9 questions for Peter Sciscioli

9 Questions for 9 Choreographers 

How would you describe the piece you are currently working on? 

It’s a work for four people, including myself.  The basis for our exploration centers around the question of “what elements need to be present in order for a transformation to occur?”.  We’re using a combination of movement tasks, voice and intentionality to craft sections that have somewhat formal parameters, but that allow for freedom to create within the moment. 

What inspired you to create this piece? 

I’ve been wanting to work toward an evening length work for some time.  My experiences working with such artists as Jane Comfort, Meredith Monk and Daria Fain have inspired me in numerous ways, and I see this process as an opportunity to filter all of those influences to find what it is I’m personally interested in exploring. 

Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work?  Is it more

similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work?  How? 

This piece is sort of a departure and a culmination of my work, all at once.  I’m attempting to work in a new and open way, while drawing on my observations and ways of working at different points in time over the course of my choreography.  It’s less “dancey-dance” than some of my earlier works, and incorporates more vocals than I’ve used previously.  It’s more similar to some of my solo explorations which are usually highly structured improvisations, inclusive of the inhabitation of certain states. 

What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen

over time?  Why do you think those shifts occurred? 

As mentioned, there’s been several- at the outset, back in the mid to late ‘90s, I was fairly new to dance and choreography, but very versed in music and theater, so my work had a more theatrical edge to it, more interdisciplinary an approach.  Then, in my desire to learn more about choreography, I turned to making dance works that were comprised of dance phrases and lots of partnering, usually with a narrative overlay.  After awhile, I felt like I was making things in a similar way each time, which I found limiting and frustrating.  I came back to a more theatrical approach and straddled the line between those worlds for several years.  Now I’m trying to integrate into a whole…This all has to do with my exposure to different ways of working, and trying to go deep into what it is I really want to express, and finding the best means to express it. 

Why do you choose to express yourself with dance? 

Dance to me has the capability of being universal, but also has the danger of being esoteric.  I’m fascinated by that tension, and am now trying to break out of it more, toward maintaining an accessibility but with a rigor and discipline toward experimentation.  I enjoy the non-linear, non-literal capability that dance possesses, yet see it as very intertwined with what we deem as music or theater.  It’s no longer easy for me to differentiate clearly between those forms.  I think I prefer to create within what I call a choreographic framework because it allows me the most freedom. 

What about today's environment feeds your work?  What is your favorite thing about dancing now?  What do you find the most challenging?   

I still like the “anything is possible” aspect of making work, even though so much has been explored and done before.  I suppose it’s still a matter of how you put it together, how all this information is filtered though YOU.  I’m influenced by not only what is going on in the dance environment, but in the social/political/historical sphere as well.  

I have immensely enjoyed the exposure to many different methodologies, techniques, philosophies in New York. 

The most challenging aspect for me (aside from the financial one) is to quiet the mind enough to discover what is at the core of my curiosities, and then allow them to manifest into a work. 

What is your happiest dance memory? 

Hard to pin it down to one.  Maybe dancing in the living room as a child, with no one watching. 

What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography? 

Think and observe. 

If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask? 

What sustains you?  What asks you to keep going?

Questions for Choreographers: Merryn Kritzinger

How would you describe the piece you are currently working on?

It is an exploration of human insecurities and social interactions. I like small spaces so I am doing a piece in the closet. I like the idea of the differences in how a person acts when they are by themselves and when they are among people they are comfortable with and how they act when they are in social settings. What parts of their personality do they hide? What parts do they decide to show? Why do they choose those things and what in their life has set up those boundaries?

What inspired you to create this piece?

The amazing opportunity that I can make a piece in a house that I am living in! We have this great double closet upstairs and I really like the idea of being in a space where no one can see you. Even the person you are in the room with can’t see you. Jasmine and I did some improvisations where we each took a closet and we watched them on video. We noticed how different our dances were when we knew that we couldn’t see each other. I also have been dealing a lot lately with wondering why I feel like a certain part of me is not real, not honest when I am around other people. I’ve been interested to know why I’ve set these restrictions or why I’ve created this mask that I put on outside and when I am around other people. With a month of time to work on it, I thought that would be a really interesting thing to explore.

Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work?  Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work?  How?

It’s very different from anything else I’ve ever done. In one way it’s different because I’ve never worked in the title of choreographer and most of the work that I’ve done, if I have been in that role, I’ve taken very light heartedly. I will do a joke or a spoof on a dance, make mock pieces or make jokes about music videos. I’ve never actually taken it seriously until now. Also, It differs a lot because all of the work I’ve ever done has been based in movement. I’m a mover and I work as an interpreter most of the time, so it is all very physical for me. A challenge that I’ve added in for this exploration is to step out as the mover and try to communicate verbally with my dancer so that I can develop work that has my concept but is less about how I move. It’s quite a challenge.

Why do you choose to express yourself with dance (this medium)?

There are two parts in answer to that question. The first is that I’ve always been a mover and a dancer and I’ve always felt that I could articulate best through movement. Even when I’m having a conversation it always has to be very physical for me. I’m not so good on the phone etc. I like physical interaction, I like how honest it can be.

The second part to that is that it is not the only way I express myself. I have a large interest in writing and video and in other forms of expression. I think that in exploring those other mediums I am fueling the dance as well.

