Ballet West – The Choreographic Conference at Sundance – Expanding Beyond Ballet

I have to admire Bruce Marks’ attempts to bring Ballet West opportunities that were unusual and innovative. One of those special attempts was to have Ballet West be the resident dancers for a Choreographic Conference that was to be held in Sundance, Utah.
Sundance at that time was the brainstorm of Robert Redford, and he bought the property where they had filmed “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969. It was originally called Timp Haven, probably because it was on the back side of Mount Timpanogos. It was a beautiful pristine piece of land that has become known as a ski haven in Utah, but Robert Redford also wanted to make it into a unique place where conservation, art, nature, and recreation came together.
The Choreographic Conference was a first attempt to bring something other than film into the area.
I remember all the dancers being very excited to go and be a part of this “first time” event.
When we got to Sundance, they had all the dancers staying in various homes in and around the area. I believe we had four in our house, and being up at a ski resort in the summer is always so beautiful and lush.
I remember when we get to our rental, and there is a piece of paper that states very clearly, “Dear Guests, Welcome to our home. We just want you to know that there is a very friendly feral cat that lives outside. He will bring you a headless ground squirrel or gopher each morning as his offering of love and friendship. Please do not be alarmed. He is trying to serve you breakfast. Please just throw it into the brush for another creature to feast upon. Thank you!”
And sure enough, each morning, as you would open the door … there was a nice, fat, headless ground squirrel on the front porch.
Needless to say, we did as instructed.
Excited, we all head out to the event only to discover (as with all things), something is going to go wrong. And actually, probably a few things.
In this case, The first problem was that a very new building was being built specifically for this purpose. While it was “kind of” finished … It was really not complete.
In fact, it was still being built. Mostly on the outside, but things were not fully resolved even on the inside.
It was clearly going to be a fabulous building, but all around it … construction was going on, and the dust and grime were unbelievably bad.
Now, dancers are a sweaty bunch on a good day. Then when you add in the fact that we are at a high altitude and have no need for air conditioning, then mix that with dust and grime coming in from the huge open windows that the bulldozers outside are churning up. You get a miserable combination.
Ballet is hard enough, but dancing at altitude is even more difficult.
That is when we discover that the choreographers that had been chosen to work with us were all modern or contemporary in their style.
Now, at that time, in the 1980s, the worlds of ballet, modern, jazz, and contemporary were very different. You were either a ballet dancer or one of the others. And dancers in those various styles (at that time) did not mix or overlap.
It became clear quickly that these choreographers were not only disappointed at being faced with a bunch of bun-headed, classical ballet dancers but that their general mood projected that we were going to be incapable of doing the types of movements that they were interested in creating in their choreography.
And in all honesty … they were not wrong.
Ballet is all about control, symmetry, and keeping the shoulders and hips in balance.
Modern, jazz, and contemporary work is all about odd twists and angles of the body, distortion, making waves with the body, and doing movements that are not necessarily pretty but … interesting. Such motions create a type of emotional expression that ballet does not do (at all) the same way.
Such movements were challenging for ballet dancers (at that time) because we were not trained to do isolating movements with our torso, and we are not comfortable looking distorted and off balance. Such things are just not easy for us.
I am so sensitive to energy that I could feel the dissatisfaction from those observing choreographers.
They first would watch us in class; then they would give us certain sequences to see how we would do with their style and flow of choreography. Each choreographer got to give us certain things to test us out so they could decide who they wanted in their piece of choreography.
All the dancers were trying our best, but the conditions were made more difficult because these choreographers wanted us to slide on the floor, and roll around in the dirt in grime on the floor.
Again, ballet dancers see the floor as a platform to spring from. We do not see it as a place that our body will be constantly slinking around on.
I could see these choreographers’ faces. They made no attempt to hide their repulsion and exasperation in our attempts to do what is asked of us. They would roll their eyes and throw up their hands in disappointment and frustration.
Again, ballet dancers expect a certain type of protocol and respect. Such behavior appears petulant and childish to the well-disciplined stature of ballet dancers.
From where I was standing, I have to say that most of those choreographers clearly were exactly that … demanding, difficult, childish, and pouty.
A few were even … what I would call ego-maniacs about their self-importance. They did not see how their terrible attitude and belligerence were their way of needing to show superiority to us … lowly little ballet dancers.
I think I hate this type of expression of ego the most in people. Two choreographers had way too much ego and way too much attitude in that department.
