margi cole – Page 3

The Art Of Choreography–In Layers

April 20, 2012 by Ashley David

If you’ve been following this series, you know that we have been interviewing different company members from The Dance COLEctive who are choreographing pieces for “COLEctive Notions 2012” – a Chicago-area show coming up in May. Today we’ll hear from Molly Grimm-Leasure–

(If you haven’t read the other posts in this series, here is the first, and then the second.)

Molly’s idea had to do with the thought that people may see the same piece of art differently. She comments, “Does it change your original thought to hear someone else’s idea? Or does it add another layer of understanding?” As she creates her work, she is having dancers view, write and move using her personal, abstract paintings to guide them through their own interpretations of what she originally saw before the brush touched the paint.

Here are some of her thoughts on the process…

What gave you the idea for this piece?

Recently I needed a new outlet to control some aggression I was feeling. I had always wanted to learn how to paint so I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of supplies. It became more of a passion and love–with the bonus side of being an outlet. I would put music on and make a mess with my paints! I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it. Painting made me feel so free and open to anything. This is how I feel when I dance, so why not make a dance from some of my paintings!

What was the process like of creating this work?

Once I was able to pick out the paintings I wanted to use; five of them, I had the dancers write what they saw without me giving them any information. Then I told them the titles of the paintings and had them write if it changed what they saw. From there they created phrases for each painting; needless to say we ended up with a lot of material!

How did the dancers help inform the piece?

Hearing their interpretations of the paintings was really neat and informative of how to proceed. All the material you will see is all their own! If I got stuck at any point, or if I saw something not working out, I would ask the dancers. They are the ones performing, so I want them to feel as comfortable as possible, even if that means changing a few things around to make that happen.

Were there any surprises as you worked on the choreography?

I was surprised at how I pieced together the material. I started piecing movement and phrases together as if I was painting. It was hard because I would find myself working and re-working a certain section until I saw what I wanted. Even then I may go back and add something else. What I enjoyed was that I had the ability to erase a part I didn’t like instead of finding a color to cover it.

In the end, did you learn anything about your own paintings?

I saw them differently based on the ideas and images the dancers had. It opened my mind to see not only what I was painting but other images too.

If you were to do this again, would you go about it the same way, or would you change something?

I wouldn’t use five paintings!! Having so much material I had to cut out some, as it became overwhelming! The piece probably could’ve been closer to 20 mins if I used everything that I had!

BIO: Molly Grimm-Leasure is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where she obtained a BFA in Dance Choreography. While at Columbia, she was a featured dancer in Dance Spirit Magazine, which tracked her professional and scholastic achievements and reported what life was like to be a dance major. Molly was one of three dancers in the United States chosen for this opportunity. Molly has been with The Dance COLEctive since 2002 and has also worked with Breakbone Dance Co. under the direction of Atalee Judy. In2006, Molly performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Chicago Gay Games under the choreographic direction of Joel Hall and Kevin Iega Jeff. More recently, Molly has choreographed for Stagg High School’s Orchesis program and was involved in choreographing and helping to produce a series of videos for International Women’s Day. These videos were shown on Accenture’s website. For the past two years her choreography has also been featured in The Dance COLEctive’s, COLEctive Notions. On occasion, she will teach modern classes during The Dance COLEctive’s Open Company Class. Molly also works as a full-time massage therapist in the Chicago area. Molly would like to give special thanks to her husband, Zak, and her parents for their love and support as she continues to follow her dreams.

Choreographer & Dancer: A Personal Relationship?

April 12, 2012 by 4dancers

Last week we ran an interview with Margi Cole about choreography and her upcoming showcase, which features dancers from her company making their own dances. Today we highlight both the dancer and the choreographer, to give you a closer look at the overall process.

Kaitlin Bishop is the choreographer here, and she has created a solo delving into the basic human emotion of sadness. The piece looks at how early childhood experiences with sadness dictate its existence (or lack thereof) in our adult lives and how we react to it, in it and through it.

Here are some of Kaitlin’s thoughts on the piece….

