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What is rehearsal directing?

My experience over the years working with different dance companies, communities, groups, and abilities has revealed the complexity of the job description. Quite often, there isn’t a straightforward way to define the importance of the role and the different working hats you might need to wear. The position keeps you on your toes but also allows you to develop your skill set if you want to.
However, to successfully direct rehearsals, you need to understand the environment and people you are working with and their needs. You also need knowledge of the dance genre you are working with; you need to communicate the technicalities in various ways to bring people together.

Working in diverse arts environments requires a knack for negotiating, discretion, empathy, resilience and organisation skills.
Without a choreographer or an artistic director, a rehearsal director is knowledgeable enough to make calculated decisions to maintain the quality of creative work.

Rearsal directing is not just telling and showing how dancers should be doing something at a specific time. Rehearsal directing is a deep understanding of the profession and the problems that come with it. It is also a lived experience of how you can bring the best out of everyone and every situation by carefully balancing negotiation, encouragement and direction.

In a nutshell, rehearsal directing facilitates different aspects of the production through understanding the artistic vision and keeping the organisation’s values.