What about today's environment feeds your work? What is your favorite things about dancing and creating now? What do you find the most challenging?  

That dance is starting to be more widely excepted and explored by the general public. It’s being brought into the media a lot more and I find that when I have conversations with people about dance more and more people understand what it is what we do.

The main thing that I am thinking about now is that I can actually do this as my job. Maybe it’s a selfish answer That I am being given this house for a month and a half to create my art and express myself in. I never imagined that this would be something that I would be able to do.

The most challenging is having the money to be a creator. The arts are always the first things to go in a budget. And with our government right now with Stephen Harper...I’m lucky as an interpreter that there are established companies that will still have funding. But, to be an independent choreographer is not something that gets a lot of attention or funding because people are afraid to trust in something new.

What is your happiest dance memory?

One summer I was doing a program in toronto with Milton Meyers, I was very near finishing at Ailey and was demonstrating for Milton’s classes. We were doing rep from Alvin Ailey’s Revelations and we did the amazing piece Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel. The way Milton Meyers was expressing it with his face and his whole body it was so beautiful to translate that and then to dance it is my happiest dance memory.

What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography?

The first thing that comes to mind is my physical upkeep. When I’m good I give myself my own class stretching and strengthening exercises and finding something else inspiring had been a more recent but most improtant edition to my regular schedule. Looking elsewhere to music, singing, painting or taking pictures, not being any good and and not being well trained. Being physically active and being around people that inspire me. My boyfriend is in theater and I have other friends that are artists, they inspire me.

If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?

I would ask what my biggest fears are. It takes up a lot of my brain space for me as it does for all artists. I would answer myself with insecurity. I place so much of my success in other peoples happiness and pleasure, if they are having a good time. The insecurity that comes when I am not getting that feedback or reaction is my biggest fear, not having it and not knowing that it is there.

Merryn Kritzinger is a Canadian artist, raised in Toronto and currently living in Montreal where she works as a dancer, singer, and actress. She began training in Toronto at the National Ballet School of Canada, Canadian Children's Dance Theater, Pia Bouman School for Ballet, and Etobicoke School of the Arts. She furthered her professional training as a Fellowship student at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. During her time at Ailey she worked with American choreographers Peter London, Troy Powell and Takehiro Ueyama, and Paris Opera's Alexandre Proia. In 2006 Merryn joined the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company as a company member. With NNCDC she performed in New York, New Jersey, across America, and on international tours to Mexico and Poland.

Since her move to Montreal in 2007 Merryn joined Hélène Blackburn's Cas Public, and will be part of the company's new creation in spring 2010. Merryn recently returned from The Netherlands, where she participated in an arts residency as both dancer and choreographer. You can view some of the work and documentation at dydances.blogspot.com.

signs and inspiration in Delft

Yesterday Merryn and I went to downtown Delft to explore and find inspiration.

Delft with Merryn and the lady with the rabbit cutouts

House number 156 Delft, The Netherlands

Merryn and Liset (a wonderful dutch artist) watching people go by and

Merryn rehearsing in the front room.

Lizzie Mackenzie Questions for Dancers

Why did you audition for Springboard Danse Montreal?

I auditioned for Springboard because at the time I thought I was going to be needing a job, so that was huge. I also wanted to look new places and experience new things in reference to getting a new job. I have been tunnel vision on Chicago because I have been there for so long. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and see some other things so I could make an educated choice.

How would you describe your experience so far?

It’s been great, I’ve learned a ton. I’ve met amazing people. The entire experience has been awesome.

Do you feel like a dancer and what does that mean to you?

Yes, I feel like a dancer. I have felt like a dancer from the first moment I took class at twelve years old. A ballet teacher once said to me that we shouldn’t define ourselves by what we do. I contemplated that for many years, it bothered me because dance encompasses everything about me. I am a dancer.

Do you ever struggle with confidence issues? How do you deal with confidence issues when they sneak up on you?

Yes, I struggle with confidence issues. I am a type A personality so I don’t struggle to the point that it effects my dancing or my learning process but like every human being I have moments of insecurity, moments of questioning myself. I don’t have trouble bringing myself out of that. I look to people I trust when I have those moments.

What do you wish you had known about dancing that you instead had to figure out?

(Laughs) There is a long, long list. Besides the technical things of course because we could go on forever. I wish I had known that trusting people and trusting the relationships in the studio would help me become a better dancer. Instead of being scared of the relationships in the studio. For a long time I was the youngest and really quiet, I didn’t communicate with people. As I’ve gotten older I realize that the communication and the openness really feeds my dancing and allows me to grow.

How would you describe your relationship with your body?

I can honestly say that unlike most dancers I truly love my body. I love and respect my body. I take very good care of my body. I am very careful about what I eat and I get constant care. I go to the chiropractor, I get massages. I’m still a dancer, I have those moments and many of them that I look in the mirror and I don’t think that I am ideal. I love my body, I truly do. I always wish that I was thinner. It’s a dancer thing.

How does that relationship impact your art?

I feel good about my body and I am very confident in my body. I feel confident that my body is strong and well trained so therefore I feel it allows me a lot of freedom in my dancing. It allows me to be fearless about approaching things...movement, choreography, technique.

What do you do on a daily basis to support your dancing?