Where did the idea for this piece come from?

I think the idea for this piece has been slowly incubating in the back of my brain for a few years now. The work I’ve choreographed in college and for TDC is always rooted in a journey, be it a journey I’ve completed or a journey I’m currently experiencing. I’ve always been a very introspective person, keeping a journal even as a very young child, so thinking about and acknowledging my feelings is second nature, however, as I’ve gotten older, and have recently gotten married, I’m now not only recognizing emotional states but I’m really starting to analyze them, their range and scope, and question the true cause of them – if there is one. Sharing my daily life with another person has really been pretty fascinating in that I now have a witness to my daily emotional experience – someone who makes observations and asks questions, in a way forcing me to articulate how my internal thoughts & emotions manifest themselves externally.

Is there a reason you chose to make it a solo piece?

The idea and experience behind this piece is so personal, not just for me, but for Maggie, and essentially for every person who has ever experienced feeling sad. Everyone relates to sadness (and its varying degrees) so differently. Sadness is such a singularly personal and internal experience and journey, I couldn’t imagine attempting to capture that in anything other than a solo piece. When I watch dance, I’m always looking at and responding to the relationship between the dancers. When I see a (good) solo, I see a person existing in space, inhabiting their experience for me bear witness. I think if I added another person to that space, it would become about something else – not just this single person’s experiences within herself.

What was it like to choreograph this work?

It’s actually been very energizing and exciting in the process so far. Maggie and I have such an open and honest dialogue about our respective experiences of sadness (and causes thereof) in our lives, and also through this process, how ideas are being manifested physically and visually, etc. It’s pretty exciting to go into a rehearsal and have absolutely no reservations or fear about what we might discover, either in the work or in ourselves.

Can you explain your process?

We started rehearsing in the beginning of March, but we started discussing the piece in January. I had a (long) list of questions I created based on my own experiences throughout my life, questions I’ve been asked myself, conversations we’ve had in the past, etc, for Maggie to answer that served as the jumping off point for this whole process.

From there, we just kept making observations and asking more questions and having more e-mail conversations, until I went back and extrapolated the ideas, phrases, and stories that really resonated with me. Bringing those discussions into the movement invention process has involved a lot of improvisation and movement investigation, teaching each other our movement vocabulary, stripping it down, and then building it back up. I create work similarly to how I write: with the overall framework of what I want to convey set, and then allowing the movement vocabulary to develop and flesh out the experience, making changes and going in new directions as the process and underlying ideas dictate.

Prior to this—what experience did you have with choreographing dance?

Having grown up teaching and choreographing dance in a typical studio setting (jazz, tap, ballet, etc), I graduated college a little burnt out on the idea and not really interested in pursuing my own choreographic opportunities to any great extent. Working in a collaborative environment with The Dance COLEctive really satisfied that urge for the past several years too. I created a work for last year’s COLEctive Notions concert when I challenged myself to do something that scared the crap out of me and had such a great time, it really seemed to light a little fire in me. Plus, it would just be silly to pass up the opportunity and resources that Margi’s giving us in this process. It’s incredibly rare to be given the space, time, and energy that Margi’s giving us to do this.

What was it like to choreograph for Maggie?

Choreographing for Maggie is 90% of the fun. We have such a special friendship, and that has really served as an incredible foundation for the piece we’re creating together. To be able to so openly delve into our thoughts, feelings, and experiences and then really explore a physical embodiment of those discussions has been incredible. There’s no one I trust with this piece more than Maggie, and it’s actually been a great learning experience for me as well, to listen to her own thought processes and ideas as we’ve investigated movement ideas and such. It just adds to the personal reward of creating when there’s so much reciprocity with the dancer embodying the work, especially given the sensitive and personal nature of the subject matter. I don’t think there’s any fear or insecurity in this process for either of us, which makes it all the more exciting.

How would you characterize the entire experience?

