Vilaro and the creation of Deshar Alhat (Leave Sunday)

Posted September 4, 2008 5:50 PM in Process of Creation

Deshar Ahlat is almost finished now. It has taken nearly four months to develop, test and examine the six sections I have completed. When it comes to the question of how I got here, well there's never a short answer. Here are some ponderings on my choreographic process.

I never plan a movement or how to execute vocabulary when I am working on a new dance. The impetus for that development is one that I find in the subject matter followed by any research, found muses, dreams, music and conversations. My years dancing in a professional company gave me enough experience with movement so I have a great deal to deconstruct and recontruct when it comes to movement vocabulary.

Narritives whether told by a cantor or historian lead me to develop movement narratives based on images and emotions. At times they haunt me until I need to explore them with the dancers and other times they need to be coaxed through solitary meditaion or even an evening out on the town.

Everything feeds the creative process for me, the process is based on the living experience and reflecting that experience through movement.