Everything I do physically supports my dancing.  I teach and I choreograph and through this I am always learning about myself as a dancer. I don’t go outside of dancing as far as hobbies and things like that. Financially, I teach I choreograph, I run a company. I do a lot of things to allow me the freedom to come to something like Springboard.

What is your favorite part of working with young people?

It is so gratifying. THere is nothing like seeing someone accomplish something they thought they couldn’t do and knowing that you were a part of it. Those are huge life lessons. So when you see a kid overcome something and see the results of their hard work. That is a lesson weather they dance or not that they will carry with them. and just the impact I get to have on their lives.  They look up to me, they look to me for things.

What is the most challenging?

Sometimes I get resentful because I give so much of myself to them, and they’re kids, so 90% of the time they are very grateful (laughs) maybe 75% of the time. But if they are grateful or not I think they don’t realize how much I give them of myself. Not that I need praise but they don’t realize that I think of them at night. I think about them first thing in the morning. 'How come Jaime couldn’t turn out her leg today or why couldn’t she point her foot that day?' It consumes my thoughts. Sometimes they give me what I call poopoo face in the studio and it hurts me so deeply because I give so much of myself and my time. You learn later in life how grateful you really are.

What about today's environment feeds your work? What is your favorite things about dancing and creating now?

In the last five years of my life I feel like I’ve had so much growth in myself. Between the age of 25-30 I’ve learned so much about who I am and what I want, what is important to me. Those things effect my work and I choreograph about those things. I’ve also been able to organize relationships I’ve had. At the time they seemed so stressful but now I feel better able to observe and organize them. The ability to organize them allows them to be more a part of my work because I can understand them and the emotions that went with them.

What do you find the most challenging?  

Funding being cut for the arts. That is the scariest thing for me. And in teaching parents always question ‘should my kid really do this, can they make a living at it?’ It is scary to encourage kids to do it as the funding goes to the wayside.

Why did you choose dance as you medium?

I didn’t choose it, it chose me. There was never a choice.

When did you first feel that way?

I felt it in the first couple of months when I was twelve years old. This is what I want to to and I am going to do it for the rest of my life.

9 questions for Dorian Nuskind-Oder

Dorian Nuskind-Oder is a dancer, choreographer. and freelance video editor. Her dances have been presented in New York by Joyce Soho, Chen Dance Center, Dixon Place, Performance Mix, Dancenow|NYC Festival at DTW, Stella Adler Studios and Dance Conversations @ The Flea. In Quebec, her work has been presented by Springboard Danse Montreal at Usine C and Place-des-Arts, The Margie Gillis Foundation at UQAM, and the New Dance Alliance at Studio 303. As a performer, Dorian worked with Misnomer Dance Theater for 4 years, helping to create three evenings of work. She holds a BFA from NYU-Tisch. 

How would you describe the piece you are currently working on?

The piece I am currently working on is called Wolf House and it is a solo for Alison Clancy with original music composed by a good friend of ours Ian Williams and performed live by a man named David Herman on electric guitar. I would describe it as an exploration. It came from the music I was interested in creating a series of pieces where a song is created and used as a text to create the work. This particular song evokes a character for me who is sort of at once a little bit feral and aggressive and at the same time ultimately a friendly presence. We started working with images of a wolf in a confined space and also thinking of it as a wolf/rockstar so you have this dichotomy of a creature and being something that is on display. Being at once something that is extroverted and aggressive and at the same time somewhat out of her element. it’s a character study in an abstract way.

What inspired you to create this piece?

I have been really interested in sound in general lately and this particular composer came to see a dance/now festival show at DTW and what he had to say to me afterwards was that he was curious if dancers were aware of the ambient sound while they were performing because he felt that in a lot of the work the music was this pasted on recorded thing. We started to talk about interesting ways to have sound more involved in the work and we talked about electric guitar as being a very visceral sort of sound and how vibration can shape space. That was the starting point was this interest in having this tactile sense of sound that you can get from having an amplified in a small space.

Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work?  Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work?  How?

Well, I’m young, so in general tend to approach each piece really differently, I don’t feel like I’ve found a rhythm of working style yet and so it fits as being another branch of exploration. It does fit a pattern of being interested in solo work and being interested in a theatricality of work. There is a use of set design and props to create a sense of space and also being interested in having the music and the dance and the performance all be fully integrated. In this piece Alison sings so it is not just musician and dancer, she is part of the musical performance as well. In my mind I am interested in knitting that all together. A lot of my work now involves dancers either speaking or singing hopefully in a way that is more about integrating them into the sound score than having them speak a scene. It’s more about sound.

What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen over time?  Why do you think those shifts occurred?

I had a big shift last summer when I was here because my work up to that point tended to be more about geometry, formal structure and body design . I made a lot of works in which my primary interest was in line and form and while I was here I was collaborating with Regina Gibson the actress and she did a lot of stuff with sound with the dancers and it got me thinking about sound and it got me thinking about intention because she kept asking ‘why? why? why?’. Why are the dancers making these physical choices? What are they trying to accomplish? That was a shift for me. I became more curious about intention, about theatricality, and about decisions within the work. I’m now more interested in people than objects. I think that’s why solo work is so interesting to me right now. It is giving me the opportunity to explore the dancer as a complete person and that’s why the sound and the speaking are becoming more important to me. I think it’s weird that dancers are just bodies so much of the time. Even that we are trained to cover the sound of our feet. I understand why that exists but there is a rawness that I am more interested in now than I was three or four years ago.

