Dance Techniques 2010

96 Interview
When do you consider that a movement is
successful? I think when you have grasped the essence
of a movement, when you fulfill exactly what is intended
with it. There is a quote from Kurt Jooss in which
he talks of the rough road of the intrinsic, the essence.
Students often don’t go fully into a movement, but
merely hint at it. Or they do something with too much
energy. They should only use the amount of strength
needed for a particular movement, no more, just the appropriate
amount. We spoke earlier about limits that
should be respected, but one has to get close to these limits
in order to experience them. Sometimes you actually
have to almost fall over in order to see how far you
can go. I often notice that students don’t go far enough,
don’t immerse themselves in the movements—that
they don’t try to fathom what is in the movements.
Tasting movement…it is something very sensual to taste
a movement.
What do you see for the future of this technique?
Where can it go, and in which contexts? This technique
is not taught in many places…by a few people
at the Folkwang University, mainly Lutz Förster, who
in turn has been influenced by his work with Hans
Züllig. There is a school in Santiago de Chile that works
with the Jooss–Leeder principles. Both the founder of
that school, Patricio Bunster, as well as its current
director, Raymond Hilbert, have worked at the Palucca
Schule for years. Bunster taught the Jooss–Leeder
principles in–depth before Michael Diekamp came to
Dresden. And there are a few choreographers who
are trained in this work, for example the ballet director
from Wiesbaden, Stephan Thoss, who was a student
of Patricio Bunster.
Simone Michelle—a former member of Ballets Jooss
and assistant of Sigurd Leeder—taught the Jooss–Leeder
Technique at the Laban Centre in London until 1991.
Nowadays, students busy themselves with Laban
Movement Analysis categories in choreological studies.
Eckard and Loni Brakel run a private school in Hanover,
both of them were at the Folkwang Tanzstudio and
worked with Kurt Jooss for a long time. They have dealt
intensively with this work and pass on their knowledge
in their space. I teach mainly at the Palucca Schule,
but also to amateurs, and now and again in the
theater—for example, I regularly train the Bremen
Theater dance company.
The great value of this work is, for me, in the awareness
it creates of movement qualities as well as in spatial
references, in the conscious handling of eukinetics and
choreutics. I very much hope that this reference
system will be important for future dance generations,
maybe with a new look.
How has dance technique changed in recent
years? It is becoming increasingly demanding,
increasingly more virtuoso. The students’ technique
is always getting better. With all the emphasis on
technique, the soul sometimes gets forgotten—and that
is a great shame. I want to always sense the dancer
as a whole person.
Are there any new influences on your work?
I currently have little opportunity to absorb new influences.
My husband used to teach modern dance
teachers at the Palucca Schule, and this was an important
source of inspiration. I have also tried taking part in
the workshops or classes given by our guest teachers in
order to get new stimuli and not to get too wrapped
up in my own material. Alan Danielson was very important,
and Risa Steinberg is a wonderful teacher—both
in the Limón tradition. Sometimes it is only a gesture or a
movement detail that one takes in and develops further.
I would have liked to have done more Contact Improvisation
and Release Technique, but it didn’t happen.
What would you like to pass on to the next
generation? I am very grateful to have been able to
take this route, first as a dancer for a long time, and now
as teacher. It is a wonderful profession, a wonderfully
productive job in which one also has the chance to work
on one’s own personality. You discover a lot about
yourself. The level of technique is very high and you need
to have a good body and mind in order to be able to
earn money in this profession. Knowing what I wanted
from the start felt like I had been given a gift. When
one has a goal, and pursues it with dedication and full
concentration, really wants something, then the sacrifices
don’t feel like sacrifice at all—what is better than
that? I think that when one can answer the question,
‘why do you want to dance?’ by saying that one has to,
then paths will open up. The will that is necessary to
follow this route appears to me to be a very important
prerequi-site, alongside all the others. And one can
only handle what is often very difficult work if one is
passionate about what one is doing.