It's a mind-boggling mystery-why and how some dancers are able to work consistently in the under-funded, under-appreciated field of contemporary dance. Most auditioning wannabes never crack the code and soon give up, convinced of the impossibility of achieving success in a field where employment is scarce, financial rewards are nil, and the demands feel Herculean. A special few, however, dance constantly! Back Stage set out to find their secrets by talking with five extraordinary dancers who've enjoyed lengthy, uninterrupted careers dancing "downtown."
Jaime Martinez: Be Flexible
Winner of a 1998 Bessie award for Sustained Achievement in Dancing, Jaime Martinez admits, "I was one of the lucky ones. I had good training early on and had very supportive parents. And one of the reasons I got a lot of work is that I was willing to do many different things. If Ruby Shang wanted me to stand up in Lincoln Center wearing a white dress pulled up over my head while someone played a didgeridoo, I did it. When Pearl Lang asked me to tie one leg behind my back and hobble around on crutches, making up my own solo, I did that.
"It's the willingness to adapt to whatever vision the choreographer has. When you take a job with someone it's not your place to question that, but simply to do it to the best of your ability and when you no longer trust the vision, move on."
Before arriving in New York in 1982, Martinez had studied tap dancing since the age of three, had worked with the Columbia (South Carolina) City Ballet, and completed both the high school and college dance programs at the distinguished North Carolina School of the Arts. Despite his exquisite training, when he began auditioning in New York, he was repeatedly not chosen because, he was told, he didn't have enough professional performing experience. "Eventually," he recalls, "someone gave me a job and I did a gig at Larry Richardson's Dance Gallery. That was really the beginning of my professional career. When you start dancing in the downtown scene one person sees you and that leads to another job which, in turn, leads to the next.
"After I started working with Mark Dendy, who was my best friend at School of the Arts, I never really had to audition again. The exposure I got performing with him led to my getting jobs with lots of different choreographers-Pooh Kaye, Robin Becker, Vicky Uris, Shang, and Lang." Martinez emphasizes that, though he didn't attend formal auditions, he did actively pursue work. "For example, I would hear that Pearl needed someone to play a cripple in "The Dybbuk' and I would call her up and say, "Listen, if you need someone I'm available.' Or I would run into choreographers at post-performance receptions and when they complimented me on my performance I would say, "If you ever need a dancer, call me.' And they would."
In 1987, after four years with Dendy, Martinez was chosen to join the David Parsons Company and is now its associate artistic director.
Martinez observes that "it's not always the best dancers who get the jobs. Consistency plays a large part, coming to work on time, warmed up, and a willingness to be flexible and do other things. For example, if David says "I need you to go upstairs and look through the costume cases,' it's important that you're willing to do that and not limit yourself to just dancing."
Martinez reminds dancers that "if you give allegiance to someone they will give allegiance back. It's like investing in a money market; you have to hang in there awhile. People's careers fluctuate, they go up and down: no one is peaking all the time. The young dancers of today's MTV generation tend to get bored very easily. They expect immediate pay-off, get disillusioned quickly, and don't hang in long enough for the real rewards. Also, it's best never to burn your bridges. No matter how much you dislike someone, always leave on a good note."
Felicia Norton: Find Your Depths
A truly individual artist, Felicia Norton has carved her dance career as a solo performer. Yet unlike most soloists, she does not perform her own work, but rather the works of celebrated choreographers who create pieces especially for her. In the financially strapped world of contemporary dance, Norton suggests that, as a soloist, it might be easier for her to work consistently, since solo performances are cheaper to produce than ensemble productions.
Norton traces the start of her contemporary career back to a summer workshop she attended in Saratoga Springs. There she took classes with modern dance luminaries Pina Bausch, Paul Sanasardo, and Manuel Alum. After seeing her dance in class, Alum invited Norton to join his company, but she turned him down because she wanted to finish college first. Alum re-extended his offer as soon as she graduated, and Norton performed with his company for the next seven years.
