Duprada - again in March

Thank you to everyone who came to watch Don Quixote on stage at the Araluen Arts Centre on the last week end in March. A lot of challenges but what fun!

We were pushed pretty hard to produce such a massive ballet. The traditional four act famous ballets are like pandora's box - it feels like a freight train running with no way of stopping it.

The Story needs to be told without words and it does take time to create, each character need to learn the dance steps, movements and mime which are all done in time with the music, and the funny sections can't take over the actual ballet.

Costumes are constantly being made, ironed or adjusted and each person on stage has two or three different costumes with over 100 props. Learning to throw and catch fans, the guitar and several cups is hopeful at best and very dependant on the lighting at the time.

Rehearsing with eye contact, Spanish passion and a little flirting can be challenging for our younger dancers and it takes time to immerse the characters into the story with confidence.

Then comes make-up - some of our ladies were being men - practice with male make-up facial hair, wigs, hats and boots. Learning the different ways to walk is firstly funny and then becomes frustrating but in the end, hopefully convincing.

The Dancers acheived the story telling and we had a lot of great feed-back which makes us proud.

Our audiences brought our dancers to life with their laughter and applause. Thank you everyone.

The Photographs were taken by Deborah Cleverly - Thank you Deb you took some fantastic photographs at our Technical and Dress Rehearsal.

Stay tuned for our photo gallery which will be published to our Duprada Dance Group for your enjoyment.