N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month?
Q: I'm most excited about dancing alongside some of Boston's very best Choreographers and dancers but also I'm reeeeally excited to present a piece of work I believe will move and transform all in attendance very very deeply and profoundly. N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? Q: This is a solo performance. The reason for a solo performance is to highlight the context of the music and lyrics by maintaining a solitary focus on a isolated emotional stimulus. It's more of a challenge as such but, in this case, very appropriate. I'm looking forward to presenting this very emotionally relevant new Piece and rising to the challenges that comes with a solo performance. N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers? Q: Wow! There are so many! At the top? In the Contemporary Hip Hop genre? Ricardo Foster Jr. ..without a doubt the finest Instructor and Choreographer of his genre having worked with a number of famed R&B artists, Usher, Lady Gaga etc!!! Next is Papa Sy, PaSy Modern West African Dance Company, of which I'm a proud member. Lastly, Loraine Chapman who witnessed my teaching abilities in the area of healing movement, Contemporary hip-hop and hired me as a Contemporary Hip Hop Instructor for a special project. Her work is simply gorgeous!
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N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? C: I'm actually creating a solo for myself. This is fairly outside of my comfort zone, as usually I like to work with a big cast and I don't like to perform in my own work. This summer I created and performed a solo for the first time, and it's a form that I'm excited to continue working in. In this process I have found that as a dancer it is a lot harder to listen to my own direction than it is to listen to the direction of others.
N: Kinetic Synergy covers a lot of different dance styles. That’s very exciting! What do you feel is the core of who you are as a company? L: KSDC loves featuring all our dancers talents, which is why we showcase all styles of dance. We strive to reach our inner dancers dreams of the art we love and let dancers learn and teach each other. As a group, contemporary dance is a style we feel all of our dancers excel in. Contemporary dances allows dancers to interpret movement and music in their own way, making each piece whole. N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? L: Being able to collaborate as a group to create a piece for this show. We worked as a group exploring the movement and patterns to create the sequences throughout the dance.
N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers? L: Survey Says: Mia Michaels, Sonya Tayeh, JoJo Gomez, Matt Steffanina, Kyle Hanagami, Gregory Hines, Travis Wall
N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? C: This is the first National Choreography Month that I’ve participated in so I’m excited for the experience and to see what kind of work the choreographers come up with. I’m really excited to be getting my work out there in a public setting. Since I graduated from Bard College about five years ago I’ve been dancing as a company member in Dance Prism, a small ballet company in West Concord, MA. It’s a wonderful company and community but with a degree in modern choreography I only really get to showcase any of my own work during our summer studio performance. Most of my solo work is done on pointe so I’m also interested to see what the general reaction is to my kind of work with a man dancing on pointe, being that it’s my first time putting it in front of a wider audience.
N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers?
C: My favorite choreographer is Antony Tudor. I love his understated style of ballet. It is so smooth and yet says so much. I often show clips of his Jardin aux Lilas and The Leaves are Fading to my dancers when I start a new piece, to give them a sense of the subtle arms and understated emotional cues that I love to see. I also love a lot of Twyla Tharp’s work because of her use of pointe shoes in a more modern setting. I love to see subtlety in a choreographer’s work. My “wow” moments happen most often when a choreographer hits all the right notes, in movement design, music choice, and their ability to elicit just the right response from a dancer. When a choreographer is able to make all the pieces fall together, it is just magical. N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? C: Honestly, I am fairly well used to creating work in less than a month. For the summer performance that I mentioned earlier I am usually working on up to four of my own pieces while learning other choreographer’s pieces as well in an equally short time. I’ve been doing this for five years now so I am no stranger to this process. I do like to have time to go back and modify the work if the piece needs it. Having more time allows for more precision but the shorter rehearsal period, as I said before, has forced me to let go of my perfectionism. It has actually allowed me to produce a piece to which I feel surprisingly connected thus far because I don’t have time to obsess over the details. I’m also working on a piece now that won’t be performed until the summer and I am setting it on two dancers from Dance Prism which means that I am experiencing two very different kinds of process at the same time. It has certainly been an interesting experience to hold back to back rehearsals, one in which I can take all the time in the world to communicate the piece to my dancers, and one in which I struggle over trying to let go of detail enough to fall in love with my own movement in a very short period. It has been a very enlightening month of choreography and art.
We interviewed you back in 2015 when you were part of 24Hr ChoreoFest. What sort of amazing things have happened in your life since then? I am grateful ChoreoFest sparked the re-birth of Freedom Dances in the Northeast, following my return to Rhode Island from North Carolina. Since then, I have created many new works, co-produced a concert at AS220 with Heather Brown Dance in January 2016, produced “Verge” at the Providence Fringe Festival (FringePVD), and collaborated with composers Kirsten Volness, Dan VanHassel, and Verdant Vibes. Freedom Dances has also performed new work in a number of shared dance events including José Mateo’s Dance for World Community, AS220’s Dance Works in Process, The Dance Complex’s Friends and Faculty Showcase, Tiny and Short, Festival of Us, You, We and Them, and NACHMO 2017. In fall of 2016, as one of the guest choreographers for the Providence College Dance Company, I created “Silver Threads Among the Ashes”, inspired by the 15th anniversary of 9/11. I have joined the dance faculty at AS220 and am completing my 2nd year of the Boston Feldenkrais Training Program.
