The Invitation

‘Energia is a place, a space, an idea, a creation where you can come to grow, learn, and connect.’

This is the invitation I offer to those performers and creators who come to play in the production of Energia.  Wouldn’t it be great if all companies invited their new and existing employees to their company in this manner? This how we began to create the team.

Team Focus

I realized that if I was going to build a team, it was important for me to motivate, inspire and engage the team to develop not only their creative potential, but also themselves. Each individual makes up the complete whole. Each person is vital to make the production work. ‘We are as strong as our weakest link.’ 

Bringing people together is not just a one-time deal. It is about consistency of recognizing the talents, skills and abilities and supporting them. Of course, it is about authentically letting people know when you are accept what they are doing or creating and if not, then respectfully letting them know otherwise. Feedback and clarity is paramount to a successful production or anything in life. This is where real learning and awareness begins to take place. 

Encourage Self-Development

If excellence in a production is to be achieved, this begs to start within.  The energy connection a performer has to themselves, then spread this outwards to others (team members) and then the audience (clients), is extremely important. Every day we would begin the day with a group class and I would read a quote. I would then give a brief explanation of it and ask others what it meant to them. Afterwards I would direct it to their own work, their physical being, mental state and spirit.

We would end the class with a circle and explanation of the day and then ask them what the word for the day would be. All of this assisted in bringing the team closer together as well as a deeper self-reflection. 

Develop Leadership

During this early process I like to share information with as many people in the production and company as possible. With doing so, I also proceeded to empower knowledge to my performance director, line captains, creators, co-choreographer and many others. This was a great benefit to the production, as we had a variety of people with a lot of knowledge that could manifest the choreography as rapidly as possible. Today, these people continue to show leadership and as well as spreading responsibility amongst other in the production.

Creating Solutions

Of course all productions don’t run completely smoothly. Bumps or disagreements come in the way and often it is the communication that is not clear. I would repeat many times, ‘we are here to create solutions no matter what the agendas may be’. We are here to make the best possible solutions within the constraints of the budget and other physical limitations – i.e. in this case a touring show that changes physical sizes and shapes of performance venues.

In creating solutions, it has always been my premise that I do not know all the answers to a production. This allows me open to other people’s suggestions that could invariably create a new idea and perhaps a much better one. This happened a few times and I was overjoyed. The final product is what is important, not my or anyone’s solitary role. At this point we are creating a whole. We are the sum of our many parts, departments, talent etc. 

Be well Prepared – Early!

I believe in process, prepare well up front and get as much done early because there are bound to be unexpected things happen. I am a person who likes to not have stress going into opening night. I want for the team to be well prepared so they can focus clearly on the performance. In Energia, that is what happened – I created a schedule for the choreography that could be achieved and finished early. In total we finished the choreography one month before opening night.  This had never happened before in Holiday on Ice’s 65-year history.  Why?

Break it down

I first love to see the big picture and then break the production down to small elements and address each in of them in a timely fashion. I put them in a consecutive order that makes sense in the process. It is important to have all the elements well thought out and prepared.

Know when you are wrong

Sometimes you get lost in the process of production, which can lead to overstepping your position. For example, we somehow got very absorbed in the choreography and rehearsed for three hours straight – without a break. This was not a good thing. I certainly realized this afterwards and I was very upset that we had done this.

After discussion with my team, I apologized the next day to the performers and set out rules that we work to seek to observe. We did the best we could and considering all situations.

Reward

Rewards are very good to give. As a gift to all the performers, I gave them an extra day off when we had completed all the choreography. This may not sound very much, yet it is important when you look at the context of creation. They had worked hard, learned, connected and now that this stage was complete, I wanted to have a rested and spirited group before we headed into the next stage. This paid off big time.

Solving Drama

Whenever a little drama or crisis happened we attempted to solve the situation as fast as possible. We did not always do this the best we could have, yet we learned that it was very important to do. We wanted to catch any gossip or situations tackled and solved before it became a virus of negative energy.

Give them Responsibility

When the show was ready to open, we were very prepared and full of energy and smiles. Excitement was abound and in my opening night speech, I gave them the show – it was theirs now to live and take responsibility for. This is an important gift as it ultimately the performers to take care of and most of all their performances. 

Holding Space

Throughout the whole experience and production, I believe it is very important to ‘hold space’ for everyone to come play and create. When you hold space you are able to get inside the world, connect and get dirty with the work as well as step outside and look at the big picture from a detached point of view. The ability to fluidity step outside as well as get inside and still stay engaged yet detached is very important for creating balance in the production.

This process can be used in all organizations and associations.