Glass stairs between the 3rd and 4th floors at the Four Seasons Centre.

On Saturday, Mar. 2, I did my poster desk shift for the Nijinsky 2PM performance. When I came through the stage door, there was a guy with a wicked beard that would have made ZZ Top proud. He turned out to be a violin soloist or something because he took a bow on stage after the performance. I saw Elena Lobsonova looking at some scheduling sheets. I chickened out and didn’t bother to ask her for an autograph. I had just gone through the stage door, my programmes were in my bag… I’m a wuss.

As I proceeded down the hall, I passed Skylar Campbell. I recognized him as a dancer, but didn’t realize that he was playing the lead Nijinsky role, his first solo performance. The choreographer, John Neumeier, picked him out during class and has elevated Skylar for this moment out of the Corps. I didn’t get Skylar’s autograph either cause he seemed as if he was looking for someone.

This was the very first public performance of Nijinsky in Canada. It was also the first time the pre-show Ballet Talks were being held in the theatre as opposed to the third floor. It made me sad because one of the reasons I love volunteering at Poster Desk is that I get to listen to the Ballet Talk. It was eerily quiet throughout the atrium and especially the third floor because everyone was inside. Normally, there is a audible buzz as people mingle on the different floors. The Ballet Talks used to draw a huge crowd to the third floor filling the area with a stimulating energy.

They didn’t even broadcast the talk on the tv screens 🙁

Some subscribers weren’t aware of the time change for the talk. It used to be 45 min before show time but has now been moved a little bit ahead to 60 min prior. A woman showed up to the third floor and complained to an usher that her ticket said 1:15pm.  Guess she didn’t get the email or visit the website. Subscribers apparently get their entire season’s worth of tickets as a group very early on.

Something else to add to the whole deal was that the glass staircase from the third to fourth floors was closed. One of the platforms had shattered! Apparently, a woman dropped a quartz pendant necklace and it caused a massive spiderweb of cracks. Perhaps the quartz had a perfect aligned resonance to the tempered glass? The platform held together like a car windshield but the damage was quite evident. This affected the exit of the crowd after the performance as people from the fifth, fourth, and part of the third floors took the emergency stairwell to ground level, bypassing the Poster Desk. This hurt sales.

You can see the top of the platform is not flat because of the damage. They have laid some sort of mat on top.

It’s dark because of the mat, but you can see that it looks like a million mosaic pieces. Those are the shattered glass pieces.

I didn’t notice much of a difference in the performance between Guillame and Skylar. Other than the fact that he is only 20 or something, which is impressive for such a physical, choreographically challenging, and prominent role, nothing really stood out to me. I didn’t really care for this ballet. The music was nice, but like the Seagull, I was bored during Act II. I fell asleep for a good 10 min (willingly, I didn’t fight the drowsiness). I completely missed the military/soldier scene.

On my way out the stage door, there was a crowd of people by security. I saw John Neumeier coming behind me. Having realized the night before I could have gotten his autograph for The Seagull, I got out my 2011-2012 Programme. I don’t know if he recognized me, but I said, “Mr. Neumeier could you please sign my programme? For The Seagull?” He said, “Sure” in his very soft voice. He had an assistant or someone with him who kindly held my other Programme for me as I fumbled for a pen. Another lady who was inside the stage door asked for his autograph as well, and Neumeier asked to use my pen for that.

After all of this, a man and woman in their 40s approached him saying, “Mr. Neumeier, we are Skylar’s parents. We wanted to thank you for giving Skylar this amazing opportunity.” I made my exit at that time, but I imagine they had a nice conversation.