Why do you choose to express yourself with dance?

I don’t know the answer to that question. Sometimes I feel like dance performance isn’t the right medium for me. Initially I was attracted to the ephemeral nature of it. Like when you have that experience of writing things and then you go back to read them and it is almost painful. In dance you can make something and walk away from it and it is as if it never happened. As an artistic process for exploration it is really liberating because you don’t leave a trail behind of stuff that you don’t ever want to see again. But now ironically that is one of the things that frustrates me the most about dance performance and that is why I am interested in making dance films. I see the limits of dance performance in terms of being a communicative medium.

In order for a medium to really communicate effectively I’m feeling that there is a certain amount of repetition of exposure. Look at music and the music that is popular and the songs that you love. You love them because you know every word and it becomes a shared experience. When you go to see a dance performance chances are you are only going to see it once and the only way to get a lot out of dance is to train your eye so that you can recognize things and have a context for it. But that requires that you live somewhere where there is dance happening all the time and that you have the money to go see dance performances in order to have that familiarity and I feel like that is why dance doesn’t function as a popular medium the way music and film do. I’m intrigued by making dance films so that people can have that kind of experience where you can go home and watch it over and over again. Like that Vim Vandekeybus film. The more I watch it the more I fall in love with that film and I don’t have that relationship with stage performances because you never see anything more than once. You don’t get that personal repetitive familiarity where you just know every detail and it is so satisfying to see the things that you remember occur. You can re-experience the joy of it. I’m beginning to wonder if dance film is more the place for me for that reason. I love the idea of somebody sitting down on their own and watching something, with the narcissistic idea that they may want to watch it again. Maybe if I make something really good they will! I don’t see that possibility with performance. Though I love live performance and I love to perform. I just feel like that is a limitation of the medium.

What about today's environment feeds your work? What is your favorite things about dancing now? What do you find the most challenging?

 

I think that there is a trend right now towards collaborating with contemporary musicians and a resurgence of live music especially bands being incorporated into dance performances and that’s really exciting to me. I feel like that is a really smart place for dance to go because I think it is a really natural fit, indie punk rock music and contemporary dance. I get excited by those types of collaborations and the energy that comes with that. I’m also excited about and hoping things like couchsurfing.com and the internet will encourage people to go back to grass roots touring. I see a little bit of that happening and I know a couple of artists that are planning on doing that kind of work in the coming years. I think that is an awesome way to go because for a long time especially in the states we have the attitude that touring is out our reach.

Obviously the biggest challenge is money. It just is. It’s depressing because I was reading articles on line last night that arts funding in Montreal is being cut. You think it’s better other places and it’s really not. I feel that in New York because of the monetary challenges a lot of people making work don’t spend enough time researching. It’s always about banging out a piece for the season and it’s really frustrating. Even the model of needing to have a fully produced season every year, even if you self produce, I feel like it would be more productive to do a show every two years and do more studio showings. Seeing people bankrupt themselves to put on work that hasn’t been fully completed is a viscous cycle and I don’t know how to break out of that.

What is your happiest dance memory?

I really loved when I was 13 or 14 and still at my dolly-dinkle studio and we would put on these giant elaborate recitals. I was kind of at the top of the heap at that point and I would get all of the solo roles. I would feel like such a rock-star and we would be in a 2,000 seat house and tons of people were there, and you would get to be the ballerina doll in your tutu. I don’t think I have ever in my professional career have had that glory sense of being the star. That doesn’t really exist. It was such an unadulterated excitement and feeling of confidence importance. Being in the theater was still really cool. You had your own dressing room. Everything was really new and that was really fun. I loved those giant productions.

What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography?

I read a lot and I try to expose myself to different ways of organizing information. Most of my ideas of choreographic structures come from looking at the structures of other things be they art forms or philosophical theories. Anything where there is a list or a diagram or a way of organizing ideas I find really inspiring. I try to find essays online that have something to do with structure. I also like to do yoga because it is a physical practice that doesn’t concern itself with approval seeking and I like to remind myself that movement doesn't always have to be about giving myself a pat of the back. Yoga and physical or idea structures are the two things that help me make dance.

If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?

One constant obsession of mine right now is do you have to be an asshole to make good work? Do you need to have that level of self focus in order to have an aesthetic that is clear enough to be a real clear artistic statement. I don’t have the answer but I am becoming concerned that you do have to be an asshole to make really good art. In other art forms you have to have that level of focus and drive but you are really only subjecting yourself to it you are sitting in you room painting for hours and throwing things out or going through draft and drafts of writing something. We have the unfortunate reality of subjecting other people to it and so you do have to be that singe minded in the pursuit of your own aesthetic needs and pulling it out of you dancers by whatever means necessary. But what is funny, and what I forget, is that dancers really want to do that. Talking to people after watching the Gallim show people were saying ‘Yes, I want to be pushed to the point that I am physically scared and then to know that I can do it.’ The first time I saw Jan Faber’s show live I was talking to dancers and had the feeling myself that I want to work for somebody who can inspire me to not be afraid to lay underneath a couch while two guys throw it up in the air and if it fell it would crush my pelvis. I have to remember that you are demanding unreasonable things from people, but part of the thrill and satisfaction of being a performer is managing to meet unrealistic expectations. That is what makes it worth it. Otherwise it gets boring the thrill is in pushing those boundaries. I’m afraid to ask people to go there, but when I do they seem to like it. I’ve been doing that with Alison in this new piece asking her to do strange and awkward things.

