October 24, 2007

Creating a History

What are we doing when we make work? What is this process of creating a performance with a group of people? What does it mean to choreograph or direct a work?

I'm sure alot of people have both personal and more general perspectives on these questions. And, all artists create a process, or a couple of processes, to lead them through the making of work. For a while now I have thought of this process as creating a history with the other performers. Each rehearsal we make alittle more history - have experiences, gain better understanding, deepen relationships and find more options. These experiences become the history that we then perform - we don't, and can't, perform all of our history, but it is there - like a back story that a novelist knows but is not in the book, but influences what the reader gets to read. And, each performance becomes part of our history as well. When we performed at Carter Baron Ampitheater we had an experience that was unique for those people who were there - it is something we share and understand. If you weren't there you can't understand. These events and moments add up to what becomes the next performance. Even the moments at the beginning of each rehearsal where people are warming up and chatting - learning about one another's lives, or thoughts or funny quirks - this becomes part of the history of the work, or this group and, I fully believe, influences the work. It is partly a matter of building trust between the performers, but is is also intimacy, familiarity and understanding.

Most of the work I do takes quite a bit of time to create because we do spend so much time just dancing together to begin to have a history together - of course as The PlayGround stays stable with its members we already have a history and can move forward quicker. I have a colleague who once bragged about choreographing a dance in 3 rehearsals - I usually barely have an idea about who we are, let alone what the dance is going to be at 3 rehearsals. But, different processes for different folks, as they kind of say...

Posted by Daniel Burkholder on October 24, 2007 9:37 PM

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