In 2002, Choreo Collective initiated a project that we now call the Kathy Colville Project, in honor of the first brave guest collaborator, Kathy Colville. The goal of the project was to bring in someone from outside the dance community to collaborate with Choreo to make a dance piece. We thought this would be a fun and interesting process through which the guest artist, and by extension the audience, could see how powerful and accessible modern dance can be as a form of expression, and through which Choreo could explore the creative process in a new, fun, informative and inspirational way.
Kathy Colville was a dedicated fan of Choreo and modern dance who, except as a viewer, had no background in dance or choreography but a wealth of creative ideas to explore. The piece resulting from our collaboration with her, The Firm Believer, debuted at Choreo's Current Collection in March 2002. It was selected as one of the "Best of Dance" for 2002 by The Independent Weekly, and we were invited to perform it again in the North Carolina Dance Festival's Raleigh performance in January 2003 and in the Enloe High School Dance Department Benefit Concert in September 2003.
In our second installment of the Kathy Colville Project, we thought it would be interesting to collaborate with visual artists to explore how the creative process from that art form could cross over to what is possible in dance. We invited Hannah Tully and Tim Christian, who are both visual artists as well as very energetic and imaginative people, to collaborate with each other and members of Choreo to make a piece. Their piece, “Sideswap”, debuted at Choreo's Current Collection 2004 and was performed again at Music at the Meadows at Carolina Meadows in Chapel Hill in May 2004.
Our third collaborator was Anne Franklin, an enthusiastic dance viewer and creative person who is active in the community through politics and public projects. She often advocates for the arts as an important aspect of community life. Her piece, "Cross Training" looked at public transportation as another important part of community life. It was performed in Current Collection 2005.
Although the process was distinct in each of these collaborations, in each case we started by working with the guest artists in lab sessions. Initially we discussed the creative process, approaches to choreography, the use of music, comparisons to other art forms, and anything else that came up. We then spent time experimenting and generating movement through structured improvisation in response to ideas/inspiration from the collaborators (along with discussion and feedback with Choreo members). The piece then moved into a more structured rehearsal process in which ideas were fully developed, finally culminating in a finished work of choreography.
We plan to continue this project in the future by inviting other community members who have a creative instinct and are interested in learning more about dance and choreography by collaborating with us.
