Lisa shared with me a selection from Ann Bogart's Viewpoints, written by one of Ann's dramaturgs. It gives detail to how he works to create his dramaturgy for Ann's work. His process involves collecting lots and lots of visual imagery and creating interactive wall displays from which she directs her actors to gather their material for their characters. I think about how each of us works on our work. The environments we create in, the ways we create an environment to work in.
My colleague and amazing choreographer Nicole Livieratos keeps her studio pristine, except for one curious piece. A red wagon. An old iron garden table. That somehow figures into the work. Not actually, but in her thinking.
My studio walls get covered with writings, drawings, images, scraps of paper with quotes on them. And books, books, books everywhere. I actually don't write in the studio. Not very much anyway. I write at the kitchen table, much to the dismay of any attempts for an orderly dinner.
Ann Kilkelly, another great artist, keeps boxes catalogued and things go in the boxes. But the boxes contain all - no spillage.
Michael (one of our lab participants and long time colleague/friend) and I spent deep retreat time together looking at this question among many others, and he articulated the outdoors as his studio.
And of course - each of these spaces becomes a document of the artist's working process.
We have an opportunity to collectively build our creative process/environment. I remember one Choreo Lab when Joanna Haigood came to the Pillow to visit. She came to the studio, where our walls were covered with papers and drawings. She said, teasingly, "Uh oh. Lotta thinking going on in there."
We have an opportunity to be witness to how the transformation of the space documents our thinking process/creative process over the course of our eight days together. How can we learn to "read" these signs? How will this influence the work we create, as well as how the work we create influences the space?
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My creative process? Mmmmh... The creative contexts may differ but I'm sure if I reflect upon the projects of my past, the elements of my creative process remain personal. Whether I am writing a movement infused lesson plan for a preschool class or choreographing a classical musical for 7th & 8th graders, there is first the spark, followed by the period of chaos and doubt, out of which reveals itself a human collage of sorts. The spark may be a poem, an old black & white photograph, or a vignette of two strangers arguing on a street corner. Trying to trust that magic will reveal itself from the scraps of notes, images, movement phrases, and text that tends to follow the spark is the challenging part. Throughout, I work hard to keep self-doubt at a distance. The core truth for me is that the process is not a solitary one but a collaborative one...always. I prefer to let the students/dancers lead me, teach me. Co-artists offer up their individual gifts to every project. For this I am eternally grateful. Often I feel as though my work is to paste or weave the pieces of collage together. Often it seems the colors, the light, the music, and the dance already exist and the hope is that in the power of the connections we build together,there is a story that wants to be told. If we are lucky the end product holds a glimmer of the magic that was the process.
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