What are the ways to start the process of creating a performance according to your experience?
You can start in different ways, but most important for me is to have a topic where I feel the necessity to create about and to transform it through my art to communicate with the audience.
You can start with having a clear concept. More conceptual is also for me more clear on the ‘end result’. And it leaves less space to change direction. In this case I mostly already have the idea of how the performance is visually going to be concrete.
You can also work around the theme (working title) with improvisational tasks, so within the creating process there is still more space to research and to change direction. In this case it’s more open on what I could expect to happen in the end result of the performance.
Which observations would you highlight from working with musicians with academic background (preferably in an interdisciplinary context)?
In an interdisciplinary context my experience with musicians with an academic background is broad. For me it really depends on the person. Some musicians are very sociable from themselves which makes it easier for me to connect with and to create a safe and creative environment to work in. Other musicians are a bit more ‘closed’ and then as a dancer you have to find a way where it feels comfortable to work together within the boundaries of the musician. It’s all about creating safe space and respecting each other. When this is there on an interdisciplinary level it brings something new. It creates some magic where all is one and we are all performers feeling each other, stepping out of our comfort zone all to benefit the performance and the message we want to say and bring across the audience.
Turning to the DODF project, which aspects of the process and the performance were the most enriching for you as a performing artist?
The part where we got to know each other even better by hanging out together outside of the rehearsals and performances. This social space we shared made me also find different connections with each musician on the stage. For me we start to feel each other even more. As where we felt each other, our hearts were more open and we could communicate the message as one more intense towards the audience. These were magic enriching moments for me. Because of this connection with each other it made me also surrender more on stage. As a performing artist this made me feel more powerful.
How would you describe our current project about climate change? How would you describe the creative process, and in which stage of it do you think we are now?
What is your relation to it?
The project about climate change came from this inner need from Joel to bring the topic to the surface and express it in our artform to bring it to the audience's attention. I felt myself drawn into this project because I felt the same need for attention about climate change. Joel as a musician and me as a dancer brought our strength together and created a mutual feeling in the studio. From this mutual place we started to improvise and create both as equal ‘participants’ and performers. It’s an interdisciplinary work because the limits to stay in our own medium have faded. We started from this working title and were open in the first improvisations to feel. Feel each other, feel the music, feel movement and dance. Coming from a natural place and oneness to move and create. From there on we recorded every session and started to look back, reflect together and discuss how we could build further on with new inputs for every new session.
At this point we are more in finalizing all the previous sessions, diving deeper into every aspect of it and starting to puzzle it together into a whole performance. We are now at the stage of creating the dramaturgic line. Making the beginning, middle and end of the performance more clear.
Could you name other projects you have participated in where the process was different to DODF or the climate project?
Yes, I did some projects where there was more ‘one’ leader. Meaning that there was no negotiation about the end result of the performance. We still did improvisational tasks, but the choreographer always decided on his/her own, which parts of the improvised material was useful and how it was going to be placed in the performance. There was more an hiercharchy.
Such projects were with Boukje Schweigman|Schweigman&; ERF and HUiD, Kalpana Raghuraman|Kalpanarts; SIMEON|LEMNISCAAT, working with visual artist Iris Woutera; Deform, Looming.