Be Stubborn In Your Creativity
Written by Artistic Director, Amber Funk Barton
Each time I set out to create a dance work, and in this case a full-length contemporary dance production, the task becomes easier and harder. Easier because I have a felt sense of a logistical timeline. I know the bits and pieces I have to bring together. I can easily create a trajectory based on my previous experience(s). I have a sense of how long it takes me to create 60 minutes of movement and I have a reoccurring team of collaborators which also adds a certain amount of ease.
But every new work, it also gets harder. The more experience you have, the more knowledge you accumulate. And thus, I find myself at times becoming overwhelmed by all the creative options I could and can choose.
I think one of the most challenging aspects of being an artist in any medium is holding on to what you truly want to make. Not what will be critically received. Not what you know is trending. Not what you know will tick all the boxes. It’s easier said than done. Through osmosis and the ether of sharing via technology and the internet it’s impossible to not have our aesthetic and/or choices influenced.
What gives me comfort is remembering that everything has been done. I’m not exactly a unicorn and I’m not re-inventing the wheel, so let’s just take that off the table immediately. What does keep me going is remembering that it is the way I put together all my influences that allows my work to have a place and hopefully resonate with an audience.
Take my current interest and subject matter: How to Say Goodbye, the current title of a new full length work I want to make. Every time I read the title or say it out loud, I immediately think of a cinematic parting at an airport. I think of a couple breaking up. I probably think of everything in a romantic context that you might be thinking of yourself as you read the title. How do I possibly make a work about this without getting too sentimental and better yet, how do I even make this work at all?
Have I set myself up for failure?
The other thing I like to think about at times like these is that creating a 60-minute work is, I think, one of the most challenging things we can attempt to create in our profession. Failure seems to be inherent in the task. Maybe that’s why I keep going back to it. I like the idea that it will never be perfect. Somehow, that idea takes the pressure off for me as well.
It was also my first time going back into the studio with dancers for my company in almost five years. The past couple of years I’ve been focusing on developing my solo work so being in the space with dancers again was such a treat. I invited three dancers and as of now I have decided I am not going to be one of them.
It is amazing though, how I still need to dance with them to figure it out; to figure out what I want them to do, to be able to explain as clearly as I possibly can where the motivation of the movement is coming from. I need to feel it in my body. My dancers for this process had the patience of saints. This is quite possibly one of the greatest gifts a choreographer can receive.
Prior to being in the studio, I had many discussions and my own process with composer Marc Stewart to develop the sound of this work. This is the first time I have collaborated with Marc from the inception of a new work, so to be able to work with sound samples immediately was such a great experience, not to mention the ability to have Marc receive notes and develop the samples as we worked over a period of two weeks was very cool.
Although I typically ‘workshop’ movement at the beginning of a new creation, this is the first time I have committed to a period of research. In the past, driven by ambition and timelines, the end goal was always crystal clear. But now…I’m not sure when it will premiere. I’m still not sure how many dancers there should be and to be honest, I’m not even sure if it should be a full-length work. Sometimes I think it should be a film or maybe it’s a book? I’ve even toyed with the idea that it is a selection of poems that I’ve written. It was the first time I have felt so much uncertainty during a process which was exciting because it felt like I had committed to working in the present. This is not always a luxury an artist gets to experience. So, I am very grateful to have experienced a space and time that I know will not last forever.
I like schedules, and To Do Lists and checking off boxes. I like being organized. I had this idea of what I was going to do and then…for the first time, I trusted myself to just throw it out the window. One thing I have learned from one of my beloved colleagues is to be stubborn about what I am interested in. So, I allowed myself to do that. I just stuck with one phrase and then kept picking at it.
The entire research project lasted about a month. I spent about two weeks focused on music with Marc and then two weeks on movement with the dancers. I feel like I barely just scratched the surface of…something. I feel like I am only on a first name basis with a new friend, but we like each other a lot and we’re looking forward to hanging out again.
Again, I know I’m not reinventing the wheel but that’s okay because it all feels so very rich and terrifying and interesting to me.
Be stubborn. Because honestly, what have you got to lose?
(Dancers and Artists featured in images Katie Cassady, Isak Enquist, Josh Martin, Amber Funk Barton, Marc Stewart)