Digital program book ‘Skin of the mind’

Donnie on Tell your mom you love your skin:

“Creating with Alan has been a true collaboration. The primary task has been to align ourselves as movers to the themes and archetypes that he curiously and openly examines. Us dancers have shown up as our most creative and determined selves, daily engaging with our creative limitations in hopes of generating fresh ideas. We brought our history, identity, and perspectives to the studio and, as a result, have decorated Alan’s imagination with pieces of each of us. Alan has gifted or cursed himself, harnessing this kaleidoscopic group of individuals into a single multifaceted organism built for the theatre. In the end, I anticipate that spontaneity and his creative instinct will prove champion.”

Aram on Bedroom Folk:

“Reminiscing about the creation of Bedroom Folk in 2015 I’m transported to a mini universe in the main studio at the Lucent. It was electric, vibrant and intensely hypnotic. Ori simultaneously composing the music on set while we were creating, there was this passionate creative flow that still makes my heart flutter. This piece is an emotional journey starting from the very first beat and continues well beyond the curtain touching the ground. It’s all incredibly delicate, intricate, precise (even the eyeball gets a designated count) and injected with many rhythmical challenges that require absolute concentration throughout. You tap naturally into this hypnotic grind, strengthened by having these colleagues beside you bringing their unique energies that lead to an amazingly satisfying tribal experience. Sharon and her brilliant team Leo and Rebecca gave us images that guide us through movement – some depicting pleasure, others gore. Like waves washing over your face, poking your scalp until you draw blood, expanding the space between ribs, burnt fingertips. It is through these inspirations even the most minimal gesture is given a purpose. It is euphorically exhausting and I feel incredibly privileged to be performing this piece again, it is without doubt one of my favourites.”

Scott on Bedroom Folk:

“I have had the pleasure of dancing Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar’s Bedroom Folk previously with Ballet BC. I’m excited to now revisit the work with NDT, where it was created. It’s intriguing to discover connections between my past memories and sensations performing the piece and its initial concepts. It’s similar to getting your hands on the original manuscripts of a book you’ve read many times. To dance Sharon’s work is to experience feelings and fantasies that already exist within us, but amplified to an extreme, yet contained place. It never feels that you are only executing a movement, but that it’s happening from a place inside that is pure but intangible, like from where you cry. Something beautiful about dancing Bedroom Folk is the way it transforms you between such different states of being, but from the inside, it feels like one unwavering journey.”

Paxton on Tell your mom you love your skin:

“This is our first time working with Alan. His creative style is completely new to us as dancers. He is quiet, kind, and thoughtful.
This process has been an exercise in trust and self-reliance. Rather than keeping the studio in a rigid structure, Alan prefers to create an open and welcoming space for working. We are entrusted with the responsibility to make use of that space. We are of course welcome to ask for help, but we are also encouraged to provide ourselves with the motivation to generate, refine, and reflect. Alan and his assistant Olivia keep the dialogue open and guide us to create along certain thematic lines.
I personally am also learning a lot about working with text. Speaking on stage is not necessarily something we as dancers are trained to do, and we have to develop a level of comfort for it. Then there is the added layer of speaking while dancing. We have been working to control our breathing to allow speech to flow naturally as well as finding ways to avoid having the sound of our breath catch in the microphones. It is an excellent challenge.”