Seattle Dance Project‘s “Project 3″ opens tonight, January 29, and will have seven performances this weekend and next at ACT. Tickets are $25. Here is a conversation with choreographer Edwaard Liang, whose work is having its premiere.
Pacific Northwest Ballet was bustling with bunheads when I met up with Seattle Dance Project co-founder Julie Tobiason in a conference room there, before rehearsal started on Edwaard Liang’s new work. It’s their third season performing as part of ACT’s Central Heating Lab, but they gather their rehearsal studio time while–and where–they may. Julie had her third baby with her–she’s part of a maternity explosion that’s hit the group, and is sitting this set of performances out.
Tell me about starting the group.
SDP founders Tim Lynch and Julie Tobiason (Photo: Angela Sterling)
For us, it was like now or never. We had this great group of dancers around, and if you’re going to say, “I’m going to fundraise for the next three years…” You don’t know who’ll be around. You just don’t know. We were awarded two grants, and so that’s why we started when we did. It just felt like if we wait, it’s not going to happen. We’re grassroots, if we realize our budget is going to be $5,000 off, we look to see what we can cut. It so bare bones anyway, but that’s what we’re all doing.
We started in 2007, rehearsing and getting pieces going. Our debut was with “Project 1″ in January 2008. In our second year we did “Project Orpheus” in the fall, and then January 2009 was “Project 2.” This season we did a collaboration with the chamber music group Simple Measures in November ’09. Our idea in building repertory is to have a mix of collaborative productions and our own self-produced repertory productions.
Is everyone from PNB?
We’re PNB heavy, that’s part of the reason why we started. When I left I did some work with Donald Byrd over at Spectrum, I did some work with Maureen Whiting; I wanted to explore other modern and contemporary works. The ballet career–forty weeks a year, thirty to forty hours a week–I had done that since I was sixteen years old. So I wanted to do some things I felt I was motivated to do.
Timothy Lynch had retired the year after me from PNB, and I knew he wanted to continue dancing. You know, retiring from PNB doesn’t mean your dance career ends, unless you decide that. We were talking about Maureen’s work, and how much we loved contemporary and new works, and other dancers–Alexandra Dixon, Oleg Gorboulev was here teaching and doing some guesting, and Dana Hanson. We just had a great group of people hanging around with similar interests, so that’s why we started it, really. Kory [Perigo] and Betsy [Cooper], they’re from modern dance, though they trained in ballet.
What else will people see in “Project 3″?
We’re bringing back two pieces we did with Simple Measures. One of those is called “In Another Land,” it’s choreographed by Betsy Cooper, to Rolling Stones music. The other, “Because,” is by James Canfield to Beatles music. The inspiration for that fall production was rock ‘n’ roll music.
Both Betsy’s and James’ pieces are very different choreographically because of James Canfield’s ballet background–he was the founder and director of Oregon Ballet Theatre and now directs Nevada Ballet Theatre. I’ve seen his work for years, since I moved out here in ’86. We’re so excited to have his work in the program because I don’t think his work has been done up here.
Betsy directs the dance department at UW, and has done quite a bit of choreography locally with other organizations. We want to pull in different dance communities, so with her background and the work she’s done, we’re hoping to get a different dance crowd. James will bring ballet people who know his name, same with Ed Liang, and also Kent Stowell.
We’re really excited to have his [Kent Stowell’s] work because he and Francia built PNB. It’s lucky that we have established choreographers wanting to work with a different group, or in a different way. To see his work in the program, I think it will be a great contrast with the other works. He hasn’t done a new work in Seattle since he left as director of PNB. This will be a world premiere–it’s a duet–and I find it really refreshing. You’ll know it’s his work, but not having seen his work in a while you come in with fresher eyes–and he’s coming in with fresher eyes, too.
Has it been a challenge rounding up choreographers?
It has not been. I think with our group in particular, we’re so connected with choreographers and then that leads to another choreographer. And they can look at what we’ve done, we’ve all of us been in the dance community so long, teaching and dancing, that they know us. The choreographer looks at the group and says, “I know him, I know her.” We’ve had so many ideas and so many people we’ve talked to, I’d love to add another show next year if we can.
The choreographer, it’s up to them what kind of piece they want to do. We might tell them, we’re think of this as the closing piece, because that may make them think differently about it. Donald [Byrd], our first year, made a piece for us, “Tatum Dance #2,” and it was a very fun piece, people loved it. It was very different from what he does at Spectrum. That’s the idea, too. He can come in and do this different piece with us, he doesn’t have the pressure of being a director.
How did you end up at ACT?
There’s a lack of small theaters in Seattle for dance. If you want a proscenium stage, then forget it. They’re not really made for dance, they’re made for plays. So that was a struggle for us. I wanted a place where people walked in and had an experience right away. Whether it’s a cool, contemporary experience, like On the Boards, or like here at ACT–it’s a beautiful, classic theater. When they came back and said they’d like to help us…! The great thing about ACT is that it’s a trap floor, so it’s hollow underneath. We just put down a Marley. We were pleasantly surprised.
How would you describe your place in what’s becoming a lively dance scene, here in Seattle?
It’s so great to have more dance. The support from the dance community at large is wonderful. The more high quality, great productions that we can have in Seattle, it just makes it better for everyone else involved. People coming to see us–we’re clearly ballet but we’re doing modern and contemporary work. We want to hit a balance, maybe we want to offer up a piece, there’s going to be a certain audience for that. A lot of people might not like it. But we want to offer something they will like, too.
It’s a potpourri of works by local, national, and international choreographers, but also the types of pieces: they can run from more classically based pieced–not that we’re ever going to do Sleeping Beauty here, that’s not for us–but something like Kent’s piece, and then last season we had a work by Heidi Vierthaler, who, her background is ballet, but she works with Billy Forsythe, and her piece was very different. So you can come and see a myriad of different types of pieces, and different dancers.
We’re a chamber group, we don’t see it becoming a big company. We like the intimacy of having eight to ten dancers–not that we’re limiting ourselves. If we wanted more dancers and could fund that great. Or if we have a piece we want to be a bigger piece and hire in more dancers. But we don’t see growing a huge, 60-member company of modern dance. That might change, but right now, our focus is to work closely with choreographers and dancers, and really make work tailored to the dancers. We’re focusing on the artists involved, and you have to stay small and selective to offer that quality.