When Norton left the company, one of Alum's former dancers, Joan Lombardi, asked Norton to dance with her group. Dance presenter Oceola Bragg, who saw Norton there, recognized her as an exciting soloist and began facilitating collaborations with choreographers such as Mark Dendy and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. "From that time on," Norton explains, "I worked primarily as a soloist. I didn't go out and seek any of this. It was like a gift. People would ask me to dance for them. I didn't really audition ever. And Oceola commissioned all the solos so I never had to pay for anything."
Norton realizes it's easy for dancers to get discouraged, and advises them to "always stay in touch with why you dance and maintain a strong understanding of who you are. To be a good dancer you must have some inner depth.
"It's not just about technique."
Norton feels it's important for dancers to attend workshops and take class regularly. "That is oftentimes the place where choreographers see you," she says. "It's mostly through personal connections that dancers get work-someone sees you, they feel your being, and a chemistry develops between the two of you. That's how the connections are made."
Michael Blake: Inspire Yourself
Michael Blake accounts for his success by declaring, "I'm a driven person. I want to be the best at what I do. So if something doesn't work out, I quickly regroup and move on."
Blake came to New York in 1981, after graduating from SUNY Purchase, and performed with many small modern dance companies. "I auditioned for everybody," Blake recalls, "and danced with absolutely anyone who would take me." After dancing full-time with Murray Louis' company for three years, Blake realized he wanted to dance more technically than the Nikolais/Louis repertory called for, so he returned to the auditioning circuit and got a job with the Joyce Trisler Company. He danced with that company for one season and then enjoyed a teaching stint in Japan.
Upon returning to New York, Blake joined the Donald Byrd Company. "I had met Donald in Igal Perry's ballet class," Blake recalls, "and we discovered we lived in the same apartment building. He asked me to work with him and it was the best experience of my life."
While Blake was dancing for Byrd, the Jos Limon company announced auditions. "I had always wanted to dance with that company because it was a Limon technique instructor I had at Purchase who told me that I would never be a modern dancer. He kept encouraging me to pursue the entertainment business and I got very offended by that. I loved the Limon work, so I auditioned and got the job!"
After five years with that company, Blake felt he wasn't getting the performing opportunities he needed and decided to leave. "I told Donald I was available and he invited me back."
Blake recognizes that being able to audition well has played a key role in his career success. When you go to an audition, he advises, "Be prepared, be technically fit, and be able to change styles on the drop of a dime. Also, a knowledge of modern dance history is very important. You have to study all the different techniques-Graham, Horton, Limon, Cunningham. It's so important to have all that information in your body and to be able to call upon it at any given time."
Blake warns young dancers against pigeonholing themselves as one particular type of dancer. "Keep open," he stresses, "and keep up your ballet technique. That's what will give you strength and longevity.
"Also, learn how to inspire yourself," Blake suggests, "because there's not always going to be someone there to inspire you. That's what being an artist is all about."
Akiko Ko: Make the Connections
Akiko Ko retired from professional dancing at the age of 12! Ironically, it was that early retirement episode that then enabled her to sustain a lengthy career as a contemporary dancer, a career she will never quit because, Ko explains, "I did it once. I stopped dancing for five years and I lost myself. I will never let that happen again, no matter what."
Ko was born in Japan where, because her grandparents were Korean, she was chosen to be trained in the performance of traditional Korean folk dance. She developed a childhood career performing these dances throughout the country, but insisted on quitting when she entered junior high school. "My teacher was so strict," Ko recalls, "I could not take it. And then I got hurt, so that was the end of that."
It was several years later, upon seeing the work of Jun Kyoya, a modern jazz dance choreographer, that Ko realized she wanted to dance again. She got a job touring Japan as the principal dancer with Kyoya's company for four years, while also performing with various Japanese contemporary dance companies. Feeling limited by the training available to her in Japan, Ko came to the United States to broaden her dance background. "I could have gone to Germany," Ko explains, "but I was a big fan of Isadora Duncan, and she was American, so I came here.
