CORY BOWLES TALKS ABOUT HIS WORK AND LIVE FROM THE FLASH PAN
Choreographer Cory Bowles is back in Halifax, working with Mocean
Dance on the remount of his critically praised Live from the Flash Pan, which
had its world premiere in 2010. Recently
he stepped away from the studio to answer a few questions about the production
and how he builds a dance work.
“Live from the Flash Pan is a bit of
a satire on dance in pop culture. The pace of pop culture has sped up and there
is a barrage of new influences,” Cory explains. “In this work we are exploring
how that culture constantly changes and relentlessly forces the same for
artists. There is a huge exodus with the shifts, but there's always a pocket of
artists who just don’t, can't or just won't fit. They're a ‘flash in the pan’
because they are hot, but not mutating. They are forced out.
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| Rhonda Baker in rehearsal with Cory Bowles and Mocean Dance |
1 - Your career in the performing arts spans multiple creative roles
in multiple genres – film, music, theatre, dance. As a choreographer how does this background
and experience influence your creative process as you build a dance piece?
I don’t have one set way of working,
it always adapts and changes. Elements of one discipline creep into the other
disciplines at different times; different elements for different moments. I'm
fortunate to have a pretty big toolbox. It’s a constant tinkering and
exploration, and of course a lot of trial and error. At the end of the
day we just try to tell a concise and interesting story.
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| Rhonda Baker in rehearsal with Cory Bowles and Mocean Dance |
2 - Live from the Flash Pan was originally set on Carolle Crooks in 2010 and
will be performed in 2015 by Rhonda Baker for the Close Reach program. When you create a new piece or remount a dance
work, how much are you influenced by the dancer/dancers with whom you
work? Are you influenced by personality?
Technique? Physical type?
I’m influenced by the fact that we
build a piece together. For Flash Pan we created the character and story.
We're influenced by a general idea or general themes, but it's a jump off
point. No two people are the same, and they don't or shouldn't interpret
the same. When I work with someone new I should hope to get them to own it the
role as soon as possible. It becomes something of a new piece, from a new
perspective. There's definitely influence at the beginning from the original
casting, but it's more like having an unseen partner in the beginning stages
and then the piece eventually becomes someone else's story to tell.
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| Rhonda Baker in rehearsal with Cory Bowles and Mocean Dance |
3 - Do you have a fixed choreographic process? Do you start with a theme?
An image? A movement? The music?
Again, always different. Most of the
time it starts with an idea. Sometimes specific from start to finish, other
times something smaller –like a quotation or an incident. Then go with the
instinct as much as possible. I ask myself “What am I trying to say and
is it worth saying?” “What are the necessary steps?” then I try my best
to trust that instinct. If i can't...well..
4 - How do you get to the life of the work?
I don’t believe that you can force a
theme, even if you think you know the theme, a new one will arise. I try to get
to the life of something by nurturing it. Something doesn't flower unless it
gets water, sunlight, nutrients, etc. If work is fed, it something fresh
emerges. You can analyze what it is and what it wants to say.
A lot of times the work will steer
me in a new direction. Or a person’s interpretation of the work will steer me
in a new direction. Sometimes the essence in someone’s movement will prompt me
to change direction. I follow it so that the artist can approach the movement
from their most honest perspective. I'm there to help the approach with an
honest conviction. They need to understand the work more than me. Eventually I
just provide an outside perspective.
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| Rhonda Baker in rehearsal with Cory Bowles and Mocean Dance |
5 - How much do you engage the dancers in your creative process as you
build the piece?
Collaboration, artistry, ability,
safety and trust. There are times when I'm really specific in what I want
the artists or artists to do -- other times when we are completely
collaborative. I try to never leave an artist abandoned. Time to themselves,
sure. But never alone.
For the collaborative, I engage in a
joint exploration. I don't believe in the choreographer, or the dancer having
one set way of working. It is a constant dialogue all the way through, even when
I know exactly what I want. We have to inspire each other and inspire the room.
I have to be driven to not only make them look good, but eventually, as a
choreographer, I aim to be invisible. I want to empower the people I am working
with and give them the framework to deliver that empowerment. I am there to
always work for the dancer who is working in the piece, for the piece, and in
turn for the initial idea and my direction.
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| Rhonda Baker in rehearsal with Cory Bowles and Mocean Dance |
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