Please keep in touch by visiting www.dnodances.org or sending an email to dnuskindoder@earthlink.net 

Dorian's latest work can be seen Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 8pm at Mark Beard and Jim Manfredi's church 5 Franklin Street Catskill, NY.

Email artisticstimulus@gmail.com to reserve your seat. There will be a bus from Manhattan that will leave at 5 pm on Saturday, July 25th from the east side of the street at the corner of East 13th Street and University Place near Union Square. The bus will arrive in Catskill in time for the 8 pm show and leave Catskill at 11:30 pm to arrive back in Manhattan at the pick up location at approximately 1:30 am.

Autumn Proctor Questions for Dancers

Why did you audition for Springboard Danse Montreal?

At first I didn’t know about Springboard and I found out from my friend Kyle. He encouraged me to audition and I was like ‘I have been teaching for the past two years a lot and haven’t been dancing and don’t know if it’s a good idea’ the more I thought about it I said, you know what, I think I need to dance and I think I need to do something for myself rather than giving so much and I wanted to kind of be refueled I guess and that was the main reason I wanted to be inspired and to move and learn other peoples stuff rather than always give stuff out.

What are your expectations of this program?

Coming into it I wanted to expand my mind and get back in my body more instead of feeling like I was disconnected from a place I was experiencing when I was in school and to get invigorated to do my own work and to be more creative myself but now my expectations are shifting. I don’t know what I feel and it’s kind of confusing.

Do you feel like a dancer? What does that mean to you?

that’s something that changes day to day there are definite times that I feel like a dancer and times when I questions that very thing. I have a division in myself sometimes when I don’t identify with what my perception of a real dancer is.

what is a real dancer?

I don’t know that is a crazy question! A real dancer is someone who is really making it in the professional world as far as a company someone on stage that is in the limelight and who is in the middle of big stuff...who is involved with recognizable names, but then I think about what I do. I am a dancer. I’m doing it and living it and getting paid to do things that have to do with dance forms so how do you make the cut of what is and what isn't. i definitely feel conflicted as to whether I am or am not sometimes.

Do you ever struggle with confidence issues? How do you deal with confidence issues when they sneak up on you?

of course! lately I try and remember the negative effects of going into that mode so that I can reflect on how that attitude does not serve me so that I can find a way to separate myself from that place and not go there because I think it is detrimental and it slows you in you tracks so I always try to think okay how has this held me back in the past, how has this affected me and how has this taken away from my experience and that is a quick way for me to latch on to present time and think, you know what, I’m going to go past this. So it’s a lot of talking to myself and reinforcing new patterns versus old patterns.

How do you balance being a dancer and “real” life?

I think that is something that I am constantly working at I don’t know that I’ve achieved that balance and I don’t know that I ever will...I want to! I think that sometimes I put so much energy into my attachment to dance and it’s purpose in my life that I forget how to be a normal person and do normal real things and when I’m doing those normal real things I feel like I’m not as worthy if I’m not doing something dance related all the time. but then i get frustrated with that feeling because I think this is not healthy so yes, balance yet to be achieved.

What do you wish you had known about dancing that you instead had to figure out?

I wish I had known that, and still wish that I could grasp that dance is more than a doing, it’s a being and it’s an art and it’s allowing yourself to be an artist not necessarily a body that can fulfill and do this that and the other. It’s more about how can you bring yourself to an experience of expressing who and what you are. and i wish i knew sooner that it could be about that, that it could go that direction because i think i would have had a different attitude toward becoming and being more involved in wanting to be a dancer earlier where as growing up i was alway questioning it because i was so closely involved in this world that my mom had created in being a dance teacher. It was the only world i knew and i wanted to do it but at the same time i wasn't sure i wanted to do what she does, where do i fit in to the world of dance if I'm not doing what she does. because i didn’t have this exposure to the professional world other than broadway. so more about the artistry of dance.

The dance scene today is radically different from almost any other time; what about today's environment feeds your work? What are your favorite things about dancing now?  

I feel like there is a much more human connection and quality about what is being created and what is being encouraged to be created i think exposing the human reality of a person and a person’s experience is becoming more common versus technique and some sort of conceptual idea being brought to the stage and so i like the rawness of humanity in art i love how that there is that line, like in Danielle's work the idea of person/dancer, person/dancer because that is something i resonate with that’s how i feel in life i’m a person and now i’m a dancer. bringing that to life.

What do you find the most challenging?

trying to fulfill what we determine success as a dancer in our minds and what society feeds us as success and being okay with the successes that we have in dance and being proud of what it is we are doing because there is always this feeling that you are never doing what is considered the top of what is successful so you constantly take yourself down and tell yourself what you are doing is not enough and i think that is the worst part about it because it as long as you are doing what you are trying to do in some way shape or form it should be considered success but that is not how we interpret it at all.

