It's the Day of the Show, Y'all!

OMG, it's here, it's here!
Winterdances 2013 at UW-Milwaukee's Peck School of the Arts!
http://www4.uwm.edu/psoa/dance/performances/winterdances.cfm

I'm nervous because it's my students and I'm like a mama gritting my teeth and hoping my baby up there doesn't fall down and hurt her tushie.

Yes, I'm talking both about my students and my piece.  I want both of them to soar and fly.

There's this strange little thing that happens when you choreograph on your students that's different than choreographing on a company.  When you choreograph on a company, it's their job to make it look good.  When you choreograph on your students, they must work like the dickens to make the piece succeed, but you are also watching them blossom.  You're at once greedy about the conquering triumph of your piece as well as nurturing towards the growth of your little charges (little... well, they are college students).  This is the teeter-totter I'm on today.  I've got to find the right balance of my first instinct: "don't fuck it up" and my second: "fly, little birdie".  Let's be honest, I'm a little more of a martinet than a mother.

I also have to find a little humility about the piece as well.  I happened to give almost every step in my piece over to my students to create.  This was nerve-wracking.  I was determined to give them as much ownership of it as I comfortably could (picture me with my tight little pincers grasping my choreography with a vice grip telling them "this is yours, make it your own, go ahead, create this entire section by yourselves") as a test to myself and to see how much I could let go of while still steering the ship.  I didn't give as much control as I could have, but "baby steps, baby steps", right?.

It really will be all about them today... as much as I want to hold onto it.

Good luck my little birdies!!!  (And don't fuck it up).