So far, the experience of creating this piece has been amazing. The discussions, the discoveries, the challenges, have been so fun. What I think will be interesting (and slightly scary) to see will be what it’s like to have this piece viewed by others. Right now, Maggie and I have this very open and safe space we’ve created for each other in this process, and I’m very aware of the fact that at some point, others will see this, will see me, essentially, and the ideas behind this work are so incredibly personal for me, it’s more than a little terrifying to have it available for public consumption.

And now for a perspective from the other side…the dancer, Maggie Koller, talks about what it was like to work with Kaitlin…

What did you think of the choreographic process for this solo piece?

I found the process to be very interesting! When Kaitlin views dance, she finds herself more appreciative of work that gives her time to establish an emotional connection with the dancer(s) on stage. So, we’ve spent a lot of time creating the sort of normal, day-to-day personality and movement vocabulary of the character to help the audience connect with this person before we ask them to be with her while she finds herself in more compromised emotional states. Kaitlin also has a very interesting view of space and how she (or the work) applies meaning to the various areas of the stage. I was in the quartet she set on TDC last year, so I’ve gotten to work with her in this capacity before. This process has been even more fascinating for me because it’s just the two of us! I get to see more deeply into her head and understand her unique points of view on dance making.

What was the most difficult part of the process for you?

Perhaps this is an obvious answer, but I think the fact that this work is a solo makes it challenging. After being in the company for 6 years, Kaitlin and I are well versed in the “Margi style,” which includes a great deal of partnering and relationship development. In a solo, you don’t have anyone else to build a relationship with, so we’re really having to work to tell the story with a single body in space. Secondly, that single body is mine! So I am fully responsible for communicating Kaitlin’s vision, and it’s really important to me to bring that vision to life.

What was the most fulfilling part?

Probably a combination of the subject matter and the development of the work as a solo. The span of negative and positive emotions people experience, whether as a reaction to events or encountered habitually, is something Kaitlin and I have spent a lot of time discussing over the course of our friendship. It’s been really interesting to continue those discussions with an end goal of translating our thoughts and experiences into movement for her work. I am also finding this solo process to be quite satisfying. I really appreciate being put in a position where I’m expected to manifest such specific requests and corrections. Every breath, focus change, direction of energy, and the force I put into each moment has been analyzed and dissected repeatedly by both of us to make sure the way I move is true to Kaitlin’s vision and true to the emotional states we’re exploring.

What was it like to work with Kaitlin as a choreographer?

I love working with Kaitlin! She and I are really great friends and share a unique connection as human beings, so having this time and space to work together has been truly wonderful. I really feel comfortable moving in front of her and am totally open to her feedback. Analyzing, emailing, journaling, and talking about all that we’ve explored to get to where we are with the work has been very engaging. I’m honored that she trusts me with her vision.

BIOS:

Maggie Koller received interdisciplinary dance training at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park, Illinois. She earned her BA from Beloit College with a double major in Dance and Psychology, graduating with departmental honors, Summa Cum Laude. Maggie is currently in her sixth season with The Dance COLEctive (TDC). She has also danced with Chicago-based companies The LIVE ANIMALS Performance Collective, Ayako Kato/Dance Union, and The Space/Movement Project (TS/MP), for which she acted as co-director and CFO. Maggie has choreographed for TDC, TS/MP, The Open Space Project, The Inconvenience, OPRF’s Orchesis, and is involved in an ongoing performance collaboration with musical artist AM Brother. Maggie also has a full-time position as a Creative Planner for Central Coast Agency, a creative think tank for advertising, content, user experience, and design.

Kaitlin Bishop came to Chicago in 2002 to pursue her dream and passion for dance. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Dance, Kaitlin has had the privilege of working and performing with such dance makers as Krenly Guzman, Nicolle Wood, Molly Shanahan, Angie Hauser, Colleen Halloran, Jeff Hancock, Sandra Kaufman and Liz Burritt. Kaitlin also serves on the Board of Directors and heads the Fundraising Committee of The Big Hearts Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for canine and feline cardiac disease. This is Kaitlin’s sixth season with The Dance COLEctive and she thanks her family and friends for their unwavering love and support.

