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Minds in motion: choreographers talk candidly about their dancers' contributions, the impact of music, and projects on the horizon.

Article Excerpt
DONNA UCHIZONO

Artistic director, Donna Uchizono

Dance Company, NYC

ON DANCERS A lot of time I will "throw" material at the dancers and they will "catch" whatever essence they got from it. I'll look at the caught material and make a phrase from there. I consider the dancers collaborators. They are absolutely integral to the work, and contribute to it as much as I do.

ON MUSIC Sometimes I let the composer have carte blanche. Sometimes I am very specific about the sounds and the instruments--I say I want a violin, or I want it to be romantic. Sometimes I will take a piece of music they've written and play with it or rearrange it. Other times I have no idea what the music should be.

LATEST PROJECT I am creating a new full-length piece--working title: As eye see it--to premiere at Dance Theater Workshop in October. It's based on the Buddhist concept of emptiness and theories of Quantum physics. The opening is two performers sitting on a ladder dressed in white, doing arm gestures. Life-size projections of themselves doing the movement are projected onto them. It looks like a hologram. It's playing with what is real and what is our perception.

LARRY KEIGWIN

Artistic director,

Keigwin + Company, NYC

ON DANCERS My dancers contribute vocabulary, costumes, and an ongoing conversation about the work. Sometimes they refer to me as coach, which is pretty appropriate in that I'm coaching, guiding, and making the ultimate last decisions. Nicole Wolcott, the associate artistic director, is hugely influential. We have a lot of dialogue. It's always good to have a partner in crime--it makes it fun.

ON MUSIC I have such a great time selecting music. I call it my security blanket because it's something I can always go back to. I try to use music that I have a love and respect for. Recently we did a series of six duets titled Love Songs that uses Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, and Nina Simone. When choreographing new work, we all bring our iPods in and we'll try out the choreography to 10 different pieces of music. We may generate movement vocabulary to techno music and realize it works best to a French love song. What gets us moving is one thing and what helps the choreography is another thing.

CURRENT (OR NEXT) PROJECT Keigwin + Company has a split program (with Chris Elam and Misnomer Dance Theater) at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University on April 12 and 14. We'll perform Bolero NYC, which includes 50 pedestrians. Caffeinated, another piece, is a new commission by NYU'S Tisch School of the Arts that involves...

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