I gratefully did not get chosen by the mean-spirited choreographers.
Sometimes a feeling is very mutual and can be felt across the room. I disliked them, and they felt it and disliked me right back.
I really have no time or energy for certain types of people, and some behavior is just atrocious in my book.
But there are always dancers that are eager to prove that they can be shaped and molded into what the choreographer wants.
We are (after all) a bend-over-backward type of career. We are used to hearing what a director or choreographer wants, and when they say “JUMP,” we ask politely, “How high?”
Rarely have I met any choreographer that I disliked. But to my shock, I met two of them in less than 15 minutes.
It was crystal clear to me that this was an exercise in futility for any of the ballet dancers. These choreographers really wanted and needed more modern or contemporary dancers.
Nothing was going to satisfy these two persnickety choreographers.
It makes a world of difference when there is a flow of energy and a give-a-take between the choreographer and the dancers.
Dancers naturally want to please. But it was clear just in the sorting process … that certain choreographers were never going to be satisfied with what we were going even to try to do.
I was grateful to get chosen by the one choreographer that was not going to whine that she did not get the dancers she wanted (meaning modern dancers). She decided to adapt her choreography to the qualities that we possessed. What a great idea!
So, my time with this one choreographer was peaceful, even if it was not terribly stimulating or interesting.
But I would occasionally hang out and watch some of the rehearsals with those particular choreographers.
It was literally painful to watch my dear friends and what I considered spiritual family try so hard over and over again to do what was asked of them. Only to be told it was not enough and it was not good. I was impressed by their willingness to keep trying in the face of a person who clearly had not just dislike … but disdain for them.
And there was one other complication. I have to say that most of us got … how can I say it nicely? Some form of a rug rash or prickly heat in our butt cracks and the folds of skin … down there … if you know what I mean.
It was a combination of the heat with no air conditioning, all the grit and grime on the floors and in the air … that was getting under our leotards and tights, and then rolling on the floor that is covered in this sandy grime, and the sweat from our bodies. It was uncomfortable and at times … miserable. It just would not go away because every day, we would have the same problem.
This was something that none of us were used to. But this particular combination of challenges made things even more difficult than they already were.
I loved being on that land in such a beautiful area. I love being exposed to new forms of movement. But the attitude of a choreographer towards the dancers can make a process a magical process and an exciting experience, or they can make a situation … horrible.
Those two choreographers that were so difficult did a performance that did not show the dancers in an inspiring light. Their choreography was bizarre and seemed not to have the ability to manifest something that could or would inspire or make a difference in the world.
Needless to say, that was the first and last Choreographic Conference at Sundance.
I was not surprised by that fact.
The event fell flat on its face. Or perhaps I should say, we all fell flat on our butts.
I learned a lot in the process. I learned that I am not skilled in the ways of modern dance and contemporary movements.
I was not opposed to trying but I recognized that such movements required a different type of energetic sequences through the nerves and the muscles. Something that I would have to slowly learn and master, as I would have to overcome the habitual patterns of movement that ballet had so deeply engrained in my body.
And it inspired me to expand my movement quality through my body in a variety of ways for the rest of my life. Even now, I have not stopped trying to feel through my ballet technique and into what would be a more organic flow and expression within my body.
Now, when I go dancing with friends, they say to me with surprise on their faces, “Suzanne! That was amazing! You don’t move like a ballet dancer at all. What you just did was incredible and not something I expected to see in a classically trained ballet dancer!”

And I smile knowingly. Because what I learned in that Choreographic Conference were my own limitations and the limitations of ballet movement.
I recognized that there was a whole other world out there to explore with many more various forms of movement.
It began a process that allowed me to mature past the mindset of a ballerina and into the passion that really was at the root of my dancing.
I have learned how to do belly dancing, Zumba, yoga, Salsa, Tango, Tap, Jazz, and my favorite … Stripper Pole dancing!
Yes, you heard correctly! Stripper Pole Dancing!
Even now, at my house, in the middle of the living room, is my stripper pole.

I love having male workers come to the house, and as they walk through the living room, they see the pole and look at the ceiling to see if this pole (that is in the middle of the room) is holding up the roof in some way.
Some seem confused at first.
Some will even say, “Is there something wrong with the roof?”

That is when I smile and say, “No, that is just my stripper pole!”

Suddenly they look embarrassed and blush.
That is when I cannot help but say to them, “Do you want me to show you how it works?”

And that is when for a moment, they hesitate before they say in an odd voice, “No???”

~Suzanne Wagner~