"It was through the Peridance Studio that I was able to obtain student status that allowed me to stay here. I also met wonderful people at the studio who asked me to perform with them-Zvi Gotheiner, Robin Becker, and Jeanette Stoner. After that I transferred to the Cunningham Studio where I also encountered choreographers who asked me to perform their work-Ellen Cornfeld, for instance. At the same time, I joined Ruby Shang's company whose guest artist happened to be Bill T. Jones, who then asked me to work with his company. One thing always connected me to another."
By carefully juggling her schedule, Ko has continued to perform for many different choreographers, including Amos Pinhasi, Arthur Aviles, and a Butoh artist. She attributes her prolonged success to her natural ability to adapt to different choreographers' styles while also bringing something of her own vision to their work.
Ko has known many dancers who have given up their careers because of the abysmal economic state of the profession. "They can't make a living," she says. "There is not a lot of work available to begin with, plus a dancer might not get hired if she doesn't have the body type the choreographer is looking for, or if she doesn't seem to connect to the work. It's mainly about the commitment the dancer has to the work, and the relationship with the choreographer."
Ko feels that finding that all-important connection between dancer and choreographer is best discovered not in an audition atmosphere, but in a class or workshop situation, and strongly advises dancers to pursue their art through these kinds of nurturing environments.
Janis Brenner: Do It Completely
It was when Murray Louis said, "You got the job, doll," that Janis Brenner's dance dreams came true. "I think that Murray saw a certain kind of kinetics in me. I never thought of myself as a highly technical dancer," Brenner confesses, "and I relied more on my intuitive ability to find the quality of the movements. I have a strong inner dialogue going on when I dance and I think that's what people saw in me. Maybe it was my way of compensating for what I knew wasn't a killer technique."
Brenner started dancing at the age of five and was trained in ballet, Martha Graham, and Humphrey-Weidman technique. She left the dance program at Adelphi University after two years when an improvisation workshop with Phyllis Lamhut convinced her she'd found her niche in the Nikolais/Louis technique. She moved to New York to study directly with the masters and was seen in class by independent choreographers who invited her to perform in their concerts. But in 1977, when Louis offered her a job with his company, "everything else stopped," Brenner remembers. "It was the company I had dreamed about getting into."
After seven years Brenner left the company, feeling the need to find her own voice. At the time, Annabelle Gamson was forming a group of women artists to whom she wanted to teach the work of Isadora Duncan and Mary Wigman. Brenner attended Gamson's preliminary workshop and readily accepted an invitation to join the group.
Brenner danced for Gamson for three years and then decided to concentrate on performing her own choreography and creating work for other dancers. Since 1989 Brenner has maintained a four-pronged career-performing as a solo artist, choreographing dances for her own and other companies, teaching dance, and singing with Meredith Monk's vocal ensemble.
Brenner feels it is "sheer willpower" that has enabled her to sustain her career. "Having spent my life doing this one thing so obsessively I realize that you either have to do it completely or not do it at all, you can't do it part-way."
Brenner acknowledges that there are many factors involved in getting jobs in contemporary dance, but ultimately, she declares, "you get work because you consistently prove yourself. You have to believe in your strengths and not compromise the integrity of your work just to be trendy or popular."
Brenner advises dancers to "keep at it, if you know that's where your heart lies. If you're consistent about taking class and going to auditions, you will get work," she believes. Also, Brenner encourages dancers to exploit any skills they might have as teachers or physical trainers when looking for supplemental pay-the-rent jobs. "You should try to find work in an area that keeps you in your body and thinking about moving. It's important to find work that keeps you in some area of the profession. There's a communal aspect to the contemporary dance world in New York," Brenner surmises. "We support each other. We try to mentor younger dancers. We have empathy for one another. Remember, we're really all in the same boat."