How often does your body hurt?

if I'm dancing regularly it hurts everyday in some form when I'm teaching it’s more like once a week i feel something specific but there is a sensation of discomfort here and there. it’s part of it.

What do you do to maintain your body?

i try i take class as much as i can but i teach more than i do any of that so i try to take pilates when i can and i think now it’s more of a mindset like a mental meditation process to keep my body better so that is the main focus and walking as much as i can

How would you describe your relationship with your body?  How does that relationship impact your art?

i have always thought of my body as a tool an instrument in what i do. it’s very important to what i do so it is very influential on how well i do things depending on if am effected by something emotionally my body is very much a reaction to that. it can hold me back or it can push me forward. sometimes i can use my emotions to go further and sometimes they keep me stuck somewhere. i think they’re directly connected and i think it’s a huge association to work with both ways

What do you do on a daily basis to support your dancing (physically/emotionally/artistically/financially)?

I teach a whole lot and i try to choreograph as much as i can

Who would you most want to work for and why?

That is probably what keeps me not working because I don’t have a direct desire, it shifts with the times originally i was really intrigued by Forsythe but i didn’t have the passion to move to europe right away. Right now I am very interested in Batsheva but i also feel that is far fetched and too far beyond my grasp but that is another thing that we do we tell ourselves that we can’t do certain stuff. I’m interested in batsheva because i think that Ohad has really interesting ways of revealing things within people and he pulls out a humanistic raw quality that i find interesting when i watch his dancers and i want to know how he works, what his process is and how he formulates that idea of bringing to the surface things that other people are afraid to expose.

How do you feel when you are performing?

I haven’t done it in a while I think for a long time performing really stressed me out and made me feel uncomfortable because I was a perfectionist for so long that i couldn’t be in the physical experience i was always taking notation of what was happening while it was happening and then somewhere in grad school that shifted and became more of a visceral emotional experience and that was good because i was having experiences on the stage and then coming off and thinking ‘that was realy cool’ it was not so much about my head anymore. but i haven’t done it in so long that it will be interesting to see how this showing pans out for springboard because i am somewhat apprehensive that the old head game will come back What about the day after?

If you weren’t dancing, what would you be doing? 

I would be a some form of counselor or social worker some type of healing therapist helping people is the other thing that i love to do originally i was torn because i wanted to be a child phycologist because i wanted to help kids in emotional ways and i feel like i am always trying to incorporate that into my life somehow.

What are you currently working on?

3 years ago my brother and I started the program called We Are Artists. It started as a special program affiliated with my mom’s school where we tried to expose young dancers to the real process that you learn in a college educational experience or just giving them the opportunity to do artistic work rep and go through the real performance process on stage tech and doing pieces longer than four minutes and really just working at creating something. and we are still working on that but it is kind of taking a shift this year and taking an even bigger shift in the future we have another program affiliated with my mom’s school called Miracles in Motion they work with special needs kids and so we are trying to under the direction of We are Artists make it an international program that we could take to different places around the world and help children with unique needs all over the world so we could help bring creative arts and creative exploration to other people who don’t necessarily get it. So it would be Miracles in Motion International but it would be founded directed and worked through We Are Artists. It’s a big goal but hopefully it will come true!

Montreal

Tomorrow I will start my second week at Springboard Danse Montreal. The first week consisted of workshops with Ballet Jazz de Montréal, Le carré des lombes, Compagnie Flak, Gallim Dance and Margie Gillis. The workshops were incredible...I have already learned so much.

9 questions for Paul Singh

Paul Singh answers 9 questions. Here is what he had to say.

How would you describe the piece you are currently working on? 

well, this piece is not meant to be a performance. it is an experiment. it is an investigation into how you cultivate vulnerability in a performance environment. it's about stopping the selfish act of the artist having the experience on stage and instead letting the viewers have it with you.  

What inspired you to create this piece?  

i got very tired of the idea of people sitting in a theater and watching art in a box. i just think that if we are asking ourselves to be so damned physical on the stage, then we must demand as much from the people watching.  

Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work? Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work? How? 

it's funny. i just said the other day that this is nothing like the work i thought i'd ever be making. and i like that. this particular piece is very different for me because it started as a trio of men, then moved down to a solo, but i ended up keeping it a "trio" by trippling my presence on stage with a pre-recorded voice and the audience's imagination. it is very similar to the idea of involving the audience that i work with, but very different from all the group work i've done so far. in this piece. the dancing (which i still believe is important to dance work...) was the least important element. still necessary, but not the focus.  

What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen over time? Why do you think those shifts occurred? 

the shifting happened when i became dissatisfied. dissatisfaction usually drives a choreographer to keep asking and then keep finding. it only made me feel more and more like a failure. and then i would go watch dance that would just compound that feeling because none of what i was seeing was telling me that dance was necessary. eventually i got to the point where i was in the studio and told myself that every single action i was about to do have to mean everything - i told myself to important with every single movement, or go home. that definitely made me buckle down, make, edit, destroy, and then make again.  

Why do you choose to express yourself with dance? 

i know i'm a natural mover. however, i don't feel that i am such a great dancer. i'd rather be the choreographer who watches his ideas unfold. i can't think of another medium that demands more from the artist on all aspects - knowledge of the current world, total physicality, constant financial struggle, etc. it's the strongest challenge there is.  

