I participated in a choreographic workshop – once – and trust me – once was enough. First I should probably point out that I was a reluctant participant. The group that I was working with had a large choreographic program and since I was beginning to lean in that direction – it was suggested (strongly) that I join one of the sessions. The woman that ran the workshop was pushy, opinionated and confrontational. On the very first day of the workshop, she asked the four participants (three men and me) if it mattered to us whether the audience understood what we were creating. The three men said “yes” and I said “no”. It’s a surprising answer now that I think back on it – most of my creations have been known for their clarity of thought (audience-wise). However at the time, I truly felt and still feel that dance was more like a modern painting – more about the emotional impact than the intended message. I am (and am still) very comfortable with one person seeing one thing in my work and another person seeing something else. I am also comfortable with the fact that not everyone will like what they see. The workshop woman looked at me and said, “In my workshop, you need to care about what I think.” OK – nice to know that we started off on a good foot.
The next hour was spent with the four of us groping around the studio with our eyes closed. I’m not sure what the point of this exercise was – something organic – whatever that means. The following days were filled with choreographic exercises such practicing canons, creating patterns on the floor, developing timing, etc. Here’s my question. Considering that all the participants were accomplished dancers – why did we have to waste a week learning to do something that we’d been doing most of our lives? We had been dancing in floor patterns, on different timings and in canon form for years. At what point did we loose all this knowledge and become stupid? The only new thing that I learned during that choreographic workshop was “retrograde” – which is the total reversal of the movement – kind of like running a film in reverse. While I admire the intention, I have yet to see any choreographer use this concept successfully – not that several haven’t tried. Most of their attempts have been spectacular disasters.
What I found most annoying about the entire choreographic workshop experience was the judgmental assessments from the workshop leader. Here’s the problem I have with it. If you are pushing me to create in the manner that you think is appropriate – then aren’t I just replicating your creative vision? I think that if we truly wish to nurture creative thinkers then we have to let them find their own paths in their own ways. If not – we simply become clones of the original. The end of this story is that I did go on to create my first work about a year later and the title of the work was “My thoughts are my own”. The title had nothing to do with the work. It was simply a statement that my intentions of the work were nobody’s business but my own and quite frankly – I could care less if the workshop leader got it or not.