On Inventing or Do I run in Circles?

Can we invent something NEW or do we keep reinventing ourselves?

and does specificity remove the demands of the “established” – simply because it has no category to fall under – but when (and if) the category is established are we back in the circle of demanding a – what? – a signature, a fashion?

I noticed a similarity in the biographies of some famous choreographers. They were young and went to school and once they were free of the institutions they spent some time in trying to forget what they learned. In that process they came up with an idea, which in their case, became a hit! Now, in 2010, these people’s names -we- treat as institutions. Which is an interesting thing – because on one side they keep searching for something new and yet you can recognize that something is de Keersmaeker, Forsythe, Bauch or Stuart.

So, what’s the deal?

There is another thing I want to address before I move o

n. And this is an example of Forsythe’s work being tought as repertory. What is being tought as repertory at this day and age is mostly work he did with Ballet Frankfurt in 80s and 90s. And of course, a work like Heterotopia can not be a part of the Repertory Class since the Forsythe company is still touring the piece – but then there is a serious delay we are talking about here. Because what is tought as “contemporary“ is actually 25 years old. Older than I am.

This delay is an example I would like to take in order to

debate my theory on establishing a name. Forsythe is still today creating new works I find much more interesting and exciting for myself no matter how much I adore watching old videos of Sylvie Guillem dancing the lead in In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. Still, you watch Heterotopia and you know who made it, you know who is standing behind the work. Because the man has developed a style.

This style can, in the same time, put Rosas in La Monnaie - which will evidently invite it’s audience which will dress up and go to see a Rosas piece. And they will still expect, in 2010, a touch of ‘82s Fase. And with this example I can break my brain for de Keersmaeker manages to break my expectations of a Rosas piece but still satisfy my secret desire for a touch of Fase even in her latest work.

But now that Rosas has 30 years experience on stage, it has slowly become a part of Repertory Classes all over the world. Thus drawing the conclusion that from what once was a work that made Martha Graham feel old now puts itself into her shoes. Like Graham was, it is tought to the new generations of young dancers and they are – we are making it a part of our general vocabulary. We are used to it, know it as the fact that the Sun comes up every morning.

Does that put pressure on any of these people, this expectation we have? Does having a style make you bound to reproduce it over and over again? Or does it come naturally, in which case, I don’t really need to worry because I can just dump it in the other box we all know -- which is called The Circle of Life. Which moves us all.

So here we are, the young dancers, trying so hard, to ignore the Circle of Life and invent something new. And the fact is that de Keersmaeker didn’t invent anything new back in the ‘82. She rather took some things she already had from before and put them together in a way that she, and I quote, “liked”. And is this where the style comes from? The fact that I like something and will choose to present it this way or that way, no matter what it is that I am presenting. So even in, lets say, 30 years from now, I will present something else but still in the way I like to present it – which could then be view as something MINE rather somebody elses.

So now that I vaguely made the process of coming to recognising a style clear – I still haven’t cleared up the market situation. For time will tell who’s work people will like to see in 30 years from now and who’s work will be passed on in Repertory Classes. Who’s work will from being specific or new become established and passed on in Class? And who makes that decision?

Funny to say but it just might be The Circle of Life after all.