As the resident choreographer, what is your experience working with boston ballet dancers?
They’re magnificent dancers, of course, and with the diverse repertoire they’ve become very versatile. It’s just great. Many companies tend to do the same style most of the time. Boston Ballet dancers are very quick with responding to different styles, so whatever I want to do, they’re ready. And then, of course, I have had the pleasure of working with them for years. I have worked with some of them in maybe eight or ten works. So I think there’s beauty in that. It’s a privilege to build on people’s lives, bodies, and thoughts, and that’s different and far deeper than with other companies where I go to work for the first time.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to a young choreographer?
Don’t do it! Stop right there.
No, I’m kidding. I love it. It’s a fantastic thing to do. I’ve done really two things in my life—one was to be a dancer, and the other a choreographer. And I cannot see myself doing any other job. My advice to a young choreographer: it comes down to having the courage and curiosity to ask yourself a lot of questions. Why do you want to choreograph? What kind of dance do you like? What kind of dance do you want to make? Also, the more you see, the more you appreciate different dance styles, the more vocabulary you have with you to come up with solutions, the better. I think with any creative thing, you have to try many different things to find the right one. You can’t just come with one idea/solution. It’s very hard. It’s better to try ten different things and then choose one. And even then you’re bound to make mistakes because there are so many factors. Just keep trying!