"Dance is our essence"
-You have a really great career, as a dancer, choreographer, teacher. You became Associate Director of The Juilliard School, you worked in Orsolina28 and you are even an author. What is the key to all your successes?
“Discipline. I started very young in my professional dance career and it was really wonderful and I had an amazing opportunity to dance in the company I wanted to dance for. As much as I was grateful for the opportunities that I had, it was also really difficult emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, being really young. When I was 25 I had a moment when I was so lost that I needed to leave and stop.
Since when I was 10 years old I was really focused on just dance, like everything in my life was strictly related to dance and it was difficult to get good grades at school. Even when I was in English class or Economics class, I was always dancing in my head or my feet were moving under the desk. But when I turned 25, I was asking myself “what do you want to do besides dancing?”. And because I spent so much time only thinking about dance, it was a very difficult moment, because I didn’t know. And it took four years to try different things, take different classes, to find a new passion for literature.
I was around 29 years old and when I told my dance friends that I wanted to study literature and I wanted to write they say “that sounds like a nice hobby, but you should come dance again” and it was very difficult because it seems that nobody really saw me in that different way, besides dance.
I started taking literature classes, I came back to school, I got a Master’s, and many of my friends were people who didn’t have a dance background at all. Something that is completely different as a writer is that the creative act of writing consists of you sitting in front of a desk and you are by yourself: you can do it in the middle of the night, on the weekends, it is really up to you. If you compare it to dance, you have to go to the studio alone, you have to push yourself alone, you have to give yourself a combination, you have to dance alone. Part of myself enjoyed that, it is an act of solitude, it is a creative singular activity.
I had the physical memory of doing the barre in the morning when you are still tired and sleepy, and I felt I had to struggle to get into the room. I wrote for 7 years straight: weekends, birthday, I woke up, went to the desk, at 7 am to write, even if I wasn’t inspired, even if I didn’t feel really good about what I was writing, I did it and I think I was one of the only students who was doing that and a lot of the other writers went out drinking, had a really fun time, don’t sleep until 11, waiting for the moment of being inspired. And when I refused to go to the party, in order to sleep and be prepared for “my class” of writing the next morning, for me, it was normal: I had to go to work, it didn’t feel good, but I had to do it.
And my dance in the past helped me a lot in the discipline. In a world that is too quick, we try something that we want, but if it doesn’t work we give up. Depending on whatever passion, if you are consistent and you always do your work, it will come.”
-How were you able to develop your artistry?
“When I was 17, after graduating from school, I joined a company, the youngest beside me was 24 years old, while all the others were older. My very first partner was 41 years old. At that time, I joined the company, I was “the baby”. When we were on tour I couldn’t even go drink, not that I wanted to, but it was a very clear distinction in the company. So my approach was “I’m going to prove to you that I can do this, even if I’m 17 I can dance right next to you”.
But the men were older, and when I danced with them on stage, naturally, instead of the show I different I was, I tried to become more mature. And I learned so much from the dancers I danced with. After 3 years of dancing in Hubbard Street, and seeing how the other dancers were working in the studio, that was a great lesson about just being a professional.
In general, I was lucky to work with choreographers and languages that intrigued me, so it was easier for me, even if the language itself was complicated.”
-You are an awarded author. What is the importance of being smart and studying as dancers?
“The dance culture has changed and I think the dance field is changing, especially the creation processes. At the beginning of my career, in general, choreographers came in with a phrase and they taught you that phrase and you had to emulate it in that way: it was very “do this in this way”, so it was very specific.
Over the past 25 years, there is greater attention on improvisation also in the creative process, now based on a dance discourse of giving dancers opportunities and space. And in education, the school needed to prepare dancers for that moment, so that if a choreographer is asking you to go into abstract, you have to make decisions. But you need to have tools because, without those, the students cannot really express themselves.”
-You became the Associate Director of The Juilliard School. How do you feel about that?
“I started in January. It is a great program with wonderful dancers and there is a new director and it is her 3rd year. She is an angel, I feel very fortunate for many reasons.”
