Hello Everyone,
As you may or may not know, this year our school will be performing with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in a new production of Peer Gynt. Dancing on stage with a full live orchestra is always an exciting and invigorating experience but there is a lot that goes into the creation of a piece before it gets to the stage. This is part 1 of a series we will be doing with our Artistic Director, and choreographer of the performance, Yukichi Hattori on his journey through this creative process and where he draws his ideas and inspiration from. If you have any questions for him please send them in!
Enjoy!
“I can’t speak for all choreographers in the world, but I usually start with a structure. A blue print for the entire piece, if you will.
The beginning, development, twist, and conclusion.
Once I have those, I listen and read the score repeatedly. As much as choreographing to the groove is important, I like to have a more analytical understanding of the score also. The composer hides their story between the notes, so I dissect the score to figure that out. If there is a source material, in this case there is the novel, I read the source material over and over again to find my own interpretation.
All this gives me ta on of information, so once I have it all laid out in front of me, the editing starts. What’s important? Which scene is necessary? Why does the character behave this way? Does this all make sense? The never-ending Q&A is the fun but exhausting part.
It’s like kneading dough inside my head. Sculpting a clay into a shape.
At this point, I haven’t made a single step yet lol. Having this thorough of a structure beforehand helps me work more efficiently later in the studio. But guess what…
I forget everything I wrote once I enter the studio. That way, I am able to stay spontaneous and creative. I have ruined pieces just because I tried to stay on script the whole time. It is so important to go with the flow and the chemistry of the room.
We are staring in the studio next week. Hope this will be a good one!”
Stage Rehearsal from “True North” with the CPO 2017
To the Pointe 