TDC starts work on restaging 13

It’s official. I have now been in TDC long enough to be reconstructing a piece in which I was an originating dancer. YOWZERS!

This week, TDC starts work on restaging “13,” a 30-minute piece created and premiered four years ago during TDC’s 13^th season. It’s an interesting experience, to go back in time, watch work I created in a previous life, and try to understand the decisions made and inspirations used. It makes me reflect on the passage of time, and how, while four years may not seem like too long ago, it was actually a lifetime ago. I lived in a different home, I was not married, I had a different job, I moved differently, I lived differently. I was different. To watch myself dance from so long ago, I might as well be watching a total stranger. Fascinating!

Another difficult aspect of reconstructing work I had a hand in creating vs. reconstructing work I did NOT create is readjusting expectations of the experience. It can be very easy, when resetting previous work, to expect things to feel the same – lifts should feel the same, contact with other dancers should be the same, the timing should be the same, EVERYTHING SHOULD BE THE SAME!!!!

100% of the time however, it’s not. It’s impossible. For “13,” there are two returning original dancers. There is literally no way this piece will even remotely resemble its original version, as the dancers inhabiting the space are completely different people. Different bodies, different minds, different perceptions. Everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT. Which is really hard. It can be so difficult to let go of those experiences, those sensations, those journeys. When a dancer feels a sense of ownership over the material of a work, it can be such a frustrating experience to let that go – but that is what we have to do. Otherwise, reconstructing work is the equivalent of pulling teeth. It sucks. 

So here we are. Starting a new journey I’ve travelled before. What keeps this fresh though is the fact that I am a new person, and this time around, this journey will resonate within me in completely new ways, leading to new movement invention, new partnerships, and new experiences.  This, in and of itself, is just one more of the many things that makes modern dance so engrossing and engaging, performance after performance, piece after piece, year after year. Even old work feels new, and old experiences become new journeys. 

Submitted by TDC Dancer Kaitlin Bishop on Wednesday, October 31, 2012.

“It was great! But what did it mean? “

When it comes to a modern dance performance, whether it’s my own, a friend’s, a national or international company, 75% of the time, the above statement and question can be overheard in the lobby, usually said by one of my family members, but not always. Admittedly, sometimes those words escape my mouth. 

With my dance background and history in mind, a modern dance company in downtown Chicago is a bit of a far cry from where I started. Having grown up dancing in one of central Indiana’s primary studios, ballet, jazz, tap, and other such things were my specialties to the extent that I rarely actually thought about what I was doing, I could just do it. “Modern” dance was something in which people danced barefoot and flexed their feet a lot, which is another way of saying I knew absolutely NOTHING about modern dance. In high school, I knew my future lay in the dance field, not really knowing what or where that meant, but with dreams of LA or New York in my head, my parents were steadfast in their resolve: Kaitlin can do whatever she wants…..as long as she goes to college. Which led me to the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and four years of classes, rehearsals, performances, lectures, master classes and then some, attempting to grasp that ever elusive answer to the all pervasive question, “What does it mean?” After four years and a degree in Dance, more often than not, I was still that person in the lobby after the performance thinking to myself, “It was great. But what did it mean?”

Immediately after graduating, I was blessed to have the opportunity to audition for The Dance COLEctive, which I’d seen perform only once, but had participated in a number of student works wherein Margi Cole was the Faculty Advisor. I found her feedback and guidance in those times as challenging but engaging, requiring me to think critically, which was definitely something new for me. I was interested because I was scared and I knew I would be directly responsible for the work I would create, rather than learning someone else’s ideas. If there’s something to be said for only learning the choreography that comes from someone else’s body, even the most intricate and satisfying of movements, it grows to be boring. It becomes boring because it’s not my idea that inspires it, it’s not my choice that dictates it, and it’s not my mind that analyzes and molds it.

That’s the beautiful thing about modern dance and The Dance COLEctive. I get to make choices that are reflective of me. I’m IN the work. Not just performing it. Rather than counting off 5,6,7,8 and doing a series of steps in perfect unison with 10 other dancers, audiences are able to watch 10 people on stage, existing, in space. Making choices, interacting with each other, LIVING. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me. And it’s what keeps me coming back, year after year, watching and being a part of modern dance. My experiences in The Dance COLEctive continue to influence my values in dance, both as a dancer and an audience member, to the point that as time continues, I find myself, after performances, asking “What did it mean to me?”

Which is kind of the whole point of modern dance to begin with, I’m starting to realize. 

Submitted by TDC Dancer Kaitlin Bishop on Sunday, October 21, 2012.

The Creative Process – A Glimpse of How it Starts

There’s something so magical about starting a new work. It’s refreshing to begin a process not knowing where it will end up. The movement developed is interesting but also flat in the sense that it has yet to be shaped and pulled to suit a larger intention. Interactions are clear but not yet defined. The meaning of each touch will become embodied through time, with repetition, and after it has been examined through the lens of intention for the overall piece.

In TDC, most of Margi’s new works begin with some sort of reading, research, writing assignment, or discussion. It’s always very self-reflective and thought provoking, which increases the level of investment us dancers have in the work. The way Margi uses our input changes for each project. Sometimes her homework assignments drive every element of the piece, from the way we develop movement and relationships, through the arching story of the piece, and even to the text we speak. Other times, its influence is only peripheral, driving certain elements, such as time and relationships, rather than the actual ideas being brought to life on stage.

Though Margi usually keeps her ideas secret until she has them fully formulated in her head, in a casual conversation I got a glimpse of what’s to come. Without revealing the plan, I’ll just say that she hopes to use information gathered from a popular book many of the dancers have read and use it to set boundaries that define our relationships as we generate movement. I think it will be a fascinating translation from fiction to dance and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

---

Submitted by TDC Dancer Maggie Koller on Sunday, October 7, 2012.