Monday, November 21, 2011

Make It Shorter

I would never argue that choreography is anything but a highly skilled art form. Indeed, the first responsibility of a choreographer is to be innovative. Without innovation, dance simply restates the same thing over and over, never pushing our skills as artists. I think, though, that what has been forgotten is the responsibility of the choreographer to be a skilled editor. Watching modern dance performances lately has felt like watching a strutting peacock – who can hold the biggest and brightest feathers up the longest in order to win the audience. The loss of this essential skill reflects not only the continuously growing level of self involvement in dance, but also, dare I say it, the diminishing skills of those we consider to be “great choreographers.”
At a dance show recently in which several highly renowned choreographers presented work, I was struck repeatedly with the same thought: That would have been brilliant had it been shorter. What makes dance such a unique art form is that it is so personal; using our minds and bodies to be art makes it incredibly difficult to separate yourself enough from your work to recognize that something is not working. If we think about it, though, it is really quite self involved of us to think that just because we enjoy watching our own work for 20 minutes that other will as well. It’s like having the overly friendly person sit next to you on a Bart train and monologue about their life problems to you – you simply don’t care. That doesn’t make us bad people, it makes us normal. Modern dance pieces have become that overly friendly Bart rider. The audience, at some point, just doesn’t care any more.
It is this inability to look at our own work critically which, I think, is diminishing the talents of choreographers. Brilliant work becomes dull and lifeless as the minutes tick by and the audience begins to wander. So what can we as artists do in order to stay true to our vision, but also get an audience in the seats? Boil your work down to only the most significant parts and even then, question their significance. Cut it down. Make what you have count.
This may seem like an extreme level of criticism, but I’m only trying to follow my own advice. Be harsh in the analysis of your own work. Make it shorter.