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The Age Factor :Choreographer


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We've often had discussions on dancers that are sometimes "too young" to understand/grasp roles they're dancing. That sometimes they may be given things too quickly.

What about choreographers? Are there "vintage" (wine not vinegar) years? Does someone need to dance/choreograph a certain number of years first?

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I'm not sure if any generalizations can be safely made here. If the examples of Balanchine and Ashton are anything to go by, it might seem as if the peak decades are those between roughly thirty- five and fifty- five, or somewhere in that ballpark. (Not that they didn't do great work thereafter, but you could argue that their most characteristic and innovative work was done by that point.) Ashton developed more slowly than Balanchine, but as Mr. A would have pointed out, he came late to the party and didn't have Mr. B's grounding in music, dance, and tradition from an early age, so it was more difficult for him.

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If it's any use to use one's self as an example, I saw a difference in what I was doing after about 12 years of work. It was less in craft than in confidence of voice. I felt by that point that, whether someone liked my work or didn't care for it aside, it looked like my work. I hope I see another difference (and even improvement!) again as time goes on!

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With dancers, age has obvious significance, since time takes a physical toll. With choreographers, it's different, since many influnces shape their work. With Balanchine, for instance, there is an obvious, even embarrassing (PAMTGG!), drought after Farrell left his company. But he recovered, even before his muse returned, with the Stravinsky Festival.

Paul Taylor hit a similar dry spell when the AIDS epidemic decimated his company. The loss of Christopher Gillis, whom he saw as his successor, was particularly difficult. (All this from the film Dancemaker, by the way.) He also regained his creativity, though it's worth noting that he began using explicitly gay themes in his work: the "I Can Dream, Can't I?" section of Company B, for one example, and Piazzola Caldera for another.

In short, "problems" for choreographers are more likely to derive from external emotional problems than the simple process of aging.

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