We sat down with Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company for a conversation on her work with Musicians of Ma’alwyck’s Celebrated Emblems.
Tell us about how the ESDC came to be where it is today?
ESDC’s first concert was at Skidmore College in 1990 and we
were very fortunate to receive positive reviews. I had also
recently participated in a choreography workshop sponsored
by Dance Alliance with Master Teacher of choreography,
Bessie Schoenberg. Within a year, we were approached by
The Egg to become its resident dance company. This was
unexpected but very beneficial as the residency gave us
rehearsal and office space as well as the opportunity to
perform on the main stage on an annual basis. We have
continued as The Egg’s resident company for 33 years. I do
feel that this kind of opportunity is unique to the Capital
Region and could not have occurred if I were in NYC. Over
the years ESDC has become a company that is known for its
collaborations with other artists. This is not something I
initially envisioned, but it has proven to be highly rewarding
and successful. We have worked with more than forty artists
of various genres to create many of our new works. These
collaborative projects often serve as a stepping-off point for
new creative ideas.
Tell us about your process in developing choreography for
Celebrated Emblems:
Over the past three decades, my dancers and I created more
than 100 dances. How I choreograph has varied as time
progresses. I am an avid reader of fiction, and I often find
phrases that feel very evocative and could relate to what I am
creating. My journals are filled with so many of these phrases
which I will bring to rehearsal to delve into with my dancers.
They can act as germinating seeds for the development of
further movement and further narrative. For our newest
work, Telling, which will premiere at our January concert
with the Musicians of Ma’alwyck, some of the phrases we
incorporated were “I swept my footprints out of existence,”
and “I raced to that old corner of my mind.” We also
examined “the slowing down of time,” inspired by a PBS
documentary, The Articulate Hour, in which artists explore
ideas that shape us.
When ideas reveal themselves in rehearsal, we often allow
that experience to weave through and reshape our
choreography. I constantly allow myself to absorb what
surrounds me, whether it is fragments of ideas from my
reading, a brief citing of a shape from the artwork on my
walls or the energy of a breeze. I think all artists do this. You
don’t want too much flowing in all at once, but neither do
you want to edit out or not let in.
Every new dance informs, and it is critical for the dancers
and me to listen, to hear. What is the dance giving back to
us? The more we run a piece, and I see how the dancers
approach the choreography – this also informs the
development of a work. I may come into rehearsal with
multiple ideas for my dancers to examine, but I also lean
heavily on my dancers to expand upon movement ideas. We
watch each other to glean and clarify our creative
experience. There is considerable conversation that goes on
during rehearsal and intentional interaction and listening to
and feeling what others are saying and doing.
Ann-Marie and I have been talking for a few years to
develop a project that works for both companies. It was
somewhat of a challenge because Musicians of Ma’alwyck
tends to perform music from the 18th and 19th centuries,
and I tend to use musical works from the 20th and 21st
centuries. But Ann-Marie said she had found two pieces
that were current enough for me, and that she felt the
musicians would enjoy performing. The dance to the James
Lee III composition is almost finished and is entitled
Telling. I didn’t feel that I could appropriately pick up on
the indigenous or African American experience that
inspired Lee’s piece, but that I could certainly pick up on
the idea of personal narrative. I have been thinking about
costumes for it, and I feel they should have a more
pedestrian feel. Our narratives occur in an individual’s daily
life, so I do not feel that a specially designed costume, per
se, is necessary.
What was your first impression of the musical pieces?
The pieces have two different dynamics. The Mazzoli
music has a driving feel and often a strong dynamic, and in
the Lee piece, the clarinet has a major voice. To me the
Mazzoli is a single composition, one movement, while the
Lee has four parts.
Tell us about the dancers you are working with:
I feel the current company works exceedingly well
together and are willing to share their knowledge and
expertise. I seek dancers who can be inventive and
demonstrate very strong technique. How a dancer uses
their technique is very important to me. It must be
intertwined with a sense of artistry. There are certain
aspects of movement within the body that are very
important to me: the use of arms, back, and core.
Musicality and the willingness to experiment, explore and
invent are critical. We have six dancers, three veteran
dancers, and three new dancers.
What can you say about the importance of collaboration
in our artistic community here in the Capital Region and
more broadly?
There is not a giant dance community in this region, so I
found that by going to other kinds of artists for ideas has
been very beneficial. Thus, collaborations have been with
musicians, visual artists, poets, physicists, architects, and
more. There are all kinds of possibilities out there. These
collaborations offer new ideas, of course, but the
audiences receive the added benefit of enjoying new work
that weaves the genres like a tapestry. This is very exciting
and unique.✦
Musicians of Ma’alwyck’s 25th Anniversary Season: Celebrated Emblems includes two upcoming performances with the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company:
Friday, January 24 at 7 PM | Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany
Saturday, January 25 at 3 PM | SUNY-Schenectady
Tickets & More Information: musiciansofmaalwyck.org