I've been coming up with
possible themes and inspirations for this piece since I decided I wanted
to choreograph for EDC last year, so there have been some pretty crazy ideas
bouncing around in my head. (I did eventually abandon the Land Before Time
direction, luckily.) What really intrigues me in this piece is the boundary of
when an object or an idea is ready to discard: is it used up, is it boring, is
it just too much to handle? Through movement, and with a lot of everyday props,
I want to examine that tension between value and trash.
I chose dancers who I
thought were creative and brave as well as technically skilled, because in this
piece it’s important for them to make their own decisions about how long
or in what manner to continue a phrase or gesture. Or do they just feel like
walking offstage? What I love about dance is that almost anything possible is
within the realm of possibility in this microcosm of a theater, and the most
interesting choreography to me is the most surprising. Sometimes I worry we
have a little too much fun in rehearsal, but I think it's just the joy of
taking risks and being unafraid to try something completely off the
wall that puts us in such a good mood. And some of my ideas are definitely
ridiculous, which occasionally works, but more often means we just crack
up and throw it away...hey, see what I did there?
My biggest challenge is
definitely going to be honing down all of the scattered images and phrases I
keep coming up with into a cohesive and clear, but also wacky and unpredictable
piece of work. As a writer and English major I am constantly editing and
condensing my writing, but it's so much harder to do in dance when there
are other people embracing and jumping in to the insane directions you throw at
them. This is an amazing opportunity for me as a student to have access to
professional quality theater space, music arrangement, costume production,
lighting and sound...The list of resources goes on forever and I want to
take advantage of the chance to produce a multi-dimensional and
challenging piece of artwork. I am enjoying every moment of this process,
because I know that when the show is over, when we've used it up, there's
no choice but to just let it go. And that's the best part of creating choreography
to me!
Thanks, Sarah!
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