What about today's environment feeds your work? What is your favorite thing about dancing now? What do you find the most challenging?  

today's environment requires more patience and understanding that we've seen necessary in a long time. my work is fed from the people watching. and people discussing. if that doesn't happen, there is no art. as far as tangible things go, there are a few concrete things that get me going. it's usually a good book by anne bogart, a good article in the new yorker, and any conversation about my current work that anyone is willing to have with me. talking and thinking out loud is what stirs my pot. my favorite things about dance right now is seeing an artist reaffirm my faith in dance. (jodi melnick, francis bacon, john jasperse, etc.) unfortunately, and this is just my opinion, there is a lot of work being made that isn't asking dance to be necessary. we don't have time for that any more....which brings me to what's most challenging right now. you would think it would be scheduling or renting rehearsal space. nope - it's watching work that isn't demanding enough from me.  

What is your happiest dance memory? 

the happiest is actually pretty recent. i was auditioning for doug varone and when daniel charon was showing the phrase material one last time, i accidentally started doing it with him across the floor. i didn't care about the audition, or the other dancers watching. for just a few moments i was flying around the room confidently and so fully connected to someone else, albeit for 30 seconds.  

What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography? 

i write backwards, work on learning a different language and stare at an empty space for at least 10 minutes just visualizing  

If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask? 

i'd ask myself what trajel harrell asked at a recent Q & A: when you're in rehearsal experimenting, when you get caught by the surprise moment, what does it feel like? is it a sensation, a thought, a stopping? and how do you hold it, mold it and then work with it? the surprise is the opening for all new things to fall in.

Renee Kurz Answers

I asked Renee to tell me a little more about her work and about the adventure she will embark on in the fall. What she wrote back was so amazing that I included it here in full.

Each piece is unique, inspired by the heart of the person I am creating for. I am driven by the process, by working with my hands, sewing each stitch with love and attention to detail. I love holding the fabric in my hands, using my intuition, and discovering what will come of it; creating something beautiful out of nothing. Much of my inspiration comes from nature; the beauty of flowers and trees and landscapes. The organic movement of nature flows through the lines of my work. My quest for beauty is rooted in a strong faith and belief in the goodness of each person.

My work can be seen next at Dance Theater Workshop on Pam Tanowitz Dance, June 18-20. I will also be selling some of my latest beautiful wrap silk dresses and other original designs at a Summer Solstice Design Market on June 21 from 2-8pm in Williamsburg. My website is being developed and will hopefully be up within the next couple months: www.reneekurz.com. I love creating custom clothing to fit any needs or desires. Please contact me at renee.kurz@gmail.com if you are interested.

This September I will be embarking on a challenging and beautiful adventure in India Heart's Home, www.heartshome.usa.org. Heart’s Home is a Catholic service organization dedicated to spreading a culture of compassion by loving the most wounded people in the world. Through 18 months of living with three other young missionaries and contributing to the wide network of Heart’s Home in Southeast India, I will be working to restore dignity and hope to the hearts of the sick and elderly, women and their families, and young children. As I continue the pursuit of infinite meaning, recognizing the beauty at the core of each person, my soul is surely to be broadened and my heart blessed by those I am called to serve. I am looking forward to submersing myself in such a rich and beautiful culture, being influenced by their fashion, textiles, and techniques.

I just love how her passion shows through in what she writes as well as everything she does!

Renee's creations

You may know Renee Kurz by her beautiful dancing, her generous teaching or her incredible spirit. This multi-talented lady also creates costumes and clothing and soon you will be able to have a Renee Kurz creation of your very own. A few weeks ago I got a sneak peak of her latest work. Renee's clothing is elegant and unique. She uses rich fabrics that feel as nice as they look and each item has fun flirty details. See photos of Renee's creations on my Flickr page.. Also see Renee's costumes on display at Pam Tanowitz's DTW season. http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org/tanowitz

Austerlund

Super talented dancer/choreographer Jonathan Fredrickson showed off his company, Austerlund, last week as part of the Puleio Dance Festival.  Dancing excerpts from his piece, The Edge of Some World, the company performed exquisite, full-bodied movement laced with emotion.  Jonathan has created a world (as the title suggests) with it's own internal logic; deeply relatable, but not quite human.  If you didn't get a chance to check out his work, have no fear; Jonathan will show the full version of the piece this fall.  More photos from Jonathan's tech rehearsal are available at my Flickr page.

dance photo week

Last week I photographed the works of Catherine Miller, Sasha Soreff, HeJin Jang, and Joanna Kotze. Four talented female choreographers, four completely different works.

Catherine Miller is presenting "Juliet Looks to the West", danced by the beautiful dancers Logan Kruger and Reid Bartlme The piece is being presented by the Propel-her Dance Collective at the Cunningham Studio Theatre May 28th & 29th at 9pm and Saturday May 30th at 8pm. For tickets and info email propelherdance@gmail.com. More photos from Catherine's rehearsal are available at my Flickr page.

Sasha Soreff will be holding an open rehearsal Friday May 29th at One Arm Red 6:30-8:30 pm 10 Jay Street, Suite 903A Brooklyn NY. The space is amazing, right on the water and near Jacques Torres! You can also participate in the creation of the piece which will be presented in it's entirety Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. Again, photos from Sasha's rehearsal are up at my Flickr page.