Freedom Dances’ mission is about creating works that explore individual, social, and cultural identities. This last year has been a doozy in dealing with those departments. How has the climate of the country impacted your work of late?
Last year’s NACHMO piece was very much a reflection of the results of the 2016 Presidential election, set to Kirsten Volness’ composition, “Complacency Will Kill You – (Contentment Is a Choice)”. There are so many incredulous and baffling things happening in our country and world recently, it is hard to grasp onto one strand before the next thing happens that leaves me with my mouth agape. There are a multitude of topics which infuriate me and pull on my heart strings promulgating a call to action. However, amidst the chaos, and changes in my personal life, I find myself logistically and emotionally much closer to my family. In troubling times, I find it important to remember that when push comes to shove, what is most important are the connections with those we love, those we can help in our day-to-day lives, and those who bolster us in times of need. Who are some of your favorite choreographers? Christopher Wheeldon, Alvin Ailey, Dwight Rhoden, George Balanchine What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? I find every process creates itself out of necessity of the parameters surrounding it. As dancemakers, we never have the luxury of time or money to pay for a lot of space, dancers, etc. so in that way, all processes are restricted by time. Of course, when in university, we are afforded free dancers and space, and a semester to make a piece or maybe two. In the past couple of years, most of my dances are created in less than 15 hours, unless the work is one of my longer multi-media productions. In that way, this process isn’t much different in total hours, but shorter in overall duration. We had our first rehearsal on January 15th! My dancers are great – they love dancing and being in the studio, so they are super generous, amazingly talented, and a joy to work with! We have been meeting twice a week, a total 4 hours per week, plus company class.
N: I’ve noticed a theme with several of the choreographers participating in this year’s festival splitting time between New York and Boston. How has living in such close proximity to two major cities changed the way you build work? What are the cons of splitting your time between two cities?
I am able to find many dancers and build work for large groups. I mostly love it, after about 6 months I get bored of the same routine and need a change! The logistics of just remembering where I left things and maintaining relationships that include long absences. N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? I am doing a solo so for me the challenge is finding inspiration. I am working from the sound more than I usually do in a group work. With a group I generally bring the sound in later but [for this piece] I am building it with the movement. N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? Mostly finding adequate time within such a short span of time to work on the piece. January is a particularly busy time for me because most years around this time we are finishing up a piece. I have been in NYC performing a new work which we will bring to Boston March 16-17th at the Dance Complex. I have packed up my NYC apt and moved back to start my spring semester of teaching this week. Getting my Boston place set up after subletters have departed and sorting thru all those details in the midst of trying to focus on creative work and starting classes. January is the busiest month of the year for me! N: How long do you usually take to create work? I usually take several months so I am finding that I have to be less precious about the details, a bit easier in a solo. There is a freedom not to worry about perfecting something so much.
Don't miss the NACHMO Boston Concerts at the Dance Complex on Friday, February 9th and Saturday, February 10th! N: We interviewed you back in 2016 when Boston Community Dance Project was participating in 24Hr ChoreoFest. What sorts of amazing things have happened since then?
It has been a world wind of excitement since 2016! In 2017 BCDP showcased in over 15 guest performances, held 8 workshops, continued our Thursday Contemporary Fusion class, had two successful CONTEMPORIZE! Intensives and sold out our 5th Annual Benefit Show! We solely have raised over 2,000 for charities and keep continuing to spread the love of movement through our hashtag #FollowTheArtistry. N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? HEELS HEELS HEELS! We have ventured into some new ways to approach the stage and have worked very hard to bring a new dimension to our pieces! We have broadened our repertoire and explored some new moves to express which we are extremely excited to perform! We also have asked other dancers from the community to join us in this movement that highlights empowerment in young women to succeed and make life happen! N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? We seems to put ourselves in these tight matters a lot with producing a two hour show in just a few weeks each summer. BCDP seems to thrive in these situations and accept the challenge with open minds! To be honest, one month makes us feel better relieved and unstressed compared to the demand we go through to create for other events. We are sending so much love, creative juices, and positive energy to all the other artists as they put together for NACHMO 2018! Happy Dancing!  Happy Birthday to everyone who celebrates in February including:
Andew Palermo, Benjamin Rogers, Minna Scholten, Robert Ayles, Pam Harris, Shelia Friswell, Leah Jonhanson, Stephanie Sune, Sarah Feinberg, Jason (Mouse) Vasquez, Caitlin Meehan, Peggy Wacks, Joanne Dougan, Deborah Friedes, Steve Wightman, Bill T. Jones, Gregory Hines, and Jacob Rosen. If you don't know who all these fabulous people are make sure you take a minute to check out some of the links! Whether they are famous choreographers or local supporters our birthday boys and girls do some really amazing things. Want to be on the birthday list? Click here and let us know when your birthday is! |
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