What was she thinking?!: Inside the mind of Artistic Director/Choreographer Kathleen Glynn

As we prepare for CoEXIST Celebrates 5, Artistic Director and choreographer Kathleen Glynn takes the time to give audiences insight into "Dream Baby Dream", the newest addition to CoEXIST’s repertoire.  We hope this conversation provides a fresh perspective on the viewing of the piece when it debuts at the show on Monday, June 23, 2014 @ Act II Playhouse in Ambler! Tickets available here!

Tell me about the piece.

The name of the piece is "Dream Baby Dream". I committed to the name during towards the end of the choreographic process. It is named after the song I chose for the piece, which is off the latest Bruce Springsteen album. 

What is this piece about?

As the process continued and as I searched for music - I realized "Dream Baby Dream" was perfect for this piece. This piece is where I would like to stop and look around as I approach the 5 year mark with CoEXIST. It illustrates the struggles, relationships, beauty, creativity, ideas, failures, successes, craziness, and brilliance that have brought CoEXISTdance to this point, to this dream. The choreography and movement also reflect that - some of my evident choreographic tricks will debut, some new manipulations will take the stage, and everything in between. As a director and as a choreographer, I am proud of what our 5 year mark reflects. I am proud of this piece :) 

Where did you find inspiration for "Dream Baby Dream"?

This piece was so weird for me because I had NO IDEA what it was about when I started. Normally, I am inspired or distraught about something and I use that as fuel to dance. This time, I wanted to create movement first. I fell in love with the phrase I created and realized afterwards it would look beautiful if I pulled it apart and stitched it back together throughout other phrases of movement.

Were there changes between your original vision/choreography and what was set on the dancers?

Actually, not really! I wanted this piece to be a combination of scattered and organized chaos and those breathtaking "ah" moments” - moments of purity I call them. I like to think I have created both [types of] moments; the dancers do a lot of work in duets and trios and then come together to perform very fluid, specific choreography together. 

Once you see your dancers embody a movement phrase, does that change the way you move forward in your process? How does that inform the next decisions you make as choreographer?

This question is intimidating. I think my answer is sometimes. There have been a few occasions where I change my mind once I see the dancers own the choreography. For example, with "Blackbird", I was adamant about the dancers figuring out how to be birdlike. I asked them to watch birds in their everyday life journeys. Megan did this so well I think she is more bird than she is human! With "Dream Baby Dream" I knew I wanted a sequence of broken-up duets and trios, tied together with group unison, and then repeated with different groupings of duets and trios, brought back together with more unison. The only thing I really considered when assigning the duets/trios was challenging dancers to work with other dancers they have not worked very closely with before. 

When do you know it is finished?

Honestly, are we ever done editing and tweeking?

Does this piece overlap in any way with other pieces in the CoEXIST repertoire?

If I had to choose a piece, I would say this piece is [most similar] to "Beacon" (except without the flashlights). They are similar in the way that multiple things are happening on the stage at once, and then everyone unites with a common sense of time, space, movement, or all three. I love creating that feeling. 

Do you appreciate audiences integrating their own subjective experiences of the piece to make meaning of it?

Absolutely! We make art for each other; it is meant to be shared. We do not create things to hide them. This piece has turned into something very specific for me - my journey as a director and as an artist - but I always love hearing how others interpreted a piece. I hope everyone is touched by this piece in some way or another, there is no wrong answer.