With six weeks till the show, this piece is finally done, and now we need to smooth it out...ALOT. It's been the toughest one to create and get in shape for.....

Michael White was the original singer for Motley Crue. His is the lead singer for Michael White and the White, a popular Led Zeppelin Cover band. He has composed music for movies, and is an active Artist in Schools. He has volunteered his time for 25 days to sing....

The Dying Swan is a solo created by Michel Fokine for Anna Pavlova, one of the last centuries greatest dramatic ballerinas. Pavlova never achieved great fame with any particular company, and was physically not built for the art of Ballet, but made her fame by travelling worldwide in her own productions. The solo is not to be confused with Swan Lake, the Ballet, they are distinct and separate artistic projects. She is said never to have danced the solo the same way twice. She wore a massive ruby broach in the centre of her costume to signify the gun shot which killed her swan, and sometimes would re create the moment of the gun shot about six barres into the music. We chose smoking over gun violence in our solo.....

Anna Pavlova died at the early age of 50, her last words were said to have been-"prepare my swan costume". She was buried in it.

Lisa Brkich, of "Two Sisters Dance Project", the Sugar Plum Fairy, a Sylph and Kitri from Don Quixote.

Maria Fernandez danced for Ballet Pilipino. She's the mother of two boys, and is playing the "dying swan", and one of the sylphs.

We've begun rehearsing the "Corpse de Ballet" section of our show...where ballerinas are at odds with eachother, smoke, drink, fight etc....

our feet are killin' us!

New Rehearsal Footage

Today we rehearsed the Prelude from les Sylphides, with Kilby Dickinson. Miss Dickinson learned and danced the prelude while working with the Royal Ballet de Wallonie in Belgium.  She was also a choreographer and the Regisseur of that company. Dancers from Crow's Feet are learning the original choreography of 4 of ballet's great solos, after we have them down, we'll be sending them up!

Here we are with music.

more pics of some of the characters from 25 days....

 In December 2007 I was in the eighth month of my second pregnancy.  I was a bit old, you know, to have been pregnant and the experience was definitely turning out to be an investment.  I had NVP, I’d gained 52 pounds, I was ALWAYS on the verge of tears, if not outright bawling and I’d developed a wicked cough.  On December 14, I coughed so hard that I found myself in an ambulance going to the hospital; Police Officer Mark close behind driving the Honda like it had Lights and Sirens.  I had broken a couple of ribs. See, Pilates really does give you powerful lungs!!!! All of the details aside, the short version of the story is that I stayed in the hospital for a few days, enjoying the morphine, (which doesn’t touch the pain, by the way, but it’s a fun ride!!!!) I was having contractions, but they apparently weren’t ‘real”    Baby was fine on the inside, Mom wanted to be home, and Dad was holding everything and everyone together with the most strength I’ve ever seen in anyone.   I wanted to go home so off we toddled ( well, I waddled).   And at 10 that night, while Mark was putting the final coat of paint of our freshly finished basement, I really did go into labour.  Because I had broken ribs and for a lot of other reasons, I was scheduled for a c-section in a couple of weeks.   Labour was not in the plan. 

 

Cut to the Operating room a couple of hours later, thank goodness this would soon be over.

 

D.J was born in the early hours of December 19.  Another boy for us, and Mark’s first (o.k maybe second) words were “We just saved thousands of dollars in clothes!” 

 

The baby gasped once, and then I didn’t hear anything.

 

 In fact, no one was saying anything: except Mark, who kept saying he’s fine, he’s nice and pink.  The baby didn’t cry, He was surrounded by white coats, and they were working fast.  Their faces were stiff, focused. 

 

A nurse FINALLY brought him over for one second. “Hi Mom, Hi Dad” and he was gone.   D.J was a Code Pink, which means his life was in danger.  The team at St. Joes quickly intubated him and stabilized him.  Mark was with the baby the whole time, watching them work on his newborn baby.  Once the baby was stable he came to me and asked me to set up my camera so he could take pictures.  Pictures for me to see the baby, and know he was alive.  When I was able to be moved from recovery I was taken to see D.J for the first time. The Hospital for Sick Children was already there, packing up their Respiratory Kit and getting ready to take our baby.   But not, they explained to Mark, before I had had a chance to see him.   What happened….we weren’t sure, but he certainly couldn’t breath.

