Based
on recent conversations, I realize that saying on this blog that I am going to
India with a Fulbright-Nehru “Academic & Professional Excellence” grant
does not describe exactly what I intend to be doing there. The short answer is
that I will be teaching “modern” and “ballet” classes at various dance
academies in Mumbai and New Delhi. Additionally, I will be choreographing,
running seminars for teachers, and offering masterclasses. Hopefully, in my six
months there, I will have a chance to connect with other institutions as a
“guest” teacher in some capacity, as time allows.
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| Pictured
teaching: 1986 kids in San Francisco, 1993 assisting Eleanor D’Antuono with
young professionals (photo – Marbeth), 2003 conservatory graduates, Robbie
Curtis and Nicola Leahey, at NZSD (photo – Steven A’Court) |
The
genesis of this whole adventure was two years ago when a dance school in Mumbai
sent a request to the Paul Taylor Foundation looking for a Taylor-style modern
dance teacher to work with them for up to a year. A few years earlier, Taylor 2
had travelled to India and taught a few masterclasses at the school in Mumbai.
After I responded to the request, it became evident that the financial chasm
between wages paid in India and in the USA would make it untenable for me to
follow through without some creative machinations. Ultimately, I applied for a
Fulbright grant to cover my expenses writing my proposal focused on the request
for a teacher that would “enrich the modern dance curriculum for students and
teachers in Mumbai.” In India today, training in ballet and modern/contemporary
dance disciplines has seen exponentially greater interest from dancers and
teachers, and there is a growing interest to bring teachers from abroad to help
shape the evolution of what contemporary dance in India might become.
At this point in the story, the school that originally made
the request to the Taylor Foundation will actually be hiring one of my former
students as a full time teacher for six months, and I will be there to mentor
her, and guest as a master teacher. My dance-card has already been filled with
at least two other dance institutions, and I continue to research and approach
additional possibilities.
The Fulbright-Nehru grant is designed for me to pursue my
activities without charging any fees to the institutions for whom I might work.
Hopefully this encourages people and/or institutions that I might “cold call”,
to open a dialogue with me that will lead to a class or small project. – If I
were receiving a random call from someone offering to work for me at no charge,
I would be suspicious and cautious. – However, the broadly recognized Fulbright
name goes a long way to legitimize such approaches, and I have been pretty
fortunate, so far, building inroads where I had no prior connections.
For the last twenty-five years in the dance
field, I have been known for my association to Paul Taylor and his dances. But
for the fifteen years previous, I performed and taught through the ranks of
ballet companies while gradually shifting to modern dance and independent
projects. And I would say that over my thirty-year performing career, I overhauled
my personal training and dancing to match my maturing physicality and deepening
knowledge about my Art, about every five years.
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| Teaching community class for City Center
Theatre’s “Young People’s Dance Series” in 2002 (photo - City Center archives) |
This particular enterprise in India may well draw upon all of my
experience, as I attempt to put my knowledge into the service of both observing
what and how dance is being taught in the academies where I will be, and
incorporating that experience into my teaching and choreography. Maybe it’s a
little like the stages of Eskimo Rolling a kayak: DIVE IN, ORIENT (yourself),
SETUP (prepare), ROLL (with conviction)!
And then REPEAT… (‘cause practice creates
comfort when things don’t quite work out).
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| Me “Eskimo Rolling” a kayak (Photo – Paul B. Goode) |
Congratulations Richard, I am always amazed by your work.
ReplyDeleteAll my admiration!