What deep secret do I have to reveal today? Wow. If you know me in real life or on Facebook you know I'm out there. I'm not much for secrets. But I do have things I don't talk about. I'm a little uncomfortable discussing the inspirations for pole pas de deux or pole pas de deux for that matter.
Little secret #1
I have no male pole heroes that inspire my dance. I have nothing in common with the modern male pole dancer. I'm not young, ripped, bendy, or crazy into gymnastics/pole tricks. I'm old, stiff, at least fifteen pounds overweight and my aerial invert is a thing of disaster. The male dancers that inspire my movement are all ballet dancers. Tyler Angle (New York City Ballet), Brandon "Private" Freeman (Wonderbound), Baryshnikov, Peter Martins (NYCB), and Dmitry Trubchanov (Colorado Ballet).
Little secret #2
I start with the music and then I dance. Pole pas de deux choreography is the hardest. In the last few years I have worked with three partners. When it came time to share inspiration with them I showed them all pieces of ballet pas de deux choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, and Carla Korbes with Batkhurel Bold dancing to Edwaard Liang's Fur Alina. In every case they all gravitated to specific movements that were so simple, so direct, so emotional, and so gorgeous that all four of us in some way ended up playing with them over and over. It is also a little scary to note that in two cases we ended up with some of the same music. Matty and Shimmy mixed Damien Rice into a routine and my current partner loved it. She had no idea who Rice was, or that I had soloed 9 Crimes six months before.
There are common themes in my dance. I dance with partners and teachers that share them and inspire me with the things they bring to me.
Little secret #3
I wasn't finished with Max Richter's This Bitter Earth/On The Nature of Daylight as either a pas de deux or a solo piece until I walked off the stage at the 2013 Colorado Pole Championship.( I just watched it on YouTube. I should have quite earlier. *much laughter*)
God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it - from what I see, from what the dancers can do, from what others do. ~ George Balanchine
Time to pass the torch
4 years ago
That your pole inspiration comes from ballet dancers is what sets you apart. I believe that what makes pole dance special is how open to interpretation it is--there is beauty in all of it. It also makes it hard to nail down a style and here you have done it and it is so very yours. I love your pole pas de deux!
ReplyDelete