choreography week 5

Today was another class of work with the high school kids I'm working with. We have a tentative performance date for May 16, and it's taken us a month to get a minute into the dance. Eek! So I knew it was time to crack down today and get lots of work done.

Luckily the kids were up for it. Because there are so many of them and we work in a very small studio, I had to break up the choreography into small groups so that they don't kill each other. I let the other groups sit down as I taught the phrase I was working with to a few of them at a time, so it kind of got noisy at times. I'm glad they listen to me though when I ask them to listen or pay attention. Since I'm only a year or so older than a lot of them I thought it might be difficult to be in the authority position, but fortunately it's all working out.

By the end of the rehearsal we did indeed get a lot done...almost a whole additional minute of choreography! It's fun to see them getting the steps and trying...when things work out it's like, yay! The piece is coming along...we have time.

Aside from that, the majority of the rest of my day was spent in class. Pointe class in the morning was quite good, because my teacher is trying to get me to work differently so that my foot will heal. Sometimes when I'm discouraged I feel like she can read my mind...she knows just what I need to hear, and I'm so thankful for that.

Originally my plan was to take a week off from class beginning tomorrow to rest my foot, since I'm going away for the weekend and all. BUT now that I found out I have rehearsals next week that plan is off. However while I AM away Friday-Monday, I won't be taking class so at least that's a few days...

I'm really looking forward to getting away...

more teaching

Oh what a snowy day here in the city.

I've added some more teaching to my busy schedule. I'm starting to work privately with some beginner adult students from class. I like working more one on one because there are sooo many details to every step that it's nice to break things down and really dig in deep to the technique. It's too bad we can't do that all the time in regular class.

It's kind of fun being on the teaching end of things, too. I feel like I've learned so much from everyone I've worked with in the past and as I dance myself, I have all these little voices in my head (haha) reminding me of what's correct and what looks best. Now I can share those voices and add my own to help someone else. I'm also genuinely inspired by some of these new-to-dance adults I come in contact with often lately because they really love it and want to learn it for the art. I try to remind myself of this when I get discouraged.

I'm teaching/choreographing on those high school kids again tomorrow...better go prepare myself.

Happy snow day :)

DAW Interviews part 1

For the next issue of our school paper, The Monitor, I'm doing a series of interviews with student choreographers in the Dance Department who are involved in Dancers At Work (DAW), a showcase in November for student work. There are 9 of them, and by press time I will have spoken to all of them in depth but will have eliminated many important details due to print space.

Going along with my general thesis musings about dance writing moving to the internet I thought it would be fitting for me to post my full interviews with them on here. I am amazed at what they have to say and the depth of their work and I want to share everything that won't make it to the Monitor article.

So here is the first interview transcribed. It is with Meghan (M) and Bianca (B). Last names have been eliminated for privacy purposes. It starts with a few notes describing DAW and then goes into my questions.

My personal and editorial commentary have been left out for the moment until the article comes together at deadline next week.

DAW INTERVIEWS FOR MONITOR - part 1 - 10/17/07

Meghan(2nd time DAW)
Bianca(1st time DAW)

M- Reach Me, 9 dancers, composed by Chris Lancaster (electric cello)
B- (untitled to date), 5 dancers, music: Finnish Symphony, about sexual abuse and interconnected

-started rehearsals 2nd week of school, for all BFA dancers
-auditions
-they give audition phrase (approved by faculty the week before) and get 20 mins to see dancers
-they make list of their choice dancers, faculty makes choices, final cast determined by combination of both and schedules
-mentors come once a week

TAYLOR: What’s the rehearsal process like?

M- It’s been easy this year. You know, if you get a great group of dancers and there’s no drama, nobody misses rehearsals, everyone works together then it goes smoothly.

TAYLOR: What is your choreographic process like?

M- We are totally different [Bianca and me]. I’m neurotic. I have to come in with something prepared. I come in on weekends to rehearse.

B- And I’m the exact opposite. I come in with nothing prepared, no set ideas, and I like to experiment with the dancers.

M- It works well for both of us.

B- I mean, I had my dancers improve the whole first rehearsal just to see how they move. I like to experiment on the spot.

M- And I experiment within the limits of what I’ve already come up with.

TAYLOR: How much influence do the dancers have on your choreography?

