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Something in the way he moves them: choreographer of the moment Jorma Elo talks about his creative process and how dancers inspire him.

Article Excerpt
The dancers of Boston Ballet are rehearsing a new work with Jorma Elo, the company's Finnish-born resident choreographer. At one point, ballet master Tony Randazzo invites them to gather around a video to see the phrase as it was recorded four months before. As they watch, Elo skitters and chassis in an arc behind them--not because he's jockeying into place to see the screen, not because he's working out new steps, but simply because he cannot stop moving.

At 45, Elo is still very connected to his dancer self. He does all the choreography full out, whether a pitched turn on releve with leg extended high, or a weird twist of the torso with the back of a hand pinned to the knee. His choreography springs from his dancing, which is very physical, organic (the limbs unfold From a constantly moving torso), and slightly wild. He danced with Finnish National Ballet for seven years and another seven with Cullberg Ballet in Sweden, and then Nederlands Dans Theater for 14 years. As a dancer close to NDT artistic director Jiri Kylian's creative process, he still occasionally stages Kylian's Sarabande.

Jorma Elo (pronounced YORma Elo) is a busy man. Just in the last year he has made ballets For New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet; and his works are in the repertoires oF NDT, Finnish National Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, and Basel Ballet. His next projects are with San Francisco Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet. He...