This month, we got a chance to hear from dance artist, Emily Climer. See her THIS SUNDAY at our June showcase!
WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
EC: spacious, rhythmic, patterned
WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
EC: I love the earliest phase of research in the studio—setting up movement explorations that ask and answer the questions I'm interested in, and discovering new questions because of who is in the room.
Sometimes I devise a bunch of movement experiments but struggle to find a structure to show them, especially early on in a process. I try to find a form that invites others to look, and one that fits where we are in our process of making the dance.
WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
EC: I'm inspired by the way artists in other mediums (visual arts, music, writing) ask questions and solve problems. I often generate movement by attempting to translate an approach from another medium. For example, trying to translate a certain form of poetry into movement, or a certain musical form.
I also use the dance studio as a place to ask questions that I have about how people make decisions collectively out in the world. I like to think about these questions through movement—it reveals a lot to me about how we organize, try to solve problems, and relate to each other as people.
WS: Do you have any secret talents?
EC: I play the French horn!
WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
EC: I'm particularly interested in the narratives that people see in this work. I often start with questions of form or structure, and then discover that those questions evoke specific narratives. I get excited hearing the stories that others see in the work—it helps me see more, and know where to go next with it.
WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
EC: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, Moonlight by Barry Jenkins (finally saw it!)
WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
EC: I'm so grateful for the chance to be in the studio with Mei, Kenny, and Katie working on this movement material. For me, dance-making is a deeply collaborative process, and they are such generous, talented collaborators.