M- I don’t think either of us actually let anyone actually come up with steps, but I do ask them, you know, what is comfortable, what happens naturally. I’m working with partnering for the first time, so if we’re having a problem the dancers either solve it and I use what they’ve done or that makes me think of something else that would work.

B- Yeah, they help with the quality of movement.

TAYLOR: Who are your faculty mentors and what is it like to work with them?

M- Mine is Pat C. She was my mentor last year (for DAW) and I’ve had her as a teacher, so I have a very strong relationship with her. She give critiques for what she thinks doesn’t fit or looks awkward, or the opposite, what does work. But she also likes to just throw ideas around, even if she knows they’re something I won’t use. They’re usually crazy ideas.

B- Mine is Nancy L. She was my modern teacher freshman year. She’s very helpful. She asks me questions about my intentions for every movement and from there I investigate the movement.

TAYLOR: What’s your inspiration? Is there any outside choreographer you admire?

M- I always like to go see concerts. Watching other dancers outside of class, outside of rehearsal, outside of being in or watching someone else’s rehearsal – just being in the audience to sit back and observe is great.

B- For me I think it’s socially what’s happening in the world.

M- And taking time to think too. I think a lot, and at the weirdest times! Like when I’m brushing my teeth…or when I go home on the bus. It consumes your thoughts. And before I go to bed.

B- I have dreams about it.

TAYLOR: What has been your biggest challenge thus far with these pieces?

M- I think this year pacing myself has been hardest. My piece is twice as long as the one I did last year. Last year it was 6 minutes, this year it’s 12. So setting the pace definitely now that we’re getting to crunch time.

B- Beginning and ending. I can do all the in between, but I like to tell stories with my dances.

TAYLOR: Have you choreographed before DAW?

B- Yes, at New World School of Performing Arts. I was a big part of that.

M- At one of my old schools I used to dance at my teacher was really good about letting us help out with that. It started with just working with my friends and moved to doing some opening acts for shows and then some solo works in high school. I’m also big into theater so I’ve worked with some musical theater choreography.

B- I also choreographed this summer at a festival in Italy. Every summer they have a big festival with all the companies, and I was with ProDanca. We had a performance in Florence and…

M- I want to go to Italy!

TAYLOR: What’s been the best part about DAW?

M- The whole thing! It truly is a great experience and process to be part of. I mean most schools don’t give student choreographers as much leeway as they do here. It’s absolutely 100% student run, from the auditions, choosing the dancers, the costumes the lighting, everything! Even things like designing the postcard.

B- I’m like a kid in a candy store. It’s extremely exciting. It’s rejuvenating. It’s spiritual. It’s a way to have your voice heard.

M- And it’s so different from class. It’s like raising a baby: it starts out as an idea in your head over the summer, which grows to a phrase, which grows to a dance, which grows to a performance, and then you send your work out into the world and hope it doesn’t screw up too badly.

TAYLOR: Do you want to choreograph after you graduate?

M- I can see myself doing it. I don’t know about it as a career because I want to perform, but I can definitely see myself doing it.

B- Yes. I want to start my own company and tour the world. I want to take my choreography to Africa, South America…

TAYLOR: Do you have any advice for future choreographers?

M- Give it a try. I meet a lot of people with ideas about pieces they want to do but they’re not sure. Just go for it.

B- Yeah, don’t be scared. Everyone has something to say, that’s why we’re artists, and it’s just a great way to have your voice heard.

copyright (2007) Taylor Gordon

(Computer's Back) Moving Story Class - And an Update

(my emotional map for Moving Story class w/ Chris d'Amboise)

I’ve been without a computer for the past 2 weeks because my laptop crashed, so I apologize for not posting lately. You don’t realize HOW much you depend on technology until you are forced to be without it (I’ve been lost without it…I spend hours on end online!). Anyways I wanted to write about an article I saw in the newest issue of Dance Teacher Magazine (no I’m not a teacher but I read it anyway) and then give you a quick update because I have a lot of new stuff going on.

Moving Story Class

In the September issue of Dance Teacher there’s an interview with choreographer Christopher d’Amboise, a former NYCB Principal dancer and son of ballet legend Jacques d’Amboise (and sister of Broadway star Charlotte D’Amboise). In the interview he discusses his unique concept of choreography and “making steps your own” through is workshop class, “The Moving Story.”