Margi Cole — On Choreography

April 6, 2012 by Ashley David

This month on 4dancers you’ll notice posts on choreography. Today we have Margi Cole, Artistic Director and Founder of The Dance COLEctive, a Chicago-based company that has been around for over 16 years…

When did you first take an interest in choreography and what drew you to it?

Believe it or not my interest in choreography started young. I organized neighborhood kids and actually produced performances in the garage at a neighbors house. Funny to think about now. I think I really enjoyed gathering and organizing groups of people.

How do you see the role of the choreographer in the dance world?

This is a hard question. I guess the privilege of being a choreographer is creating the opportunity for others to see something new. The power to create an image or explore an idea that resonates with someone long after the live performance.

What is your own choreographic process?

I work very collaboratively. Usually I come in with an idea and some plans around how I want to explore that idea whether it be through the development of movement vocabulary, research, personal writing exercises and conversations about our own experiences. I share this with the group and then we go on from there. The process is informed by everyone’s participation and my role inevitably as the editor.

“COLEctive Notions 2012” is coming up in May, and it’s a showcase for choreography from members of your company. Can you talk a bit about how you helped mentor the choreographers through the process of creating works for this program?

First, they had to submit a proposal where they put forward their ideas in writing. While this seems simple, it is often a great challenge to clarify ones ideas in writing. It is an important and necessary tool. From there they work on their own for an extended period of time. When they are ready they invite me in for feedback, ask me questions, look to me for direction and confirmation that their ideas are working. I encourage them through the process and help them see it to the final stages for performance.

What are the greatest challenges for new choreographers in terms of creating a work?

Having the resources they need to create work whether it be space or the knowledge of how to assemble a group and produce a performance or access to a “mentor” to help them explore their ideas and ask them questions throughout the process.

Is the relationship a reciprocal one? Do you learn anything from the choreographers?

Absolutely! It is so interesting to see what they value in terms of craft. Watching them helps me to further define my own aesthetic and watch them deepen their own. It is pretty awesome!

What is the most surprising thing you have learned since you have been choreographing dances?

The power of a strong visual image. How important it is to be honest in the process with yourself, your collaborators and your audience. That the options for creativity are endless and that fills me with fear and wonder!

BIO:

Margi Cole graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts, received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Columbia College Chicago and a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a teacher and guest lecturer, she has taught for numerous educational and professional organizations such as the Alabama Ballet, the American College Dance Festival, Ballet Tennessee, Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and various other institutions throughout Illinois, the Midwest, and the Southeast. As a choreographer, Margi has been commissioned by The Alabama Ballet, Springfield Ballet Company, Sanspointe DanceCompany, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Girl’s Preparatory School of Tennessee, Beloit College and Columbia College Chicago.

As a performer, Margi has danced with well-known choreographers and companies, including Ralph Lemon, Joe Goode Performance Group, Liz Burritt, Stephen Koplowitz, Ann Boyd, David Rousseve, Bill Young, Douglas Nielsen, Timothy O’Slynne, Paula Frasz, Colleen Halloran, Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, Renee Wadleigh, and Ellie Klopp. In August 2011, Cole traveled to Finhorn Scotland to join 19 international performers to participate in the Deborah Hay Solo Commissioning Project.

Awards and acknowledgements of Margi’s accomplishments include making the list of “Teachers Rated Excellent by their Students” four consecutive semesters while on faculty at the University of Illinois, receiving two Dance Center of Columbia College Choreographic Mentoring Scholarships, two Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, a 2005 Chicago Dancemakers Forum grant, a American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and winning a Panoply Festival Choreography Award for Contemporary Dance in Huntsville, AL.

Margi is active in the Chicago dance community, serving on grant panels and in public forums as an arts administrator, dancer and choreographer. In 2011, she was integral in organizing both the Dance/USA and Marshall Forum annual conferences in Chicago. Cole is currently a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Consortium Member and is part of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship Selection Committee. She is currently on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, where she has served as a Lecturer and Associate Chair. Most recently she was name on of The Players in New City’s “Fifty People Who Really Perform in Chicago” List.

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