Choreographers’ Conference
Saturday I went up to Sadler’s Wells to this year’s Dance UK Choreographers’ Conference. The theme was Choreography and Collaboration so I was particularly interested to go. Collaboration is both something I enjoy and actively seek as well as being an almost inevitable part of what I do -whether I like it or not! There are so many ways of collaborating and of negotiating its meaning and one’s role in a particular creative relationship.
Saturday’s conference opened out even further some notions of ‘collaboration’ and it was interesting to hear some of the very practical necessities for this when working on large scale projects or in environments such as film and t.v. which revealed a much less cosy picture than the word collaboration often evokes! There were stories from succesful collaborating partnerships, newly emerging collaborative groupings as well as recollections from established artists connected to dance who could share their experiences of different collaborative experiences. Opportunity to further question some of these relationships in discussion groups followed some of the presentations.
I enjoyed hearing about these different worlds and seeing, meeting and hearing from so many choreographers in one place. I still think collaboration is a joy but also a minefield whose terrain could be navigated better with a bit more advice, planning and good communication. I’d still like to learn more of the ‘how’ for a succesful collaboration but the experiences shared at the conference confirmed how unique each collaboration is and how difficult to predict the outcome.