Let’s talk process! What even is a dance company? What is a dance collective? How do we choreograph? How long does a piece take from start to finish? How do you know if a piece is ready for filming or performing? These are all great questions and, if I’m honest, I would bet no one who has ever been a part of a dance company knows the answer to any of those.
These questions do not have a universal answer. In fact, I think that was one of the first and most important lessons we learned at the beginning of this process. There is no one way to do this. I have been part of so many different dance groups throughout my life (we all have) and not one of them has had the same structure.
Over the past few months, however, I think we have gained a really great understanding of how we work, and what to prioritize in our time together.
Rather than tell you how we do it, because I don’t think that would necessarily be interesting or helpful, here is what I have loved most about our process:
Collaboration is at the center of everything we do.
We truly are a collective. Everyone brings a piece of themselves to every meeting, and there isn’t a rehearsal where one person's ideas are excluded. We work so closely that by the end of a piece I don’t even know if I could point out who choreographed what. At some point in the process, the movement becomes all of ours. An idea can begin with one person, and be worked on by all of us before we decide on an end product.
We listen to each other and our bodies.
If something isn’t working, we can talk about it, work on it, or tweak it, but in the end, we’re okay with letting something go if we need to let it go. We aren’t the same person, and all of our bodies have unique abilities and challenges. Whether it’s an injury, discomfort, or something just looks kinda off, we are okay leaving things on the cutting room floor. We can always pick stuff back up again later, but nothing is life or death, and all experimentation is helpful.
There’s always a big picture—but it isn’t concrete.
I think we all have a mutual understanding about what the soul of this project is yet somehow I can't seem to find the words to articulate what that is. It seems like we all just kinda get what we’re working toward. There is certainly an essence to Drift, but I can’t pin down what it is. I think this is great. It means that whatever it is that is at the core of our group can grow and change with us, and be what we need it to be.
Nothing ever feels like it’s complete.
When we were filming Rinse Cycle, I remember feeling a big sense of “Oh wow, okay! This is happening.” It never felt like we had solidified it, or that it was ready, or that we were ready. It felt like it came at us too fast, and then suddenly, we’d done it, and it went off (nearly) perfectly. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I think some of my worst performances came from times when I felt entirely ready and entirely prepared. I think dance sometimes needs that discomfort to be truly great. Well, that, and I think we are all recovering perfectionists. Either way, I hope we always have that feeling. I think our best work just might come from that little voice that says “are you sure you’re ready for this?”
I am sure this group will grow and evolve and our process will change, and then change again, and again. I’m so excited to see how that happens, and so grateful we all allow space for it to do so.