There is a delicate dance that begins the moment someone contacts you to say they are interested in having you build a wall for them. You and the potential client enter into a pas de deux where the choreography can quickly become very complex. There are techniques and rules that govern the success of these kind of creative encounters and yet every dance ends up being different. The best performances involve couples understanding what it is like to be in the other's ballet slipper, and/or what it's like to be on the other side of the wall.
The stone stepping professional must not try to take the lead too soon, or expect the customer to be merely swept off their feet, presumably unconcerned about any financial extravagance completely knocking them off balance near the end of the production.
The client, on the other hand, should not try to hold on so tight to the budget as to completely cramp the waller's creative momentum. Neither dancer should discuss cost before they have come together and leapt gracefully through the design and bounded around the stage where their flowing 'rock ballet' is to take place.
There should be this wonderful in-and-out motion, a syncopation of ideas and restraints, where the final project reflects the beauty of the client's initial vision, the skill of the waller, and the rhythm of all the carefully placed (and paced) stones in the wall.
