All Premiere Insights: Andrew Bartee on Choreographing



Choreographer & Company dancer Andrew Bartee.
Photo by Lindsay Thomas.

My Creative Process
I recently had the realization that I have been working on my piece for ALL PREMIERE for almost a year. I wish that I had realized sooner what a luxury that amount of time was. Not that I misused the time I had, but as opening night draws nearer I'm caring even more about developing the concept of the work. I want to keep pushing it. During this process I learned a lot about myself, how I think and create, what kind of dance I like, what’s important to me about dance and art, and life. And now I feel like there is so much more to explore.

My InspirationI think the first inspiration for my work is my desire to move. Dancing is my whole reason for being, and it’s really the only thing I want to do right now in my life. I want to dance a lot, all the time, for as long as I can. Creating dance and movement is an outlet for that desire to move. The specifics of each piece depend on where I am at in my life. But my need to dance never goes away.

On Collaboration
I am really excited to have had the opportunity to work with Barret Anspach on this project. He is Julilard grad, the brother of Jessika Anspach, and a great composer. I only knew a little bit about him when I started looking at his music. He had this really cool website that made it wonderfully easy for me to stalk him for a while, until we made official introductions through Jessika.

I had originally asked him to make some music I could use for a Next Step piece, but then Peter asked me to create something for the Company and so our project morphed into something more complex.

There weren’t many challenges inside the collaboration because I wanted to give Barret a lot of freedom so that he could also make something that he was really proud of. We talked a lot in the beginning about my intentions for the piece, and what kind of feelings and moods I wanted to evoke. I really love what he has written for arms that work. I think the music sets the scene perfectly.

Challenges
My most daunting challenge was teaching movement to the dancers. Though they are super quick, sometimes their understanding of the movement is not true. Every rehearsal requires me to focus very intensely, and find new ways to explain what is happening in my body when it moves. Each dancer has their own internal rhythm, and getting them to synch with mine is a challenge. But everyone was super open to hearing my ideas. I so appreciate everyone's openness to try some really weird stuff.

Next for Me
Choreography has begun to take a place in my life, and that is something that I am very excited about. I just had a premieres at the Seattle International Dance Festival, and Velocity's Fall Kick Off. I am working on a piece for Chop Shop in February, the Next Step show on PNB School students in the spring, and I actually have a few other choreo gigs on the horizon. This is a year of creation for me.

Corps de ballet dancer Emma Love Shares Her Favorite Fall Foods

From brussels sprouts to sweet potato chili, Corps de ballet dancer Emma Love makes her favorites from scratch

I'm almost always excited to cook at the end of the rehearsal day -- it's almost relaxing. I'm always on the search for new, exciting recipes, and only repeated a few of them twice (my absolute favorites, of course).  

Two of my favorite fall ingredients are sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. I know what you're thinking -- brussels sprouts? But listen -- throw them in the oven with some olive oil. Their tastiness cannot be done justice with words. Trust me. Back to the point though, I can't tell you how lucky I felt when I came across this one, seeing as it combines BOTH of this wonderful "tasties." With some apples and bacon in there, this recipe actually tastes like fall. One of my favorite things I've made yet. 

If you're looking for recipes with either of these delicious ingredients individually, these are some other favorites!  I love this recipe for vegan  quinoa and sweet potato chili.

For another good brussels sprouts dish, try pesto pasta with chicken sausage and roasted brussels sprouts. (I like to make a fresh batch of pesto and keep it around for all sorts of things.)

These are three recipes that I don't mind repeating over and over again. Yum!

All Premiere Insights: Margaret Mullin, Lost in Light choreographer

Let’s talk a little about your creative process. What is the impetus for this work?

Margaret Mullin. Photo by Rex Tranter.

My inspiration for this piece is the recent passing of a family friend. It started as a story ballet of sorts, with a clear narrative element. As I choreographed it became a healing process — my own personal way of putting beauty back into the world after seeing such suffering. His passing is central to my work and that’s reflected in the title of the ballet; it’s really about being lost in the light he created — a tribute to the good that someone left behind.

Tell us a little about the artists you are collaborating with — your costume designer and composer.



[Costume Designer] Alexis Mondragon is actually my best friend. We've known each other since we were 11. We met when we  both played Clara for Ballet Arizona when we were young. She’s also a very talented dancer, but her primary passion is fashion design. She went on to study at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, receiving the Nick Cave Award. It’s great because she knows about dance and how to costume for movement, plus her designs are just beautiful. I’m very excited to work with her. 

[Composer] Dan Coleman and I met through a mutual friend. I was telling my friend about my piece, and she recommended I connect with Dan and gave me his number. We talked over the phone and I just knew I wanted to work with him. What we've done is take three of his pre-existing, unrelated compositions and combined them into one master piece. His music is very moving and I'm honored to have his score for my ballet.

What has been your biggest challenge with this piece so far? 



My biggest challenge has been using a new musical composition. Some parts of the pre-existing music had been recorded during concerts and I was able to choreograph to those recordings. However, once I had used that up, I had to go on without music while I waited for the rest of the score to be completed. Now that the composition is finished I'm working on pairing down some of the moment and refining the transitions between the three sections.  

Are there choreographers you particularly respect or find inspiring? 

I've really been feeling that this work is an homage to Antony Tudor, so that's been my focus. He's such an emotional choreographer; his work has such sensitivity to it, without always needing or using a strong narrative. I did my first Tudor ballet when I was still in high school. It's the most graceful I've ever felt as a dancer. I sometimes feel that Tudor's choreographic language has been lost in recent years and for me this is one opportunity to bring it back. His aesthetic holds a large dose of humanity, which is tremendously important to me as a choreographer, and is a reminder of how glorious it can be to be a ballet dancer. I hope my work will allow the dancers in my own ballet to feel their most beautiful, as Mr. Tudor's work did for me. I decided against the Marco & Victor bit because I don't want to risk sounding insulting to them.

How do you see yourself as a choreographer? 

PNB does works by the greatest choreographers in the world. To have my work presented on this scale at the age of 23, being asked to create a ballet for the Company at this stage in my career, was completely unexpected. It's pushing me to really think of myself as a dancer and choreographer sooner than I thought. I always thought, "I would really love to choreograph one day"...and one day came really soon!

 What are your goals for this piece and then what's next for you?

I'd be happy to take on most choreographic projects that come my way. I'm really driven based on the dancers I'm working with — hungry dancers that want to grow artistically. That's why I enjoyed choreographing for the PNB students so much in previous years. I want this piece to highlight human connection and to celebrate the elegance of this wonderful ballet company. My main goal, however, is for this to be a great experience for all the hard-working people involved and to use the opportunity myself to grow as an artist and choreographer. I want to provide a beautiful vehicle for my fellow dancers that will showcase their talents and grace. I also hope that the audience will feel uplifted. I needed grace in my life —  that's really what this piece is about.

A sketch of Margaret's costumes for Lost in Light.
Sketches by Alexis Mondragon.

Alexis Mondragón bio: 

Alexis Mondragón grew up in Tucson, AZ. Due to her ballet background, she was surrounded by the arts. While training for a career in ballet, she had the opportunity to design costumes for Tucson Regional Ballet and Urban Ballet Theater in New York City. It was from that experience that she decided to pursue a career in design. She then attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in fashion design and construction in 2010. Upon graduating, Ms. Mondragón received the Nick Cave Award and a fellowship with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to work on another collection for the school's fashion show in May 2011. She now resides in New York City, where she works in the fashion industry and freelances as a designer.