After a week of rehearsing Serenade and other pieces by Balanchine, we've switched gears and started learning a ballet by Trey McIntyre called Second Before the Ground.  The quirky, contemporary movement was certainly a big change from Serenade, but it's been just as much of a joy to learn.  As an Apprentice with the company I'm cast as an understudy for Nicole, one of the Company Members, which means that I won't perform this ballet, but I still have to learn her part and attend all the rehearsals in case she gets injured or sick.  Nicole's part includes a lot of partnering, so fellow Apprentice Alex Stewart and I have been enjoying the opportunity to work on our partnering skills and solve whatever problems we run into.  It's really satisfying for us to find solutions to our issues on our own!  The company also has an "open door" policy when it comes to understudying, so the other day Roberto and I stepped into a rehearsal for one of the main pas de deuxs in the ballet even though we weren't required to be there.  Partnering is a skill both of us wanted to work on, and it was really fun to learn something new, even if there's no chance we'll perform it.  There's a bit less pressure when you're just learning something for fun, so just working on the choreography is very gratifying.  I'm excited to keep learning the ballet for the rest of the week and see how it develops!  We'll be performing Second Before the Ground in October along with Serenade and Dracula; don't forget to get your tickets!

~Tess