Well, blog family, we have 6 total new commissions this season which means there are SO many different processes for me to update you on and take you through! When we commission a choreographer, each person comes in with a different idea or different music and gets approximately 10 days with us dancers in rehearsal to create a brand new piece for us. It’s exciting, nerve-wracking, fun, inspiring, and everything in between.

Our first commission of the year started TODAY on Monday, September 25, 2023 with none other than Donald Byrd! To give you a quick synopsis on the legend that is Donald Byrd, he is a world-renowned choreographer who is the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater since December of 2002. Throughout his over 40 years of choreographing, Byrd has created over 100 works that range from being set on companies like The Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Philadanco, and many, many more. The list goes on and on and we are honored to be a part of it starting this week!

The beginning of a process is always so interesting to me. How each choreographer approaches the beginning of something new never fails to fascinate me. I thought what a brilliant journal it would be if with this season, I document the start and end of each choreographic process. We as dancers can look back on how everything started and how it slowly morphs and evolves into something so beautiful. We cannot wait to see the outcome of Donald’s piece after only one day with him.

For starters, Donald watched us in warm-up class this morning and then carefully took the time to get to know us after. He chatted with each dancer – about themselves, where they are from, their interests and likes, as well as their relationship with dance. It was nice for each of us to relax into the process this way and feel valued in the creative space we were about to enter.

Not too long after, we were up and at it and our choreographic tool box (as discussed in previous process blogs!) was put to the test today! I’m back home now a little brain dead as well as physically exhausted, but all was worth it! Donald came up with a 30 second phrase arm gesture phrase as well as a 30 second leg phrase. Our task, in groups, was to put the two together. Once this was complete, our next task was to put the choreography on the floor as to make a floorwork phrase that mimics the standing phrase. The following task was different for each group – one group retrograded the phrase, another switched the arms and the legs, another brought the floor work phrase back to a standing phrase, and so on. To finish our day, we made the phrase into a duet. It’s crazy how one phrase can breed multiple different ideas and beautiful to watch each dancers’ interpretation of the movement. It allows our creativity to run wild and for Donald to have a plethora of phrases to choose from as we begin piecing this work together!

We are all resting our bodies and preparing for another day of work tomorrow. It’s truly great to work with Donald Byrd and I can’t wait to update the blog with the final product – stay tuned!!