1. What are you assessing when you look at the spatial design of bodies and vocabulary in your work? Do these assessments change with the piece or are you guided by more overarching principles?

I am keenly aware of dangers of overuse of symmetry, unison and predictable canon with groups of dancers, as well as center stage, so I always look at those things when I do my initial edit. I am also mindful of the power
of placement and a desire to invite the audience into my work emotionally and kinesthetically, as that is what I appreciate when I view dance, to be drawn in and not to observe detached. So I am always thinking about the use of up and downstage to heighten a desired effect and when too much downs stage use feels “in your face” or being too far away inhibits that experience for the viewer. I move around in the theater to see from different audiences perspectives too.

Geometry plays an important role in relation to the content too. I consciously begin with and use the inherent connections we have to movement material and spatial patterns, e.g. associations of circular movements with ritual and community and linear patterns with division, containment and separation. Then I work to abstract and develop a more nuanced expression of these ideas.

Because my choreographic interests are with human experience and relationships, all staging, spacing and patterning is based on supporting the relationships communicated within the content and movement of the dance, whether with others or within one’s self.

2. How have you used staging to contribute to your work, (i.e. for visual design, to communicate meaning, to create mood, to evoke social conventions, etc)?

When staging “pure” dance works, I prefer to have unobstructed stage space for the dancers and create a world within that with the movements and patterns. I define an environment in the space through patterns and focus most specifically. In a piece called Other Than, I deliberately created a defined and enclosed space with angular movements and patterning of a group to contain the soloist within, and from which she had to break free.

When working with dance and music I integrate the musicians onstage as appropriate for the piece. For Circadian Chant, with original music by composer Helen Carnevale, thirteen percussionists were onstage in a semi-circle to enhance the ritual aspect of the piece. For The Way of All Things with the 1 East Guitar Quartet, each of the guitarists was placed in a corner of the stage facing in towards the center and each dancer had a choreographic relationship with a musician.

For full productions with all theatrical elements, staging has to be integral throughout the conception and revised continually during the execution of the choreographic vision. For a co-production of The Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore by Gian Carlo Menotti with Convergence-Dancers & Musicians and the Philadelphia Singers, the set was designed for the musicians to be able to be on the bottom level but at a height that did not obstruct the audience view of floor work by the dancers, and the top was a simple tower where the dancer/creatures and The Poet could be visible or hidden at different times. The set was angled and when the singers were onstage with the dancers there was room for everything happening, to be seen and heard at the same time. This is not unlike staging an opera, but differs in that dance has a central rather than a supporting role in the conception and design.

3. In what ways do you play with a phrase to achieve the desired spacing and staging?

I am very thoughtful about the placement of movements, facings and focus. I think focus plays a key role in spacing and staging because it makes a clear statement about the intended relationships between the performers onstage, and with the audience. If a dancer is downstage and executing a movement phrase with a strong and direct focus, this communicates something completely different than the same movement upstage and with an inward focus. The same is true in terms of focus between and spacing among performers.

All of these choices are based on the choreographic intention but are always informed by the actual performance space and often need to adjusted in the venue (and/or with lighting) as opposed to the studio, so I look at this closely in spacing and technical rehearsals.

4. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with staging? What strategies, advice, or lines of thought have helped you overcome these challenges?

Since a piece is often performed in a variety of venues, if the intention behind specific key moments, including placement, facings and focus, has been made clear to the dancer(s) they can more easily adapt to performance spaces that are non-traditional, or of a strikingly different configuration than they have been working in, especially when there is limited rehearsal time. But it is the choreographer’s job to evaluate the dancers’ choices and to make any adjustments quickly and effectively so the work communicates well from the audience perspective in each new space, and should not be a “one size fits all stages” approach.

As I frequently work with musicians and/or actors, it is essential to me that they are integrated into the staging as each piece requires, and not relegated to the pit or out of sight. This creates particular issues which can affect the audience’s site lines of the dancers, lighting of the musicians, and sound for both performers and audience. However, the if they are being utilized, a thoughtful integration of musicians, dancers, and/or other performers into staging and use of space is critical for a cohesive choreographic and theatrical statement.

5. Have entrances and exits served any greater function in your work than getting dancers in and out of the performance space? If yes, what have been their functions?

