When I was originally approached to audition for the Dance On Ensemble in its pilot form I hesitated as I didn’t understand what the focus of age in dance had to do with me. I was 46 years old, dancing in several productions as well as working as artistic assistant and rehearsal director to two different choreographers. Age didn’t seem to have any bearing on my life or professional activities so why would I want to be in an ensemble that focused on age?
Even in asking this question I recognised a possible unspoken shame at not presenting myself, my age, and my internalised history in this art form in a profound or proud manner.
So, without dragging out this narrative too far, I auditioned, was accepted, and am currently the artistic director of the Dance On Ensemble which is in its 6th year of operation with funding from the federal government of Germany.
I share these original thoughts and doubts as through my work with the Dance On Ensemble I came to understand how important it is for dancers who continue to choose to dance, specifically to dance in other makers work, to not only continue, but to thrive, learn and present their multiple talents to an audience.
I hadn’t realised at the time of my original contact with the Dance On Ensemble that in several, if not most, structurally subsidised dance companies, be it classical ballet or contemporary dance theater, there is a pre-determined age limit for the dancers employed in these situations. 40 being the most common average of the “ageing out” of a performing career.
In my free lance ignorance I hadn’t realised this was an actual institutional practice. I myself had never been employed in a ballet company or “stadt theater” situation and had never witnessed this ageism in contract form. Offering a solution to this practice is one of the core motivations for the Dance On Ensemble. One of many.
Working in a room with other dancers who have an equal amount of lived experience and dedication to continue working on their art form, through the adversity that any dance career presents, with the added courage of refusing to be told when to stop, was and continues to be, transcendent.
To support this courage and curiosity, I have attempted to bring a curation of choreographic experiences that has several branches (for lack of a better visual). My goal has been to present work that allows us to go thorough a process that is new and artistically solid. As performers with up to 30 or more years of experience each this can be quite a challenge. The one shared motivation we in the Ensemble all share is a desire to face new challenges, and the avoidance of an easy process or safe artistic choice. And to have some fun.
For the current project we are working on Making Dances / Dancing Replies we have asked contemporary choreographers and artists to make reactions, responses, or replies to classic, radical modern performance works.
Works that we have in our repertory for various reasons.
When I started in my role as artistic director of the Dance On Ensemble I knew that one of the first programs I would want to create was an evening of the early works of Lucinda Childs. I have worked with Lucinda Childs as a dancer since 1991 and as her rehearsal director and assistant since 2009. In this role I became aware of several of Lucinda’s dances that were no longer being performed. Works that I read about, saw the choreographic scores for, and on rare occasions viewed the few films that existed of these dances. Lucinda’s work in the 1970’s consisted of small ensemble creations focusing on the movement of bodies in space, using simple repetitive movements without musical accompaniment. These Works in Silence as I call them, were profoundly radical for their time and an enormous shift in Childs’s own approach to making dance. Leaving behind props, text, and assignments, hallmarks of her work at the Judson Dance Theater, she focused exclusively on pure movement and spatial patterns. These dances created the beginnings of what would be her artistic signature and would have a profound effect on the dance world.
For the program Making Dances / Dancing Replies I asked Enrico Ticconi and Ginevra Panzetti to make a work in reaction to what they experienced from Lucinda’s works. They had attended rehearsals of these works, explored the visual scores and asked the dancers about their experience learning and executing these works. From this information they dove into the idea of the core of the beauty of classical work. What is the essence, the material, of classical beauty? For them it was the matter, the matter of many classical forms, which is marble. In their work titled Marmo they explore the work and the role of the worker in excavating marble from the earth and how the gestures and activities of these workers form abstract performative actions. It also brings into view the idea of the hidden toil behind the finished product that we see and possibly take for granted in our everyday lives. By highlighting the beauty, strength, concentration and action of this work they also managed to look back into the history of the work of Lucinda Childs and her early days with Judson Dance Theater which celebrated common activities and pedestrian movement. However, Panzetti / Ticconi have elevated this commonality into a virtuoso expression of pure abstract dance. Extreme patterns, rhythmic shifts and an added element of care for each other in very direct ways, catches from falls, assisting each other to rise from the floor and an almost intimate partnering. All of which reflects the world that they, and we, are living in.
It was important to me to give Enrico and Ginevra the opportunity to expand their choreographic range beyond the duet form and to work on other bodies. The fact that these dancers have long histories and the continued curiosity to work with new makers was the perfect storm to allow Ginevra and Enrico the possibility to take risks, ask much from the dancers, and to have the dancers actively assist in the creation of this first work on other people.
Lavandaria generously allowed for this experiment to take place. The ability to trust and let the process play out was beyond any of our expectations. The team was the perfect balance of being present and helping when needed and conversely allowing us to feel like the theater and rehearsal space was ours to use and play with without interruption or judgement. This without any doubt allowed for the work to progress in a way that it could not have done so otherwise.
Ty Boomershine, Artistic Director Dance on Ensamble