When the works of renowned choreographers are staged, someone will be there to ensure they are staged to the choreographer’s specifications.
That someone is a repetiteur, and Philip Neal is one. For our purposes, he’s two.
Philip, chair of Patel Conservatory’s Dance Department and artistic director of Next Generation Ballet, is a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust. Balanchine’s Who Cares? closes NGB’s spring presentation, Ballroom, Broadway and Ballet.
Philip also is a repetiteur for the Robbins Rights Trust, which licenses performances of works by choreographer Jerome Robbins. Robbins’ Circus Polka opens NGB’s spring presentation.
Repetiteur, Philip said, “is a fancy French word for stager.”
As a repetiteur, Philip works with companies that have a work by Balanchine or Robbins on their season schedule. He teaches the steps, coordinates the casting, works with the lighting and costume people to, he said, “stage the ballet to the best of my recollection.”
Philip was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and danced “many, many Balanchine ballets. His works are the foundation of New York City Ballet.”
Philip begins his process by searching his library of videos for performances of the work he’s staging, making copious notes in preparation for the start of rehearsals.
He then meets with the company’s directors to discuss the production as well as casting.
“Then I watch the classes and I watch the dancers,” Philip said.
Philip prefers to “hit the ground running and stage really fast. I work very quickly and I teach things very quickly.”
Much of the work is done well in advance of the performance, something Philip appreciates because “it allows for self-discovery for the dancers.” Rehearsals for Who Cares? began in January. Rehearsals for Circus Polka began in October.
Staging the two works for the upcoming presentation came with its own challenges.
“Part of the program is wanting to get as many dancers on stage as possible,” Philip said. “I’ve done three casts of Who Cares?, so it’s not like I’m just working with one group and rehearsing them every day. I’ve got to swap them out and then swap them out again.”
Dealing with a host of elements while staying focused on the big picture is the challenge for a repetiteur.
“I remember walking into my first staging,” Philip said. “I was just kind of overwhelmed, just the whole room looking at me, ‘OK, what do we do now?’
“You have to coordinate a lot of different things,” Philip said. “You can’t be myopic and just focus on a detail. Everything has to come together.”
Ballroom, Broadway and Ballet will be presented May 10-11 in Ferguson Hall.