybody! It has been awhile since my last post! We had a lot of rain in the Boston area and I was dealing with some flooding issues! This involved 11 men, 2 pumps and 6 days, but we were finally able to keep the flooding under control! I actually had to stay up one night, the whole night,to bail water. I got completely exhausted from that round-the-clock bailing! Those 6 days essesntially took me out of rotation in regard to rehearsals and preparations for the show for 1.5 weeks!

Thankfully all is well now and rehearsals are on full schedule again. I had a great time meeting with Chris, our composer, and also meeting our new co-composer John Lawless!

I had a number of break-throughs with some of the more difficult parts of the choreography!! I am excited that despite the flooding issues recently, I am able to keep creating and develop more of the choreography.

Our group rehearsals are going great as well! Our group seems to get along very well, and we have a good vibe, which makes rehearsals not only productive, but fun!

We will begin rehearsals with the actress in April!
Stay tuned!
sincerely,
Kira

P.S. As I mentioned in the post above, here are some pictures that were used in the creation of the poster for the concert and also of me at the piano in my dance dress.

The Tell-Tale Heart Part 1

Hello everyone! I'm very excited to start work on my newest production to be performed in May in the Boston area. My 1-Hour Tell-Tale Heart Ballet is my interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe's beloved short story. The story is told from the viewpoint of the Narrator. The gender of the narrator is unclear in the story and in fact, no pronouns are used to describe the narrator. I read a lot of research on the Tell-Tale Heart and some critics suggested that the Narrator is a woman! I am certainly choosing this option for my dance/theatre piece! Some suggest that the narrator was raped by the old man and this could be a motive for her to kill him.

I am just starting work on the piece this week and am going to have my first group rehearsal this weekend. There are 3 Policemen who enter the story towards the end and play a role in the ending. I have cast 3 dancers to perform the roles of the 3 Policemen. I also will have live music composed and conducted by Chris Fitzgerald of the Berklee College of Music. I will see Chris next week to hear his first compositions for this piece! Looking forward to see what he has created!!

I am lucky that I get a lot of inspiration for my choreography away from the studio and that means I can come in already with a number of large chunks of movement phrases and completed sections. This is a great boon to me, as I can concentrate on rehearsing the techniques for the movements and the performance qualities in the dance that I want to bring out. For the Policemen choreography starting this weekend in rehearsal, I am looking forward to seeing them dance and getting to know their movement vocabulary. I will then add the chunks of choreography that have already come to me and we should be well underway for that section.

NEXT BLOG: The Tell Tale Heart Part 2