This time around, I’m not trying to communicate any ideas or concepts, but to luxuriate in the enjoy of dance for its own sake, and for the music that accompanies it. I just wanted to create movement that has arisen in my own body as a result of the different dance styles I’ve studied (ballet, jazz, contemporary, and Flamenco). So in a way it is about the diversity of influences, and the way dance (and music) can sweep you away. And also I’m enjoying choreographing with a ‘body of dancers’ instead of just one body. So playing with how I can create a visual spectacle with many different bodies.
The music I am using is from three artists – classical composer Frederick Chopin (specifically, his Nocturnes), 50s and 60s jazz artist Nina Simone, and current day blues artist Beth Hart. It is again a nod to the diversity in the music I love, and in the instruments I’ve played (piano and guitar – both classical, jazz, and blues, and vocals).
There are also common threads that these musicians share. They are all piano players who started playing at a very young age (under 4 years), who have had troubled health lives (Chopin’s was physical health, and Beth and Nina both have suffered from bipolar and alcoholism/drug addiction). I was particularly interested in Chopin’s nocturnes because of their connotations of dreams and night time.
The threads of the piece are music, dance, diversity (in music/dance/bodies). Windswept is somewhat inspired by themes of night time, like the sound of wind and wind chimes, linking the pieces together, and I feel like the urge that compels you to dance or make music is a little like being swept by the wind.
