The rest of my column

I have the utmost sympathies for editors who have to cut copy. It's not an easy job and the space is usually pretty unforgiving. Nor does it help when you have writers who write too long.

This past week's column was especially difficult for me. I started out with 1380 words before I added the Encore items. I'm supposed to be closer to 750 to 800 words. So I cut and slashed. The piece on Jenna Erbele suffered the most--there were a couple of other stories and backstage discussions that had to go.

Once it reached my editor, more had to be cut. Once upon a time, anything that went to the cutting room floor would disappear forever. With blogs, though, there's a chance of it having a little bit more of a life. Granted, this blog doesn't reach nearly as many people as the column.

However, for those of you who have read about the DanceFest today, go ahead and tag this on to the ending.

On the Thursday before the show opened, her dancers took to the Fairchild floor for the first time, adjusting the dance’s spacing to fill out the stage. She encouraged them to reach for the emotional moments and to concentrate on the intent of the piece.

They then filled the front row to watch a video of their performance, their geometric moves being reduced to two dimensions.

One dancer commented afterward how much she enjoyed watching it. “You get kind of mesmerized by it. You get lost in its lushness—there is so much going on, but it all makes sense and all works together.”

Barr says the entire concert offers such experiences to the audience. “The concert really highlights how dance is a form of expression. It doesn’t tell a story, but it has expression and intent.”