Getting to Know Christopher Croucher - NACHMO Boston Interview

By Nicole Harris

Photo by Olivia Moon Photography

I first met Christopher through NACHMO Boston in 2018 where I interviewed him about the piece he was building. I got to spend a lot more time with him for NACHMO Boston this year, for which I am very grateful! The funny thing about these interviews (and the current state of the world) is that I have never actually met Christopher in person... We’re going to have to fix that soon!

My question based on today’s interview is this: What can we be doing to make sure that the members of our community who don’t directly live/rehearse/train in Boston or Cambridge still have connections to the community? I know so many dancers and choreographers who, like Christopher, live in the Metrowest area, Central MA, and beyond. Any thoughts on ways we can continue developing those relationships?

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N: A lot happens during NACHMO Boston, this year more than most. In what ways did and didn’t your piece become the thing you thought it would at the start of the month?
CC: I could not possibly have anticipated what developed from the unique circumstances of this year’s choreography challenge. My original intention was to set a work that was completelychoreographed, solid and repeatable, mainly because most of my work over the last few years has been largely improvisation-based. I also intended it to be filmed entirely outdoors.

However, one thing I could not have anticipated was that I would end up being exposed to and contracting coronavirus very early on in the endeavor. That completely derailed the process but led me to examine how to conserve energy and work efficiently with the circumstances I was given. It forced me to be creative in ways that I would otherwise have resisted. It required me to set aside expectation entirely and strive for what made sense in the moment rather than trying to force something into existence.

That’s where the idea of using a guided mediation came about. In the piece When We’re Stuck Inside, I was literally stuck inside, unable to go anywhere and frankly too exhausted to have gone anywhere anyway. But I am an energy healer and guided meditation plays a major role in my healing work. I decided to create a meditation as the soundtrack in an effort to suggest that one way to find joy is to find or create it in the mind. When I was able to film outside again, I used it as an opportunity to explore the relationship between inside and out that could signify finding the sense of joy as in a dream. It seems to have worked better than I intended because a number of people who saw the work in progress told me that, rather than feeling the piece as a suggestion, they went on the journey through the meditation as it was happening, feeling relaxed and happier afterward.

The most unexpected part is that this led to an expanded project around this idea that is now in the first stages of production! I can’t say too much yet but I’m bursting with excitement over the possibilities of the first iteration and many more to follow!!! Now I definitely didn’t think my piece for NACHMO 2021 would become that, but here it is and I am so grateful!
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N: What sort of changes (if any) did you make between the NACHMO Boston informal showing and the Malden Dance Mile?
CC: Really the only change I made to my piece between the informal showing and the Malden Dance was the production value. During the first filming of the piece, I was rushed and basically made whatever made sense with the easiest resources at hand. Because that was always the plan going into it, I went into that first production thinking of it as a storyboard, knowing things would change but the shape would remain the same.

​​For the Malden Dance Mile, I entirely re-filmed the piece but spent a great deal of time planning and implementing the production. Having the opportunity to hone the piece after the first showing was such an incredible learning experience. It’s still not perfect, (when will it ever be really) but I took to heart the suggestions given in the workshops and mentorship opportunities that NACHMO Boston provided this year which I feel elevated the piece in ways I had never considered before. And let me pause here to say how grateful I am for the grace and skill with which NACHMO Boston handled the challenges of this format.

​N: Who are your mentors? What makes those relationships special to you? What are you doing to pay forward the gifts they have given you?
CC: I am lucky to have had some wonderful teachers and mentors in my life as a dancer. I went to Bard College as an undergraduate to major in dance. I met some wonderful teachers there, two of whom I would like to mention in particular because they are no longer with us and I often think of them when I dance: Lenore Latimer and Aileen Passloff. Both of those wonderful women inspired me to dance with authenticity and honesty to who I am as a human being. I can never thank them enough for what they taught me in the short time I knew them.

The rest of my professors in the dance department at Bard College all had a hand in making me the dancer and choreographer I am today. Peggy Florin, Jean Churchill, Maria Simpson, Leah Cox, Stuart Singer, Marjorie Folkman…each of these wonderful teachers and more all gave me something important. They inspired me, challenged old thought patterns, supported me while I learned to dance on pointe (even if they weren’t thrilled about it at times), and pushed me to discover what my way of dancing through the world is.

In a completely different way, my Master’s Tutor at the Glasgow School of Art, Michelle Hannah, challenged me as an artist. Without that challenge, I might never have thought to push beyond what I thought of as dance performance, stretching into the world of fine art performance as well. Her support was invaluable in that process.

And then there’s Dance Prism Ballet Company. Dance Prism, and its Artistic Director Mary Demaso, have become like an extended family to me. Though I have come and gone back and forth over the years that I have been dancing with the company, every time I walk through that studio door it feels like coming home. I am so lucky to call Mary and the wonderful group of dancers at Dance Prism my friends.

Truth be told, I don’t know that I can ever do enough to pay forward what these wonderful dancers and teachers have given me over the years. The best I can do today is to keep making work and bringing dance into the world. Hopefully, someday I can inspire someone the way they did for me.
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N: It is important to us that we continue to lift up other artists in our community. Who are some of your favorite Boston area choreographers? Why?
CC: Truth be told, and I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, I am not particularly familiar with choreographers in the Boston area. Living about an hour outside the city makes building connections with the dance community a little difficult. Strangely enough, in this year of isolation, I have felt more connected to other members of the Boston dance community more than ever before. I am hoping that this is the beginning of some wonderful friendships!
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That being said, I have had some incredible experiences over the years with organizations like The Dance Complex, Dancing Queerly, Luminarium Dance Company, and of course Monkeyhouse. The works I have seen, classes I’ve attended, workshops I’ve taken and auditions I’ve been to have all been integral to the process of understanding who I am as a choreographer and dancer.