cpf ana isabel keilson continues, learning how to see what she's created

Now the Festival is galloping to an end. The endless amounts of magical slow time in rehearsal have gone. Feedback sessions—both for the piece I am making with the students and the new dance I have made with Betsy and Kesa (my dancers from NYC)—have been very useful. Risa Steinberg has come to both rehearsals and given immensely helpful feedback. As a choreographer both inside and outside of my work, I am learning how to actually see what I have made, and Risa’s eagle eyes see so much.  Two dances have emerged from the past two and a half weeks: both are named HEXENTANZ. Spellcasting, the movement of witchcraft, and references to Mary Wigman are obvious, yet endlessly fascinating to me. There are moments of “threes” in each dance—here’s to Macbeth and the most famous trio of witches ever to grace a proscenium stage—moments of transformation, power, and ritual. I love whispering and making sounds onstage, and this is happening in all of my work. Another fellow graciously donated the idea of “ghost choreography” to the student piece (thank you, Dorian), and now they skulk and shuffle in the blackouts. The students begin the dance as one shade of themselves and end the dance as another—an arc and a build that, this week, I am working on making crystal-ball-clear.