In case it has not already become clear, I LOVE process. I love project management. I love seeing a huge task, starting with the end, and reverse engineering it back to smaller pieces that head toward our destination. RABBIT HOLE only has a little bit of my choreographic work in it, but it is by far my favorite creation I’ve ever made professionally, and I’m extremely proud of every shred of effort and thought I put into it to make it a success. But the success of this project was not limited to my involvement. The student commitment to it was immense, the creativity and generosity of the choreographers was unmatched, and I believe we also had a good bit of luck.

In early November while shooting some work for a student-choreographed piece on location, we were near the park where we would film RABBIT HOLE. Some solo locations were still up in the air and, since I had some students with me, I wanted to take them to the park to look at the various possibilities and test out the dancing ground. I’d already done an initial scout with Ron, our cinematographer, so now I was just confirming some additional locations now that I’d seen all the solos and had some ideas of who might go where.

After visiting the locations together and getting some student input, we headed back to school together in the school van. As I was driving down the road right outside the park, I saw a flash of fur dart across the street. I slowed down and yelled at the kids ‘what is that… it’s a COYOTE!” No one was behind us, so we stopped and took some quick photos and videos as it stared back at us.

That’s when I knew. We were blessed. This project was blessed. I wish I could tell you that I’m joking, but I’m truly not. When special things happen, it means something. That Coyote, that trickster (remember, from part IV?), blessed our RABBIT HOLE.

And, boy did we need a blessing.

As I mentioned previously, I emailed choreographers weekly to keep them up to date on our process. Part of their work was also making production choices regarding their soloists’ locations, costuming, and camera choreography. Keeping track of this for 26 different solos was a lot, but it helped that some people were very specific with what they wanted (easy to hit a very clear target) while others were flexible (you know what you have and what the kid can do, just make it look good). By mid-November we had a shoot schedule planned (shooting 8-10 solos each day on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in early December), locations chosen, costumes pulled, and a very detailed plan.

And then Thanksgiving happened.

To Be Continued…