Joanna Kotze and Hejin Jang presented works at Judson Church on Monday. I can't wait to see more of them! I was lucky enough to get photos of Joanna's piece and of HeJin's piece.

9 questions for HeJin Jang

Dancer/Choreographer HeJin Jang is the first person to respond to 9 questions. Here's what she had to say.

1. How would you describe the piece you are currently working on?

   I am currently interested in use of silence and its politics. Paged/staged/wakeful/watchful/improvised/calculated silence…….Silence that is the other side of sound and image…..

2. What inspired you to create this piece?

   When my silence got read by others, their voice came unstitched over mine. I was very upset. And the only thing I could do about it was dancing. I have tried to back up those words through my body.

3. Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work? Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work? How?

   I will say this work was inspired by what the previous piece made me forget and remember.

4. What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen over time? Why do you think those shifts occurred?

   Creating works became more like carving. I start with various materials and ideas and then start to carve it out. In other words, “empty” it out. It is not just a editing. Even if I cut some out, it is all imprinted in my body. I try to share those invisible left-overs with audience.

5. Why do you choose to express yourself with dance?

   It is because “Embodiment” is louder than my words. I get to forget and re-member through dance.

6. What about today's environment feeds your work? What are your favorite things about dancing now? What do you find the most challenging?

   I like talking about works over coffee. Or, I like have dances to talk to each other. I appreciate draft works and its informal showing with discussion in today’s dance scene. I also like writing about my work and its process. What I am interested in is “performative writing,” and it helps me to go deeper in dance. Both talking and writing about works could be most challenging as well.

7. What is your happiest dance memory?

   I don’t know whether I am “happy” dancing or making dance. I always go though hard times emotionally when make works. But, I do know there is a reason for that place. I guess just believing in dance makes me happy.

8. What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography?

   Moving and Thinking are not two distinct things. As we move, we think. As we think, we move. I guess I am trying to think in depth in every day life to support my work. It is to enable “bodily thinking”

9. If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?

   “What do you think is the reason for you that you just have to keep on keeping on with dance in spite of?”

Check out HeJin's work this Monday May 11th at Judson Church and see more photos of her work in rehearsal here

9 questions

This spring I will ask 9 questions of 9 choreographers. 4 men 5 women same 9 questions. I want to know what makes them tick. What makes them excited to make work? How has their work changed overtime? What inspires them? Here are the questions so far. What questions would you ask?

1) How would you describe the piece you are currently working on?

2) What inspired you to create this piece?

3) Where does this piece fit into your overall body of work?  Is it more similar or dissimilar to the rest of your work?  How?

4) What significant shifts in your work or creative process have you seen over time?  Why do you think those shifts occurred?

5) Why do you choose to express yourself with dance?

6) What about today's environment feeds your work? What are your favorite things about dancing now? What do you find the most challenging?

7) What is your happiest dance memory?

8) What do you do on a daily basis to support your choreography?

9) If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?

Conduit: Three Dances

Daniel Charon's sensitive, thoughtful choreography will be on display at Joyce SoHo April 23rd-26th...and I'm lucky enough to be a part of it! He has assembled an eclectic mix of incredibly talented dancers and collaborators. Watching sections in rehearsal I am in constant awe of Daniel's ability to evoke such strong emotion from simple well-placed movements. The evening will consist of three new dance works with an original composition by Koven J. Smith. Purchase your tickets and come see the show!

See more photos of Daniel Charon's work in rehearsal and tech

Adam Barruch at BAC

Walking into BAC on thursday, I could feel the excitement in the air; something new and fresh was about to happen. Adam Barruch was presenting his first full length concert and I had the privilege of being there to photograph the whole thing!

I was impressed by all aspects of the concert; the movement was inventive and well performed, the lighting dramatic, and the costumes simple yet additive. Often when taking photos, I concentrate so fully on my art that I don't see everything that happens across the whole stage. Tonight, I enjoyed the dance even through the lens of the camera. I even laughed out loud!

Check it out. I can't wait to see this delightful, well tailored performance as an audience member.

Adam Barruch Dance Performances Friday March 13th Saturday March14th 7:30pm

Baryshnikov Arts Center Howard Gilman Performance Space 4th Floor

Summer dance adventure!

When?

June 14th-July 26th, 2009

Where?

Montreal, Canada and Vienna, Austria

What?

I will attend two dance festivals this summer, each held in a city internationally renowned for dance. I plan to immerse myself in these ephemeral worlds, interact with and learn from as many artists as possible, and document the whole thing here through photos and words.

Why?

Artists from all over the world attend these festivals in order to interact with one another; performing as well as sharing different techniques, forms of expression, and thoughts about dance. As a professional dancer (and budding dance photographer!), I dream of being one of these artists. I want to come face to face with other dance cultures in order to learn, compare, share what I know, and grow into a more complete and knowledgeable artist. I consider such interactions crucial for furthering and expanding my professional dance career.

Goals!

So here, in short form, are my goals for attending these festivals:

1. attend contemporary dance workshops and classes
2. attend dance festivals and/or independent dance shows that may take place during my visit
3. photo-document and blog my experiences
4. explore cultural diversity through dance
5. share my artistic gifts with new people and groups
6. explore different dance styles and approaches
7. upon returning home, throw a photography show/party in order to share my experiences