As I watched the dance rehearsal, something stuck out to me more than the rhythmic movements I was witnessing. I realized that I rarely ever was in this position of the reporter. I was Invisible to the people I was reporting, but I knew that they could see me- how could they not notice me observing and writing notes about them three feet from them?

Being a "reporter" was an interesting experience. These people were just some of my classmates, but now they were the subject and it was my job to record anything noteworthy about their performance. The dancers and the teacher acted like the 11 extra people in the room were just not there, except for when they needed to get a reaction out of the audience. This realization struck me when the instructor told the class that there are usually "like 17 things going on at the same time in an actual rehearsal". I guess it's true.

Being invisible to the world is usually seen as a bad thing, not being noticed, but this time was how it was supposed to be. I have experienced something like this before. All of that time in band class, respecting the process; sight-reading, slow down, redo things one part at a time, speed it up, rinse and repeat.

Although the dancers had no music to dance to, their movements proved that they could hear the music in their heads. The teacher was just counting them off and guiding their minds to the right time, and they did the rest of the work in being where they needed to be. So much goes into these performances that someone who was not there during the entire process just would not understand. Not even to mention all the time spent building up the foundations, refining and adding to them, and redoing them over and over again to not lose everything they worked so hard to build.

I have seen a few dance rehearsals, but I usually just observed passively and did not think too much into it. I try to imagine how much time went into congregating and choreographing so many people to make these intricate formations. It is hard to wrap my head around the thought of all of the fifty-plus people doing so many hours of practice. It makes a bit more sense now that I have seen a portion of the in-class practice. I caught a glimpse of the preparation, even if it was only a small part, and I felt closer to the whole picture.