He actually brought this workshop to us back in June at Ballet Academy East and so I thought I’d share my personal experience learning with him. We had worked with him back in the winter, when he choreographed an original piece, “On the Edge” for our Studio Showing. For most of us it was our first time working with truly contemporary choreographing and it was definitely a challenge to move in different ways while still maintain our ballet technique. One of the major things Chris emphasized while working with us then was that we had a freedom within the choreography to individualize it. At the time, it was confusing and a bit intimidating to have that task: To this point, I had always been taught to conform to a choreographer’s wishes and do things exactly as I was told. Here he wanted us to take his movements and manipulate them, however slightly, to make them comfortable in our bodies and personalities.

It wasn’t until he came back to teach the Moving Story class that I was fully able to grasp this concept. He began the first session without speaking a word. He demonstrated a series of steps and we automatically imitated them. After a while he began to repeat the steps one at a time while saying what appeared to be random words. Soon the connection was clear. Each step was supposed to look like the object or action he was saying. For example, “fly swatter” was a loud clap as if you were literally swinging at a bug. “Jump over the fence” was a Jerry Robbins inspired jump (think the opening number in West Side Story) where you pretended to be going over something.

Over the following sessions we developed a “movement language” as a group. Every step we did had a name that we established together. Similar to the ballet vocabulary, every step led to something else and the connections and in between steps were important as well. The hardest part of all this was that not only did we have to work our way through the foreign choreography but, as we danced it, we had to speak the names of the steps out loud! It was truly a challenge, especially for me because I am quiet. I remember he actually made me dance and speak alone the very first lesson. He pointed to me and made me go first, and all I remember was that my mind went blank. I did the steps and said the words without even thinking about it, and all of a sudden it came so naturally. It was a very odd feeling - dancing and speaking without thinking. I don’t know if that was the intention, or even if I did the sequence correctly, but from that moment I knew this technique was something I wanted to explore and incorporate in my dancing.

As the workshop progressed we learned how to convey different emotions through movement and eventually how to create short stories through dance. It was very specifically not an acting workshop - the point was to create feelings through our bodies. For example, if you do something sharp and strong it might mean you’re angry, whereas a slower, legato movement might convey exhaustion. He had us create “emotional maps” and use them in his choreography to make the combination “our own.” The result was 15 very different interpretations of the same movement and a clear example of the point of the workshop.

He also spoke a lot about back phrasing and front phrasing, namely playing with the music to decide which particular steps are “important” or emphasized. Already I did a bit of this naturally, but after hearing his explanation of this I found myself considering new ways to hear things, even just in ballet class. I can honestly say that since taking the Moving Story workshop I have implemented some of the concepts I learned about movement analysis and it has added a whole other dimension to interpreting choreography and even basic steps in class.


On another Note…
An Update

September is always exciting and full of new beginnings, but this years seems to be exceptionally busy. Here’s a few things that I’ve been up to and that are coming up soon:

-Last Semester of College!
This week I started my final semester at Marymount Manhattan. I really can’t believe I graduate in just a few short months. It went by too fast (only 2 years!) and in some ways I don’t feel like I’ve even had the college experience. I’m taking an overload schedule to finish all my required courses. I’m also working as the Features Editor of our school paper, The Monitor, so we’re getting set up for a new issue.

-Starting Grad School!
My school has this special program where you can take graduate courses in your last semester that will count for credit as both undergrad and grad school, so I’m also taking courses in Magazine Publishing at Pace University. We had orientation the other day and I’m really excited about the program. It lets me really focus in on what I want to do after dancing.

-Benefit Performance
Details for this are still in the works, so I’ll post more later…but on October 24 I’ll be dancing in a benefit performance for the Tyler Dunne Foundation. More on that soon…

-Nutcracker, already?
Next weekend I start rehearsals for Nutcracker with the Albano Ballet Company in Connecticut. Performances are in December at Mohegan Sun, one of the biggest arenas in the northeast!

-Ajkun Ballet Theater
I also officially start as a Trainee with the international company Ajkun Ballet Theater in a few weeks. Not sure what that will bring, but it’s an exciting new beginning!