I'm sometimes envious of sports and how easy it is to measure craftsmanship, talent and ability when referring to specific athletes, coatches or teams.. It seams as though you can't apply the same logic to the arts, as it's a matter of taste or cultural context etc, but the truth is it's actually not that different. Craftsmanship is mesurable. I can argue that I can play tennis, and that my version of playing the game is as valid as the one played by Roger Federer, but that would be ridiculous. It has to do with both an indepth understanding of the game and at the same time, being able to act upon that understanding in ways which are original, effective, creative and inspiring. Artistic craftsmanship is indeed mesurable I think, the fact though there will never be any agreed upon system to measure it, is both frustrating as it is exhilarating.
Easy
Degrading dancers is the easiest way to create maximum 'effect'. It's also the lowest form of choreographing. .
Intuition
The best dancers are those able to anticipate how things are going to unfold. They are basically constantly dancing and aligning themselves in relation to what will happen choreographically ahead of where they are at any given point in time and space.
Things you can do to an audience:
Provoke
Thought provoke
Overwhelm
Control
Free
Confuse
Entertain
Challenge
Reassure
Amuse
Take over
Inspire
Love
Shock
Comfort
Puzzle
Condescend
Trick
Empower
Educate
Manipulate
Lie
Close
Open
But you have to pass through the dancers for all these. As in, whatever it is you want to do to your audience, you'll have to do the exact same thing to your dancers first. No way around it. You eventually relate to your audience in the same way you do to the dancers you're working with.
Responsabillty
The opposite of controlling dancers (through set external parameters such as counts, a set spacing, a fixed relation to the music and each other etc.), is handing over responsibility to them. Dancers sharing an equal responsibility in relations to the whole, will produce a clearer, more intresting, coherent and surprising choreographic result.
Order
I don't try to install order, I look for an order that gets installed by itself.
Attention
I choreograph attentions. Heightened states of attention. Layers of attentions, types of attentions, attentions spans.
Choreography
Choreography is a group of people trying to organize a certain amount of constantly evolving ideas and shared intentions.
Change/Control
If a system doesn't keep changing all the time, it's not system, it’s a control mechanism.
Empty your pockets
If you don't fully and transparently, share your tools and processes of creation with anyone that comes in contact with your work, (which they'll copy, or be smart enough to be inspired by and then come up with their own), you'll get stuck with them. The best way to develop new ways of working, is to constantly share and give away everything you've got.
Notes/Corrections
Giving dancers notes (or corrections when calling the thing by its name..), is probably the most overused, misused, lazy and abused working tool. it's a simplistic way to gain and maintain authority, and it reduces dancers into childish execution machines. I think that if a coherent choreographic system is in place, it will naturally guid the dancers, without stripping them down from their individuality and without dismantling their power position in the situation. I find the most effective note to be 'it's not clear, try again, or try something different'.
I like driving in my car
Choreographic structures are like cars. They're just potentials waiting to be driven. I like to bring dancers to a place where they are both comfortable with driving them, and have the knowledge on how to do so, rather than remote control them.
Choreographies
I think choreographies are either organic, self governed, self evident, autonomic entities, or they're nothing but artificially organized manifestations of their maker's ego.
Old masters
The masters of the past are something to build upon, while moving away from.
Self Expression
Good art is all about being of service to the people involved and the art form as consequence.
I find self expression as an artistic strategy, to be self indulgent, limited and harmful to both makers and audiences.
Follow in order to lead
My choreographic process is very much like the combination of a ball and a downhill. I let go of it, and then chase it down the hill to see what happens. I think of my process as something I'm following, rather than leading. Or better, in order to lead it clearly, I need to accept following it.
Products
The worst thing that could have happened to dance, and the choreographic medium as a result, was turning it into a product, thus detaching it from its qualities as a process based art form, happening over time in a way that can't really be summed up within the actual 'rules of the game'.
Contemporary choreogrphic work should consider this and think of ways to counter the 'product' culture the art form has fallen into.
Got it?
There's a funny tension between becoming more secure and clear about one's artistic process, and loosing the need that people 'get' it.
Let it be
I think choreography is mostly about being able to reach a certain state of mind, in which you're blocking and disturbing the natural flow of events, as litttle as possible.
You/Them
You should be able to separate your own perception of the work, from that of the audience. Both are valuable and important, but they don't mix well. I feel it's important to be able to travel between the two freely, in a way that allows them both to impact the evolution of the work.
