They’ve rescheduled the shows for this cruise so that instead of the regular eight and ten o’clock slots, they run at seven and nine o’clock instead, which means that I’m deprived of ever getting to the show lounge, unless it’s extremely quiet at the office and I can slide in and out without anyone really noticing or caring. Since I’m relatively close friends with the cast, and since I pride myself on never missing a production show, I try and catch technical rehearsal whenever I can. So it was that I found myself in the upper reaches of the balcony, looking down at my friends as they tripped and marked their way through what would ultimately become tonight’s production.
If you’re familiar with dancer/performer terminology, you’ll have heard the term “marking”. Most dancers mark through a rehearsal for example: pirouettes are indicated by balancing in half-retiree and using hand signals to show how many turns will end up in that spot, kicks are made at 3/4s instead of to full height. Basically marking exists so that you can hold back your energy for the upcoming performance. Exhaust yourself too early and you’re in trouble, therefore, it’s rare to find a performer that will go “full out” (complete full performance mode) in technical rehearsal without prompting from the stage manager, and usually such prompting only comes if they need to test sound levels etc etc.
Which brings me to our current shipboard cast.
They don’t mark.
Ever.
One of our dancers in particular doesn’t even have the term “mark” in her vocabulary; she’s always full out, all the time. I don’t know where she – or the others for that matter – finds her energy, but the performance I saw from the balcony in rehearsal, will be the same performance – same smile, same sparkle, same amazing energy charge – that she will give at tonight’s double show.
I have a great deal of respect for the shipboard cast, they work longer hours than most people realize – mostly because they work those hours at night. While some of their rehearsals take place during the day, most of them are midnight runs , that take place long after the rest of the ship has gone to sleep or partied itself out. Also, true to form, on most ships the cast is the life of any party they attend. Personally, I sometimes wonder how they manage it – while at the same time hoping to be one of their number someday…but that’s another entry all together.
For the rest of us, our working day – however long it may be – ends when we say goodnight to the guests and head down to A-deck to our tiny cabins and bunk beds. If we have evening events, we aren’t forced to attend, and we can choose to turn in early. For the cast, it’s quite a different story, one that begins with:
“I can’t I have rehearsal”
I sometimes wonder how they manage it – while at the same time hoping to be one of their number someday…
It will happen. It will happen.