Emory Dance Company Choreographer Greg Catellier

Image from "Stay Together Apart."

By Raven Crosby, Emory Dance Program Office Assistant

Emory Dance faculty member Greg Catellier created a piece this fall for the Emory Dance Company that focuses on COVID-19 and how the pandemic has re-shaped human interaction. The lack of social interaction, touch, and proximity led him to create choreography that emphasizes the general alienation that is felt by nearly everyone during this time. Within the piece, there is no physical or even emotional connection between the dancers, and yet they move together. Catellier says “The socio-political fall out of the crisis has been overwhelming but I am more interested in how it has affected our inner lives (what some might call our souls).”

Catellier utilizes the structures and protocols set by Emory College as a choreographic restriction. For the rehearsal process, the cast meets at a location, Catellier leads a warm-up, then they focus on creating and composing. Part of this process includes experimenting with how the dancers can use the site to create captivating images. Catellier stated “A lot of time is spent just trying different entrances, exits, or moving together and apart. When we find something that feels authentic, interesting, or provocative we hold onto it.”  

Image from "Stay Together Apart."

This piece takes place in the plaza south of the Woodruff Library tower and north of the Goizueta Business School. Catellier believes that the context of the space and how the dancers use it is as important, if not more important than the movement itself. He has also been inspired by signs around Emory’s campus that state “Stay Apart, Together, Physical Distance.” He is “creating movement patterns that keep the dancers moving together but apart. I imagine that these people (the dancers) live in a world that has succumbed to this structure. There’s no touching no connection, no intimacy.” Elements such as costumes, setting, and props will also emphasize the lack of humanity. 

In addition to choreographing for Emory Dance Company, Catellier is also the technical director. Each year, Emory Dance Company dancers must participate in a workshop to strengthen their technical theater skills and learn how to load in (create) and strike (take down) the performance space. He says “Those hours in the theater offer concrete and unique learning experiences.” However, due to COVID-19, all technical support hours and workshops have been canceled. Catellier, who usually leads the workshops says that “One of the reasons I like to teach in that environment is that the learning is direct and quick. It never takes a student long to learn how a wrench works. Often students fear that type of activity, but as they work they overcome that fear, gain confidence, and sometimes grow to enjoy it. Knowing how something works is a gift.”

Catellier, who presented his piece earlier this month for a limited audience, hopes that from his creative process the dancers learn how to “adapt to making work in these difficult times. Dance making is often about creatively solving problems. I hope the dancers learn that we can dance about anything. That space has meaning. That site work can be interesting and fun. That they have the problem-solving skills for all sorts of sticky situations. I hope they learn to “Stay Apart…Together” or maybe “stay together… apart”.”

Image from "Stay Together Apart."