Stefanie Michaud
New member
I'm in the musical FAME at my high school and I am in the dance ensemble. We are doing a lot of hard core dancing which is really fun for me because I have been taking dance classes since I was 9 (I am now about to turn 16). We also do a lot of lifts throughout the show and for 2 very long songs there is full on partner work through the whole song. I have the same partner for both of these long numbers and he is... difficult.
He isn't a trained dancer so he has a harder time picking up choreography. This wouldn't be that big of a problem (I can't blame him for not being trained) but he doesn't come to rehearsal! The past two weeks have been the MOST IMPORTANT rehearsals because we have learned EVERY dance in the show. One day he slept in and came 2 hours late and another day he didn't come at all. Both days were very important days for partner work. We both came in early one day and I caught him up on everything he missed. Now he knows all the dances but still doesn't always completely remember. The biggest problem is that he is the kind of person that feels that he can just "slide by". This means that he learns the dance until he remembers it, he doesn't work hard and learn it so that he is doing everything CORRECTLY. This is especially important because we do a ballet number which needs a lot of work to look good.
I really want to help him because he IS my partner and so we can both look good. I am very bad at being assertive and confrontational so I haven't been able to just go up to him and say any of this.
What can I do to help him?
He isn't a trained dancer so he has a harder time picking up choreography. This wouldn't be that big of a problem (I can't blame him for not being trained) but he doesn't come to rehearsal! The past two weeks have been the MOST IMPORTANT rehearsals because we have learned EVERY dance in the show. One day he slept in and came 2 hours late and another day he didn't come at all. Both days were very important days for partner work. We both came in early one day and I caught him up on everything he missed. Now he knows all the dances but still doesn't always completely remember. The biggest problem is that he is the kind of person that feels that he can just "slide by". This means that he learns the dance until he remembers it, he doesn't work hard and learn it so that he is doing everything CORRECTLY. This is especially important because we do a ballet number which needs a lot of work to look good.
I really want to help him because he IS my partner and so we can both look good. I am very bad at being assertive and confrontational so I haven't been able to just go up to him and say any of this.
What can I do to help him?