Choreographic Preparation, Goals, And Managing Expectations

In 2011, I was documenting the development of my MFA thesis project, and the above images are captured from a rehearsal video and my sketch details for a set piece I created.

Currently, my compulsion to write a post seems to be driven by conversations with friends and peers. And a friend recently said to me “you must write that down right away,” in response to a comment I made about some video research I was doing. I was actually musing out loud about the ways I am trying to clarify my current perspective on the intent and the spatial kineticism (I’m probably making up that word) of the “concert dance” world from which I hail. I have some ideas about how the socio-cultural aesthetic may be reflected in the contemporary dance environment I will encounter in India. But rather than projecting an expectation, I am currently more focused on how I define my own aesthetic viewpoint on modern dance in the USA.

“Concert dance,” as I am defining it here, is primarily constructed to be framed on a proscenium stage, and when US contemporary artistes wish to break down the proscenium barrier, they often surround or infiltrate the audience. This is just my observation, and having spent the majority of my performance career on proscenium stages, I admittedly forwent the traditional stage space when I created my Master’s thesis performance by creating space to perform within a site specific installation.

This is one of the finished panels that made it into my thesis installation in the Ark at the American Dance Festival 2011, where I performed my thesis project.

I am attempting to sift through a cacophony of thoughts as I prepare for teaching and choreographing in a new cultural environment. There is so much that I will not know until I am in India, and subsequently, in the studios there working with the dancers and artistic professionals.

However, there comes a point when I find action to be a remedy when thinking becomes too chaotic. A few weeks ago, I decided to re-introduce myself to a choreographic practice by working in a studio with a few dancers a couple of times a week. As far as the process goes, it can be intimidating, frustrating, gratifying, and surprising. But the interactive nature of working with these dancers, whom have known me mostly as a teacher versus a choreographer, has been heartwarming to say the least.

A collage of screen captures from video of rehearsals with Dante, Jake, Sloan, Petra, Quinton and Martina.

Budgeting time (and the cost of space and dancers) is always a factor in developing realistic goals for any rehearsal, and even more so when looking to produce a complete piece of work. So I am categorizing this phase of work as research and an exercise in self-discipline.

I was very thankful to find that in a two-hour rehearsal the dancers and I were able to generate movement sequences lasting from between a minute and a half to two minutes. This coincided with my experience to date of rehearsals in which I learned, or I was teaching, new movement material. Of course, I am only talking about getting material to a “rough” point of being repeatable or knowing what details may need a lot more work.

In the past I have mostly selected music before setting foot in a dance studio. This time I chose to work on movement material with the dancers first, then, using a Cunningham-esque device of “chance,” I did try having the dancers run the choreography we generated while I selected a piece of music that I thought might fit or inform the movement and relationships between the dancers. Fortunately, there is another Fulbright-Nehru grantee that has expressed interest in creating a commissioned score for at least one of the works I have planned. So I don't plan to rely on "chance" to develop a musical relationship for my choreography.

These video excerpts are just meant to provide a taste of what I’ve been discussing, and I opted to not include any music that I used during rehearsals to avoid any copyright issues. All told, with the openness and generous spirit of the dancers pictured, we created almost eight minutes of “raw” choreographic material. So the below video shows only a fraction of the rewards for our efforts. I’ll spare you watching longer segments until I have a better formed dance work to show.

Over the course of six two-hour rehearsals I found myself decidedly interested in observing how different dancers, a) responded to movement I gave them, b) responded with movement I asked them to generate under specific directives, and c) responded to my editing of actions and sequence phrases. I will need to focus on my intent for the dance work once I know more about the dancers I meet in India, the available time and the environment in which I will be creating.

More to come...