-In the end, what does dance represent in your life?
“As I said before at 25, there was a kind of earthquake in my life. It wasn’t about I didn’t want to dance anymore, I am very passionate, I love dancing, I want to do this forever because this is who I am. You are most yourself when you are dancing, and mostly, only when people see you dancing do you feel that they can really see who you are. And sometimes in a conversation, you are fighting for words, but in dancing, there is the essence of who you are, that feels the truest, and you can separate the two. What I understood later, is that at 25 I wasn’t any longer in love with that. It was the true me, that was no longer inside my body and this led me to depression. It wasn’t about “oh, I’m no longer dancing”, but “I lost my essence”. And before, I thought that in order to feel that essence was mine I had to join a company, I had to be in the dance field. Now, after many years of processing, you don’t need to be a dancer in a company, my mum is a dancer, my dad because it is just an essence that is part of us, there is no detachment from it.”
-Do you think dance has a role in society?
“I consider dance as a subcategory of art. And there is always the question “what is art? What are the arts good for?”. It is not helping the energy, it is not improving the climate, but if you look at the history, how we achieved and we continue to do it, all our history is related to art. Dance and choreography is a wonderful platform in which audience members can see.
Sometimes instead of asking the question “what is art doing or how it can affect community?” artists if they are doing their job, can help you identify something about a sensation, something that is happening in society because artists is always reacting to changes in society. But it should not be specific, it can be an abstract piece, but it is in relation to society, so if we don’t have artists making works of art, choreography, the world would be harder to be understood. We need artists to help us understand what is going on with our lives. And that’s is a strong value”
-You are also elaborating on “The LIT Series”? How did you start this platform and what is its aim?
“The LIT Series is very new, it happened as a result of covid-19. We went into lockdown in March and our president gave checks and support if you were an employee, if you lost your job. And I had my job, but I was frustrated because the process they gave all this money didn’t make any sense. It would make more sense to find out who lost their job and send money to people who didn’t have money. I had my job, I didn’t lose my job, I was working from home, but I received a check, while a lot of my friends and artists, doing freelancers, didn't have anything and all their money was gone. So I asked myself “how can I help?”. I wanted to offer this money to my friends who lost their job. I asked them to do whatever they wanted to do and was relevant to them, and I created the “library of interdisciplinary thinking”, open to the public, and free.”
-What is it important in order to be a great dancer?
“There are so many kinds of dances, so I will be very general. When you even walk on the street or subways, there are people that maybe are dancing for fun or to get some money and they emanate energy, freedom, musicality. And now you also have Instagram, and you immediately recognize the passion. When we get into the field of dance as a profession, whatever dance styles, there is a skill set, even in an improvisation world.
As a professional, education and the rigor that it provides are important and once you find a specificity, fluent in the movement language you are doing and you connect it with your passion, coordination, quality you are a great dancer.”
-You are also an amazing choreographer. What fascinates you about creating choreography?
“I love choreography as a platform, but there are too many components that I failed to learn about. In choreography, there is the author and another important component is communication. You have to communicate to all your dancers and to yourself. But this is tricky because the creation process is a crazy process. And sometimes, you don’t know what you want and change your mind every day. This is why as a writer I love to do that alone and I don’t have to bother or stress anyone else with my thoughts. When you work with dancers it is really difficult to be open and say “this is my idea, this is what I want to try out, what do you think?”. I have really great respect for who is able to be a great choreographer.”
-Can you give some advice to young dancers?
“Entering the dance field is already a challenging journey, and now with covid-19, not being able to travel, to being present for an audition or even in school, the morale is very low. The passion is there but asks yourself “why do you want to do that?”. It is because it is the truest version of who you are, and if it is that the case the only job you have is being the truest version of yourself, every day and continue doing that and something will happen. If you are present and engaged with the sensations you feel, you master yourself. “Write the book you want to read”: I really encourage you to be interested in what moves you, in making your values."
Thank you for this opportunity, Mario. It was such an honor for us!
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