Gender in Choreography - Fourth and Fifth Rehearsals

January 20th
I have to really laugh at myself when I'm being a complete idiot.  I scurried from class to the locker room to change for rehearsal only to ram my head rather forcefully into a metal locker door. There's something about a bleeding skull that makes me angry.  So here I was, alone in the women's locker room at 7:45 at night, holding my head, muttering obscenities and trying really hard not to cry.  I wasn't very successful.  I splashed water on my face hoping to keep it from turning that pitiful splotchy red color because I didn't want the guys to know I cried.  I kept thinking, "There's no crying in baseball!"

I walked into rehearsal as non-chalant as possible.  Michael kind of looked at me funny but didn't say anything. Somehow I thought I was in the clear. Later, Eric came over and calmly asked me how I was doing. I said, "Ah, yeah.  I'm doing good. How are you?" To which he replied in his naturally sensitive and caring voice, "Fine. I just noticed that your face was really red and I wondered if you were okay."  So I just let it spill what happened. Eric was concerned about me and at one point commented that he was feeling really protective of me and wasn't sure why.

So here's my point to all this - sometimes there's no avoiding the gender roles we end up playing.

January 23rd
Saturday's rehearsal has been my most favorite by far. I videotaped a couple of the phrases so that I can work on my timing a little more.  These guys drop their weight differently than I do and my timing is off.  The interesting thing about this rehearsal though was my filling in for Eric's role and having to yell, "Girl!" This was fun, however very confusing when the guys started sniffing the air as if they were dogs. It was easy for me to yell GIRL!, but when all the guys behind me started sniffing, I automatically felt really self-conscious.  I know I was supposed to be sniffing too, but it wasn't my first inclination.  My first inclination was to cover my butt. After the first time, I think we all laughed at the strangeness of the situation - after all, I was supposed to be Eric and he wouldn't have had the same reaction. I remember laughing and turning around to look at them and noticing that they had all backed away from me. Dante posted a video on his blog - check it out http://dnbdance.wordpress.com.