Dancing as Eventing
My artistic mission is organized by a professional history that has developed into the idea of dancemaking as “Eventing.”
This approach, shared by many contemporaries who specialize in improvisational dance, is referred to alternatively as “improvised choreography,” “improvography” and other terms that seek to merge the poles of choreography (dance that is pre-determined before the performance) and improvisation (dance that is spontaneously generated and performed at the time of the performance).
For many dancemakers the practice of improvisation is considered vitally emancipating, though non-critical, and the study of choreography is seen to involve the skills of critical discernment and rigorous aesthetic judgment.
In contrast, I support a way of dancemaking wherein this binary is disrupted; where improvisation is a highly rigorous craft and choreography is a vehicle for emancipation. I hope that this alternative framework will support dancemaking in a way that better integrates the values of craftsmanship, rigor, authenticity and artistry for spontaneous dancemaking. Eventing cultivates ways-of-being, attentional tools, and somatic awareness within choreographic contexts. Through this way of making dances, I hope to reframe the role of dancer as dancemaker.