 

Mark went with the baby to Sick Kids, I had just had a surgery and had to stay at St.Joes. Thank goodness for my niece Ashley, she spent the day with me while I dozed in and out of sleep, and kept me nicely distracted.  Thank goodness also for the nurses at St. Joes, who were so sensitive and loving.  There were lots of hugs, and lots of words of encouragement.  When Mark checked in at Sick Kids I.C.U he found everything in order for him, and the staff were absolutely seamlessly on the ball. 

 

D.J had aspirated meconium, and probably a few days before he was born.  This means that the toxic poop had destroyed his alveoli, and while he was inside me, I was breathing for him, so there was no indication of any distress on the fetal heart monitor. But the distress he was in caused labour, (Thank God, if not……) He had Preterm Pulmonary Hypertension of the newborn.   The situation was pretty grave.   He stayed intubated, and was immediately sedated so his system had as little stress as possible, giving him a chance to survive.  Oxygen and drug therapy were implemented to try to heal his lungs. 

 

Mark stayed with him all day, and rushed back to me when he could that night, explaining everything.  What about William?  Well, William made a late night visit to his beloved babysitter “Wee-Wa” when I went into labour, and he was still there.  Wee-wa kept him, loved him, fed him and mothered him.  We didn’t tell William about D.J, because we didn’t know what was going to happen. 

 

 We were allowed to call Sick Kids any time of the day or night for an update, and I remember one nurse saying to me that even if I just wanted to talk, I could call.  I did call often that first night.  And there was no change. 

 

Next day I insisted on seeing our baby, so I got a release from St. Joes and Mark and I went.  I was literally doubled over in pain from the C-section/ribs etc….and a very kind civilian at  Sick Kids rushed to offer us a wheelchair.  Through all of this Mark was as solid as a rock. Completely and absolutely positive about the outcome of this, loving and cheerful.  I thought our baby would die, and maybe Mark did for a bit too, but he never never let on.  Seeing his face for the first time, tubes, tape and all was great! He was still sedated, and we were discouraged from touching him too much or talking loudly.  He needed quiet.

 

Three very touchy days passed, the alveoli were slowly coming back ( inflating, as it were).  Nurses were more positive, and one nurse even suggested that D.J would be a free man by the New Year. We told William he had a baby brother, and he said “but I wanted a sister”!   On Christmas Day Santa came and we have a picture of him with the baby…..pretty cute.  We received so many gifts from Santa, and the ladies auxiliary, beautiful hand knit blankets, a hand made preemie vest with holly and berries, and there were gifts for big brother too. 

 

D.J was transferred back to St. Joes NICU about 7 days after he was born, and finally I got to feed him.  The little monkey latched right away, and he was always hungry!  I spent all day every day with him, and Mark would take shifts at night, stopping in while he was on duty, and staying for hours after his shifts.  We learned how to change diapers around cords and oxygen tubes.  We learned how to feed from an NG tube when the baby tired from sucking, and we learned how to record his temperature, remove him from an isolette, and read Oxygen Saturation levels.  We found ourselves offering encouraging words to new moms and dads who had babies in NICU. One of the strongest images I have in my head is that of a row of mom’s in the Nicu, sitting with babes in arms, holding the NG Tube high so their breast milk could trickle into their baby’s tummies. Absolutely silent, except for the sounds of machines beeping and the occasional cry.    We had tonnes of support from nurses, patient doctors, and a social worker.  Family of course were always checking in, but not allowed to see the baby for a long time. 

 

There were a couple of setbacks, the baby would tire easily and his blood oxygen levels would desaturate, meaning he needed more O2, meaning more days in hospital.  We’d get our hearts set on a day, and it would get pushed back.  He failed his car seat test, and that bought him five more days in the hospital.  All this time poor William was missing Mommy,  and Daddy was doing double duty.

 

After 25 days in the hospital, finally we brought our little fighter home.  

And now two years later I'm producing this show for the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit at St. Joe's and I'm really hoping that we can raise a significant amount of money  My aim is $8000.00, this is not even a third of what it cost to have my son in the hospital for 25 days......

 

 

  

Getting there

Here we are three weeks later, the theatre is booked, some of our publicity shots are done, and some of the costumes are bought.  I tore my hamstrings about a month ago and they feel exactly the same as they did the day I tore 'em, ouch, but I'll heal later I guess.  We are joined by Norma Araiza choreographer and John McCorkell juggler ....who offered to wear a tutu while unicycling...hmmm we'll see.  I learned the dying swan solo by Fokine last week, it's  really sooooooo dramatic.  Much better with a clown nose, I can assure you.

Here are a few more shots...did I mention everyone in the show is over 40????