New Choreo Ideas

Shallom | Dec 31, 2007 | 0

As I was lying in bed last night I came up with an outline for a new work. This project has been at the back of my mind for months, years - but until now I have not had enough distance.  Have not felt strong enough to tackle it.

I want to make a piece that is mostly auto-biographical. It will be a duet between myself and a male dancer. The concept of the work will revolve around my dysfunctional relationship with my ex-husband.

It will explore the cycle of abuse that we became trapped in, and our mutual inability to let go. The way that we reached a point of crisis again and again. His anger and violence, apologies, my forgiveness, acceptance, unexpressed anger that turned inwards upon myself. Feeling trapped. Reaching the point of no return. Leaving, looking back, leaving again, finally letting go.

My challenge will be to abstract this narrative structure, to strip away meaning in the generation of movement and to add it back in during the crafting stages.  Today I will be creating a phrase that will be incorporated into the final work.  I will be working from some poems that I wrote during and after this relationship to generate a first draft of movement that can be manipulated later on.

I have one section semi-complete already - a 3 minute duet that I choreographed between myself and a wooden chair.  This is a work in progress also, and has been performed on its own and as a part of a larger work with DC-based Contradiction Dance.  I think that it can have a home in this new duet.  You can see the chair duet here:

I will be continuing work on this piece when I get back to Vancouver.  I will need to find a male dancer to work with, someone who is interested in contributing to the choreographic development of the work - and who doesn't mind that this piece will eventually end up set on someone from DC.  Hopefully I can present the completed work in Vancouver and/or Seattle this spring.

I'll also be looking for a DC-based dancer to work with this summer.  If you're interested, please send your CV and photo to shallom.johnson@gmail.com.

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Modern, Choreography, Contemporary (all tags)