10 Questions With…

10 Questions With…Bulareyaung Pagarlava

April 2, 2012 by 4dancers

Today we have 10 Questions With… choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava…

1. How did you become involved in dance?

When I was 12, I saw a performance by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, though I didn’t know it was Cloud Gate until some years later. It was so inspiring that I made up my mind to become a dancer.

2. What are you currently doing in dance?

Mainly choreographing.

3. Can you explain your approach to choreography?

I don’t create work for the sake of creation. I am not a movement-oriented choreographer interested in analyzing physical moment.

All my choreography reflects my thoughts and emotion. Choreography is a medium of expression. It is my way of connecting to the world.

4. What role does the music play in your choreography?

In my work, music plays a vital role. It offers a room for imagination. In my earlier works, choreography began after I found my music. So the works were often built upon the structure of the music.

In recent years, new choreographic ideas come first, followed by the body moments, then I match them with music. When music comes into place, it’s like there’s a spark.

For the audience who does not enjoy my choreography, they can at least enjoy good music with their eyes closed.

5. Do you have other choreographers that you admire? If so, who and why? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Anne Kasdorf (The Space/Movement Project)

March 6, 2012 by 4dancers

Today’s 10 Questions With… features Anne Kasdorf of The Space/Movement Project…

1. What exactly is The Space/Movement Project?

We’re a group of dancer/choreographers who are fully dedicated to a collaborative artistic process. We produce contemporary dance work primarily in the Chicago area, and we also manage two rehearsal spaces that offer low-cost rental to local artists.

2. How did this group come about?

The group was founded by three post-college dancers (one of whom, Stacy Wolfson, is still a member) who were feeling a bit exhausted by the city’s audition circuit. They were interested in performing and producing work but also recognized the financial and creative strain that going solo can create. TS/MP was born based on the idea that if they came together they could share the resources (space, dancers, production costs, etc.) necessary to fulfill their artistic goals. Although today our organization generally supports itself financially, the same supportive vision is still maintained.

3. What is unique about TS/MP?

TS/MP consists of seven members and seven artistic directors. When we make a dance, each and every one of us is formulating its entire development. Originally we gave ourselves the freedom to individually choreograph short stand-alone dances. Back in 2009, we applied for the Joyce SoHo/Columbia College A.W.A.R.D. Show and opted to submit two stand alone duets that we proclaimed we would combine into a simultaneous quartet. They definitely called our bluff and invited us to compete. At that point there were five of us working together to mesh the two dances, sharing in every decision along the way. With the enormous success of this project, (we were selected to be competition finalists and later presented the work at the Joyce SoHo in New York City) we recognized that we were onto something that really worked within our company vision. We’ve been creating evening-length works using this model ever since. I don’t know of any other dance groups-at least locally-who are applying this level of collaboration to their process.

4. What type of background do the dancers in this group have? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Kelanie Murphy

March 5, 2012 by 4dancers

1. How did you become involved in dance?

My older sisters took dance classes at our local park district, and although I was only two years old I wanted to go too. I loved it from the beginning and was always dancing and dressing up in old recital costumes. After moving to a different town my mom enrolled my sisters in ballet classes at a more serious ballet studio and me at a smaller local studio because she thought being so young I would have more fun with less formal training. However, after seeing my sisters perform in the Nutcracker, I knew exactly what I wanted to be doing, and my mom let me switch dance schools. Once a week turned into twice, then before I knew it I was spending every day at the studio and loving it.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

I am currently an apprentice dancer with the Minnesota Ballet.

3. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor?

The best advice I have received is to never be satisfied and to never give up. There is always more you can do and farther you can push yourself.

4. What is your greatest challenge in dance?

I am not naturally turned out or naturally flexible so making my body do what I want it to has always been my biggest challenge. I have learned to work with what I have but am always trying to improve.

5. What is your biggest strength as a dancer? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Nadia Mara

February 20, 2012 by 4dancers

Our “10 Questions With…” today is with Nadia Mara from Atlanta Ballet…

1. How did you become involved with dance?

When I was 3 years old my mother took me to my first ballet class and since then I’ve been in love with the art of dancing.

2. What are you currently doing in the field?

Rehearsing Twyla Tharp’s world premiere The P,rincess and the Goblin.

3. Would you share a special moment from your career with readers?

Performing Giselle was very special to me. It was my first full length ballet and It was very challenging! I did a lot of research on the role during the previous months, watched many different versions, spent hours in the studios trying to make it as perfect as I could. After the show my parents were very proud and gave me a big hug and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I still keep one between a book’s pages.

4. What is the best advice you have ever received from a teacher or mentor regarding dance? [Read more…]

Interview With Author Germaine Shames

February 15, 2012 by 4dancers

Today we are happy to share this interview with author Germaine Shames…

What is your background in dance?

Like the protagonist in my novel I began taking ballet classes at the age of four with a teacher whom, my parents liked to boast, had studied under Martha Graham. Like other young girls, I dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina.

But I was not like most girls. Shy, stubborn, I balked at following choreography and often found myself stranded alone on one side of the studio while the class, moving as one body, occupied the opposite side. And then suddenly, before I had mastered a single step, it was time for my first recital. A chorus line of us baby ballerinas was positioned center-stage as the towering velvet curtain slowly, slowly opened. One look at the audience and I froze, mouth wide-open, hands clamped to my cheeks.

My parents removed me from ballet class and enrolled me again thee years later—with similar results. There would be no more recitals.

Flash forward half a century…

I have ripened into, not a ballerina, but a writer with abiding creative and emotional ties to dance and dancers. My forthcoming ballet-themed novel You, Fascinating You will be released within days.

The protagonist of my novel, Margit Wolf, begins the account of her life, “They say ballet chooses the dancer.” Regrettably, I was not among the chosen. How I envy those of you who are!

How did you become a writer? [Read more…]

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