Art by Amber Heaton; http://www.amberheaton.com/
Here are ideas and quotes from 9 artist profiles of choreographers working all around the United States. As a graduate student myself, I have found these questions and suggestions very useful at this point in my career. Thoughts around process, habit, and risk taking are shared here.
If you teach a graduate level choreography course, consider using these ideas as starting off points throughout the semester. Students can also read further about each artist through his/her artist profile, which provides a valuable and honest window into making dances in current times in the United States.
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From Jennifer Monson:
Three questions for choreographers to consider:
- How are notions of the body changing in relationship to virtual space?
- What does it mean to take risks at this particular moment in time?
- What can a body do that it couldn’t do before?
To read Jennifer's full artist profile, click here.
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From Kate Weare:
Choreographing exists in a different timeframe altogether: slow, diffuse, methodical, unfolding, obscure and unclear – for a long time it’s not about “landing” but about searching. The gratification of feeling something is “right” lives much farther away and sometimes never arrives at all. Building a structure for the creative act of the dancer to live in is like trying to make your way endlessly in the dark. You have to love not knowing.
To read Kate's full artist profile, click here.
From Peter DiMuro:
Understand that form and content are related: don’t rely on movement fads, or even worse, rely on what movement you execute well solely.
Learn from all – old, young, even the pompous and especially the humble around you. Translate the information to make it make sense for you.
No goal is worth your soul: be good to yourself and others. The karma will come back to you.
To read Peter's full artist profile, click here.
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At about age 37, I realized I choreographed differently than I lived, and I needed to engage in a process that reflected who I was, rather than a process that imitated that of artists I’d admired and worked with.
In the beginning I’d walk into the studio and try to make choreography appear from nowhere. In time, and after many less than stellar works, I came to realize the folly of “making a dance,” by that I mean jumping straight into the craft of choreography before taking time to develop the raw material of movement phrases. There was little organization, structure, or planning. I hoped that inspirational material would spring fourth and flow freely from me to the dance. This lack of a cohesive plan was totally counter to my personality and lifestyle. (I have been told that I have a touch of OCD and that I tend to over-organize, compartmentalize, and attempt to maintain order.) I have no problem with any of these traits and actually find my compulsive need for organization to be traits worth celebrating.
SO, I needed to develop a process for making art that celebrated these traits.
I began to identify a creative process in which movement is developed, more movement is developed, and even more movement is developed. Once I have a rich palette of varied material, I then can begin to craft it according to the voice and vision of the work. I am not precious about the material at this time and regularly modify or delete large chunks of material. It is during this phase that choreography begins to emerge and can be analyzed and reflected upon for revision, re-vision, and ultimately, completion.
Interestingly, the process is clean and neat, though the work rarely is. My work continues to have the edge, humor, and physicality it always did; it’s just easier to make now.
To read Damon's full artist profile, click here.
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From Rebecca Lazier:
- Find safe places to develop your work.
- Take time on the process, change your process, experiment with ways of working and trust every flash of new ideas no matter how outlandish.
- Research related ideas in other art forms, see as much work as possible, and develop a community of artists.
To read Rebecca's full artist profile, click here.
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From Stephan Koplowitz:
- Why are you making work? (What is motivating you to stay in or enter this field?)
- Are you still challenging yourself to try new things?
- Who will you listen to when your work is badly reviewed or received, or when you feel you are not getting the support you need?
To read Stephan's full artist profile, click here.
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From Nina Haft:
- Give yourself over to whatever feeds you. This will feed your art.
- Be patient and gentle with your body.
- Habits are hard to change. Start a new one instead.
To read Nina's full artist profile, click here.
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From Katie Faulkner:
Make a lot of work, go see a lot of work, surround yourself with other people who are making a lot of work, find peers whose insights you trust and have them talk to you about your work, be suspicious of mentors or teachers who lead you to believe that any one methodology is the right one, and know that everyone is at least a little bit scared. Bravery is not about not being afraid; it’s about being scared as hell and doing it anyway.
To read Katie's full artist profile, click here.
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From Jeanine Durning:
- What is at stake for you?
- Are you willing to face yourself day after day in the studio and not know what’s happening, or where you are going?
- Can you accept that the meaning of your effort will not always be self-evident?
To read Jeanine's full artist profile, click here.
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Life as a Modern Dancer 
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