"Dancers' instruments are their own bodies, and they create with their bodies beyond what a choreographer has invented...each dancer has to find his way to do it...find his way to make the movement and the feeling valid." - John Neumeier
Personal Artistry - Comparing Performances
Canada’s National Ballet School has presented Yondering several times since its premiere in 1996, which provides an opportunity to consider how different dancers have found a way to make a particular role their own. Below are video clips of two separate performances of “Molly! Do You Love Me?”: one from the 1996 performance with Alison Kappes as Molly and Mike Spendlove as the Molly Boy; and the other from the 2008 performance with Emma Hawes and Simon Ahmadi in the roles. In what ways have the dancers made the roles their own?
Emma Hawes on performing Molly
Interpretation and Identity
NBS Artist in Residence, Peggy Baker, wrote the following article for The Choreographer's Trust: Year One: In a Landcape. In it she discusses the question of where a choreographic score ends and an individual dancer’s performance begins.
Baker, Peggy. “Interpretation and Identity: a preoccupation I share with John Cage.” The Choreographer’s Trust:Year One: In a Landscape. Peggy Baker Dance Projects.