Friday, September 25, 2009

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?

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