Photo by Jacob Cader.
We sat down with the Fieldston Dance Company’s own Arianna Jacobs (VI) to discuss to this year’s reparatory project collaboration with New York choreographer Alexandra Beller. As a skilled member of the dance community, Beller always looks to incorporate the outside world along with text, movement, visuals, and sounds into her work. The piece that the Dance Company worked on with Beller is called “Other Stories,” and it is inspired by the pull between longing and isolation.
Fieldston News: Tell me a little bit about your dance history, and your experience with the Fieldston Dance Company.
Arianna Jacobs: Before I came to Fieldston, I had absolutely no experience in modern dance. I had actually done African dance, so it’s a very new experience because the Fieldston Dance Company is centered around modern dance. It’s very authentic, very graphic, and very pedestrian. It really does come from your own personal improvisations and what you’re feeling at that moment. It’s a very organic type of dance. Alexandra Beller’s piece really incorporated that; it really has that pedestrian quality.
(interview continued below video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRh0OU77g2A
FN: Tell us a little bit about the character you portrayed in the piece.
AJ: I don’t think I was trying to portray any one character. I think that character was very me. For example, in the lunchroom scene, I was dancing around and acting crazy. Before we started to choreograph the piece, Alexandra said to me, “You strike me as the kind of person who just does stuff and realizes later that people were around.” I thought that was completely true. She really did incorporate every single one of our individual personalities into the dance. Every video, every character, every move, was based on us.
FN: Do you guys plan to bring this style of dance to the spring dance concert, and into the pieces you will choreograph in the future?
AJ: Yes, absolutely! I think as young, new artists, we are always learning from other choreographers. Part of our spring dance concert process is going to see other shows and experiencing different processes. So, when Alexandra Beller’s company came in to rehearse and tech their piece, Rob made us sit and watch her and take notes on what she and the cast were doing. As far as the style, I don’t necessarily think so, but as far as her creative process, I think that is definitely an aspect that we are all going to try to emulate.
