Today is the day. All of our hard work leading up to this two hour performance. In the dance world, the week before a big performance is called tech week, which consists of last minute choreography changes, dress rehearsals, and long, tiresome days. This past week felt exactly like this.
Everyday, our groups met for our daily rehearsal in the studio dining area. We went through our routine of going over our to-do list on the easel, sending emails to personal assistants and talking heads, and reviewing our storyboard. Like any new production, the beginning was a bit rough. At first, we were having trouble visualizing what this dance was going to look like. Was it going to be flashy and dynamic? Solemn and slow? Somewhere in between? But despite this creative roadblock, we were able to hear what we wanted it to sound like. Like dancers who start to picture moves in their head when music starts playing, we allowed the natural rhythm of our “perfect” audio to give us inspiration. Slowly, it started coming together.
We treated every dress rehearsal like a real performance. While the show is what we were ultimately preparing for, the dress rehearsals were just as, might I say more, important because we learned from the mistakes we made. We tightened our moves to ensure we had audio running to the Black Magic camera, took our corrections about our interview questions, and kept our heads high.
Alas, show day. We put on our costumes of business casual attire and put on our stage makeup to accentuate the silent facial expressions we must make during interviews. We made our way to the venue. The stage where the performance was taking place was a bit smaller than we hoped and there were a few immovable objects in the way. But like the trained performers we are, we adapted and worked around them. We set up, moving around the stage knowing exactly what moves we need to do at what time. Iana immediately set the stage with the lighting. Manu gracefully maneuvered the cameras around with Professor Smith to find the perfect shot. Drew ensured the music of our interview would be captured. Ethelia set the formations by being our example interviewee and ensured that everything backstage during the performance was completely silent. Mariana checked off as each dance is completed and we get a quote that we need. When everything was in place “Camera A rolling. Camera B rolling. Audio rolling” was the 5, 6, 7, 8 that cued us to begin.
Overall, I think the big Ndjeka interview went successfully. All of our hard work and efforts culminated to this moment. To hear him say he believes TB can be ended in this lifetime, reminded me why we put on this performance. Global health is an artform. While it involves a lot of qualitative aspects, it requires passion, finesse, and LOTS of practice. And I already cannot wait for the encore.