Absolutely. These are powerful aspects of staging. In a piece called The Only Landmark, a series of solos were connected by the entrance of each new dance as the previous soloist was exiting, using the same pathway as a representative continuum. This pathway was from upstage right to downstage left, and this choice was intentional. Since western audiences read from left to right, this entrance to exit choice sets up an intuitive sense of continuation for the viewer. This upstage to downstage diagonal also brought the dancers towards to the audience who felt them leave as they were closest to them. This would have had a different experience for the audience if I had started downstage and moved diagonally upstage. When I want to have an unexpected entrance
I intentionally use stage left because the viewer is forced to look there instead of where the eye naturally wants to go.

6. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with entrances and exits? What helped you take on these challenges?

When a piece has entrances and exits as a key staging element and the performance space is completely exposed, like in an outdoor festival or site specific venue, the performance focus and quality of the dancer(s) becomes heightened by necessity. Creating a sense of invisibility when standing still on the side until it is time to “enter” the space is as important as an energized entrance. This ability to be truly still also keeps the focus on the dancers in the performance area until it is time for the next entrance. This can be a valuable lesson for emerging dancers as professionals have experience calibrating their energy in these situations.

7. How have your thoughts and approaches to space and spatial design evolved throughout your choreographic career?

I have always been thoughtful about levels and using a range of movements from floor work to air born, but they have to be appropriate for the piece. When I was an emerging choreographer there was a tendency to try to have a little of every level in each piece but as I matured I allowed myself to stay in one realm if it was what the piece needed. In Fall Out, to music by Peter Price, the soloist wakes up to the realization of a major loss, requiring the dance remain completely floor bound, and with a bed sheet. Rather than fearing it would be not interesting enough if she stayed only on the floor, this limitation allowed me to really explore what was possible on this spatial plane, with this prop and a specific movement vocabulary. Limitation is often liberating and generative.

In addition to creating an environment and accommodating all performers in an integrated visual way, I think of the use of dynamics in dance as sculpting time and space. The shapes and energy that the dancer transmits in each moment, is the key for me. The visual/visceral takeaway the audience has from sharing this time in space with the dancer is also spatial design to me as much as a large intricate group sequence.

8. If you had a philosophy about the role of space in your practice and in your work, what would it be?

That whether for class, rehearsal or performance, any place where creative work is happening, the space is a sacred place, a temenos, and is entered with reverence and respect.

Primarily where will the piece be performed and the number of people dancing. Example a restaurant, will be a confined space around tables; a theater will be larger and include backstage and wings. Out-of-doors will mean exposure to the entire choreographic process. Also, I have to consider whether there will be props and the amount of space they require per dancer. Canes, swords, veils and fire create their own challenges—like ceiling fans, overhead lighting, curtains, low ceilings close proximity to the audience, etc. Creating a tableau would be a different challenge.

2. How have you used staging to contribute to your work, (i.e. for visual design, to communicate meaning, to create mood, to evoke social conventions, etc)?

We have dances that are designed specifically for theater stages where we have access to the wings and backstage. This is a way we can change the number of dancers on stage, introduce a prop, and give variety to the piece which is fairly uncommon in belly dancing.

3. In what ways do you play with a phrase to achieve the desired spacing and staging?

My music determines this. If it is strictly a traditional rhythm, then there are movements specifically created to go with it. If it is a departure or westernized piece of music, I have more freedom to create and have to modify traditional dance movements and how I use my space and staging. Traditional music has set rhythms that dictate what movement is used, how fast or slow it will be and even the duration. This sets limits on what you can do sometimes. It may limit your ability to travel or cover large areas of the stage.

4. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with staging? What strategies, advice, or lines of thought have helped you overcome these challenges?

One time I had more dancers than stage area. We were performing a veil dance that required two dancers to partner with 3 yard veils spread out between them as they turned. We had room for two on stage and 4 on the floor in front of the stage. It was rather spectacular with several heights and layers of veils in the air. Most of the time we are faced with very small spaces and I have created many of my dances to handle this and yet allow for group dances. Some of my dances can be performed small or large.

5. Have entrances and exits served any greater function in your work than getting dancers in and out of the performance space? If yes, what have been their functions?

Some of our dances entrances and exits set the mood or tone of the piece. It can be interesting for the music to begin and the stage is empty then gradually the dancers emerge. One of our veil dances has the dancers exiting the stage into the wings with their veils floating behind them dramatically.

6. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with entrances and exits? What helped you take on these challenges?

Our biggest challenge exiting and entering comes with outside performances where we are exposed to the audience. In this case you have to maintain your character as you exit and the group has to remain in character the entire time they are in the presence of the audience. It is easier with a real stage and curtains. My dancers have to participate in all the numbers even when they aren’t dancing by clapping, playing the dumbek or their finger cymbals. They have to be animated and can’t wander off to talk.

7. How have your thoughts and approaches to space and spatial design evolved throughout your choreographic career?

I think I am more comfortable and confident in my abilities to handle tricky staging including a T-shaped stage and theater in the round. I think experience has contributed to the evolution of my space and spatial design.

8. If you had a philosophy about the role of space in your practice and in your work, what would it be?

Use it! I see some dances weighing down one side of the stage instead of spreading the dance around the stage so the dance looks balanced. If the motive is to present some form of emotional instability, an unbalanced stage like filming a scene from a weird angle, will create this mood. However, it can also exclude the members in the audience who are not on the side where all the dancing is taking place. I also like to have all my dancers exposed—I don’t want anyone hiding behind another dancer. Also, it isn’t just the floor that needs to be utilized but the area above the dancer’s heads and behind the dancers.

Assessments will change depending on the piece. Some pieces require a more balanced approach either aesthetically or conceptually. Other pieces need to feel/look unbalanced at times due to the narrative or concept and space needs to be assessed differently.

2. How have you used staging to contribute to your work, (i.e. for visual design, to communicate meaning, to create mood, to evoke social conventions, etc)?

I love space, and I love exploring with/in it. For example, I have choreographed duets, for which space becomes really important as there are only two figures on stage. The relationship between each other can be enhanced with the use of space (distances, approaches, location on stage, entrances/exits, lighting).

3. In what ways do you play with a phrase to achieve the desired spacing and staging?

Feedback. When I work with my dance students, we analyze different possibilities for staging a phrase. We will give each idea the opportunity to be seen and explored, and then provide feedback for each idea. “What do you see? Why? Does it work? How can this be accomplished better? Let’s try it!”

4. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with staging? What strategies, advice, or lines of thought have helped you overcome these challenges?

Space design. If for example we are showing in a space that has no crossover, then we need to redesign certain aspects of the piece for it to work. How will the dancers cross over? Can we incorporate that in the piece? The same goes for spaces that have very small (or no) wings, and you are working with a large group.

5. Have entrances and exits served any greater function in your work than getting dancers in and out of the performance space? If yes, what have been their functions?

Well, life is not predictable. Entrances and exits allow us to create work where there is room for unpredictability, where surprise may arise… This might be conceptual, narrative, or practical (as with the use of props).

6. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with entrances and exits? What helped you take on these challenges?

Stage design, number of dancers, size of wings, lack of crossover. It helps is to always plan as if you had the most limited space to work with. Have different plans and alternatives that can be applied last minute just in case.

7. How have your thoughts and approaches to space and spatial design evolved throughout your choreographic career?

I think at the beginning I was much more interested in exploring the basic elements of choreography (the powerful diagonal, center stage, etc.), based on Doris Humphrey’s contributions. Now I like to challenge that by using the space completely differently. I like to invite the audience to see another point of view, and to decode new ideas of what theater staging is.

8. If you had a philosophy about the role of space in your practice and in your work, what would it be?

Space is a gift. It is the second most important instrument in dance next to our bodies. Exploring it, decoding it, challenging it, and enjoying it can unleash many preconceptions and lead to truly creative work.

1. What are you assessing when you look at the spatial design of bodies and vocabulary in your work? Do these assessments change with the piece or are you guided by more overarching principles?

I always find out the dimensions of the space to be performed in – because there are often issues that are easier to deal with AS you choreograph than try to fix them later.

2. How have you used staging to contribute to your work, (i.e. for visual design, to communicate meaning, to create mood, to evoke social conventions, etc)?

serpentine patterns that go offstage and come back through can create the illusion of a larger space and continuous movement. Grouping dancers together gives the impression of family, solidarity, community.

3. In what ways do you play with a phrase to achieve the desired spacing and staging?

A combination of music and the intent of the choreography usually leads me to where I want to be during/at the end/beginning of a phrase. I don’t usually play with the phrase itself; my use of the music usually has me play with the choreography to achieve the partnership of phrasing and staging.

4. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with staging? What strategies, advice, or lines of thought have helped you overcome these challenges?

stages that are deeper than they are wide; no wings, no hidden crossover…..Knowing these problems are there before performance and blocking the space out in the rehearsal space is the best thing you can do to solve problems – whether with new work or re-staging something already choreographed.

5. Have entrances and exits served any greater function in your work than getting dancers in and out of the performance space? If yes, what have been their functions?

As mentioned before, to give the impression of a larger space and continuous movement coming in and out of vision……dancers coming together from elsewhere to be together.

6. What challenges have you encountered when dealing with entrances and exits? What helped you take on these challenges?

As a performer, my first job was dancing in a theater that required us to exit the building, run around to the other side and re-enter the building to get backstage. In a ballgown, dance shoes and the rain. Stagehands held umbrellas over us, and we wiped our shoes down with towels before going back onstage. Another show, dancers had to run downstairs, cross under the stage, back up and re-enter the stage. All the time worrying about timing. So I made a personal rule that if a dancer exits SR, the next entrance is SR. Always. No reason not to, keeps the flow natural and doesn’t stress out the dancers. Doesn’t make sense to me to have a dancer dashing all around the stage just to come back on where they were before. So when work is performed in a space without that back crossover? No problem.

7. How have your thoughts and approaches to space and spatial design evolved throughout your choreographic career?

I’ve grown even farther away from my symmetrical ballet roots, and closer to modern theories using floor work and straight down and upstage movement in addition to the traditional diagonal patterns. I think I am more aware of leading the eyes of the audience to where I want them to be, rather than just thinking in terms of the center of the stage area.

8. If you had a philosophy about the role of space in your practice and in your work, what would it be?

Know the performance space and keep it in mind. If you are not choreographing for a specific space, keep in mind that you may have to adapt. Work created in a 40′ wide space is not going to look the same crammed into 25′. I don’t think of this as a barrier to choreographic creativity – I see it as part of the puzzle that I must solve creatively.

1. Where have your ideas come from?

Most of my ideas come from personal experience or contemporary social issues in society. I also like to explore with conceptual work.

2. What approaches have you used to flesh out your ideas?

I do “movement brainstorming”; I create sketches; I do online research; I watch documentaries, and I talk my ideas out with my husband.

3. Once you received an inspiration, what were some of your next steps?

If I want music, I try to figure out its musicality. If that isn’t coming to fruition yet, I continue to block the piece by dividing it into sections (like a storyline).

4. What strategies have you used to take an inspiration and translate it into something you could use to generate movement and create a piece about?

Storyboards are great. They are a great way to organize your thoughts. I like making the board on paper, and then cutting the scenes so I have the flexibility to move them around like a puzzle, and edit the pieces I do not want anymore.
I also like to record and review, to see if what my body is doing captures the message.

5. How have you handled an inspiration that seemed too big to tackle through movement? For example, refine it, abandon it, etc?

I have postponed ideas because they require a big budget to accomplish them. For example, I have imagined great big installations, but I need to wait until I have the necessary budget. A cheap installation will look cheap, so I postpone them.

6. How many of us have these magnificent ideas in our heads for pieces that never see the light of day? What advice do you have for those who find it hard to get started?

Start somewhere. It all starts with one step. Keep it simple, and allow the piece to grow organically. Better to have simple and good quality, than not get anything done because you get caught up in what you cannot do at this time. Start small, and see where it takes you.

7. In translating your inspirations into movement, have you found any limitations in movement’s ability to fully realize what you’re attempting to communicate? Or, have you felt that as a choreographer you were limited in your ability to access movement that fully realized your inspiration? How did you manage that hurdle?

Yes, this is a two part answer. Physically, for the first time in my life I have faced that issue because I am 7 months pregnant and I am choreographing a show that opens in two months. Luckily most of my dancers know the work pretty well, and can be great assistants. It only becomes burdensome when I still do not see the ideal movement in them, and I cannot show it. They eventually achieve it, but it only takes longer to get there now.

As far as conceptually, it has been challenging if I have a clear idea for a piece based on personal experience, but I cannot quite put it into words. The movement comes clear, but the intention takes longer as I figure out how to have them empathize with my experience. Eventually, I end up eliciting different images from them based on their personal experience that they can connect with.