FOCUS
ON DANCE
Collaboration as Journey
Dance Director Elizabeth Bergmann on the Thinking Behind Her New Course
“Dance as a Collaborative Art” (“Dramatic Arts 16,” a new course offered through the Committee on Dramatic Arts) will be taught in the spring by Dance Director and Lecturer Elizabeth Bergmann. OFA Director of Programs Cathleen McCormick spoke to Bergmann about her development of the course and the role it might play for students at Harvard.
CM: Can you tell me what triggered your desire to create this new course?
EB: I've always believed that we need to put all of our art forms together
in more collaborative ways, toward new ways of expressing ourselves.
But I haven't really had a chance to fully experiment with this
idea because the departments where I've taught in the past tended to be strongly
focused on their own discipline. When I first came to Harvard in
2000,
Tom Kelly from the Music Department, and Ellen Phelan, the chair
then of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES), talked to me about this kind
of interaction.
Also, when I taught my first Dramatic Arts course here ["The Art of Movement"],
I had a mix of dancers and musicians who were inspired by working collaboratively.
Many of them were subsequently involved in the Ex-rated show in the Loeb Ex and
Untied Up in the Rieman, which led to the creation of the group "13.” So,
there seems to be much interest in this idea from [the areas of] dance, theater,
and music.
CM: What would your ideal mix of disciplines be for the course?
EB: Composers, visual artists, actors, people interested in playwriting,
certainly dancers, who are willing to write music or start speaking,
and actors who
might want to get involved with the visual arts. We’ll create our
own art piece and also study the great collaborations of the 20th century—the
Diaghilev era, Martha Graham, Aaron Copland, the Noguchi collaborations,
the Cunningham/Rauschenberg/Cage
artmaking, and Happenings.
In President Summers’ 2003 commencement address he said: “To succeed
in the worlds that most will enter, our students will be expected to know how
to collaborate with others on substantial problems and to negotiate to reach
an outcome.” How do you see your new course, and perhaps your other course
on choreography, as addressing Summers’ statement?
In all of our courses, all of the work is done collab-oratively. The midterm
assignment for students in “The Art of Movement” is to create their
first dance. It’s going to be like a journey. They have to work collaboratively.
I do not let them choose who they work with. One group had a real “want-to-know-everything-that’s-going-to-happen” personality,
and the other two were a little more loose in their imagination. I watched them
figure out a way to work together—they were struggling.
I give them three words. They don’t get to discuss them until they’ve
thought through themselves what those words conjure up. Then I let them talk
to each other and figure out “what is this three-minute dance going to
be about?” This is so good for Harvard students. It is interesting—because
we have so many leaders—to see them interact and give and take ideas
from each other.
CM: You’ve said before you notice it’s particularly
difficult for Harvard students to learn the language of movement because
they are
so used
to expressing
themselves through writing.
EB: I liken choreography to writing: there’s a bursting out of your
thoughts, then you learn how to shape it, edit it, and make better sense.
It will be helpful if students have taken the fall choreography course
because it gives them a common language to talk about phrasing and stage
space.
CM: So in the new course they’ll be grappling with
learning the language of choreography as well as learning how to take that
process and integrate
it with
other art forms?
EB: You could think of it this way: In the fall course we take little bits
and pieces. We deal with space, say, or fast and slow: moving fast, very,
very
fast; moving
slow, very, very slow. Or going very, very high and very, very low; or
changing direction—we’re dealing with the components of what
goes into making movement phrases or making dances. In the collaboration
course we’re going
to start making a dance without the preliminary “how-to-do-that.”
CM: President Summers also said in his commencement speech that “all
of us share a vital interest in ensuring that our students experience
the singular
educational benefits that flow through direct sustained engagement with
members of our faculty.” How does dance fit into that idea?
EB: You can’t learn dance from the computer. Distance learning is
out of the question. I love it; it is one of the few fields left that has
to
be handed down
to you. I have seven students who are working closely with me on a dance
that I’m choreographing. I’m helping them to be better performers—it’s
intimate, direct exposure by an undergraduate to a faculty member and practitioner
in the field. One of the things that always came up when I taught at Michigan
[Bergmann was a faculty member there from 1962-1982 and established the
Dance Department] was that students weren’t having close interactions
with faculty, most courses were taught by teaching assistants. Dance was
like
a small unit
within the megalopolis of 38,000 students. It was a home base and they
got mentorship.
CM: And a profound number of hours goes into that relationship.
EB: Absolutely. The students in the Harvard Contemporary Dance Ensemble
are working at least six hours a week with me or another of our professional
choreographers.
That doesn’t include when a guest artist comes in for five intense
days to teach a piece. You can see the draw: you get a lot of personal
attention.
CM: The work must be passed on directly, but also allow for students
to experiment in finding their own path.
EB: That’s right. We don’t just lay out movement. Choreographers
are very influenced by the dancer in front of them, whether it’s
a student or a professional.
CM: Now that you’ve created this new course offering, do
you have other thoughts of what you might do?
EB: I have pushed for experiential courses here because there are so few,
almost everything is theoretical. I will keep advocating for courses that
ask
for a contribution from the students in a physical, 
emotional, spiritual,
creative
way.
I think there should be credit for learning how to dance or choreograph.
Choreography is a whole field, the one Dramatic Arts course we offer is
like having “Choreography
101.” At other colleges you have maybe six or eight courses: group choreography,
solo choreography, or a course in understanding music as it relates to the dance.
Currently at Harvard there are no advanced courses or requirements for anyone
in dance. We have some really advanced dancers here, but nothing for credit to
bring them to a higher level. And for Harvard this commitment would take space,
money and faculty. I feel like I’m the only person, along with Claire
Mallardi [Artistic Director Emerita and Lecturer], who tries to accommodate
all these
students.
Dance at Harvard is getting a good reputation. If you’re a dancer and want
to go to an Ivy League school, then Harvard is the place. We’re seeing
a lot more dancers. We have 50 to 60 intermediate to advanced dancers on
this campus.
CM: As an experienced faculty member and artist I assume your interests
have shifted over time. Is there something gnawing at you? What most
interests
you at this
point in your career?
EB: I’m interested in the connection among poetry and dance and music
and art and how they all fit together. I love Cirque du Soleil because
it’s trying
to change the boundaries of art. I get excited seeing students reach their
deepest, fullest potential. I love teaching “The Art of Movement.” We
improvise, and I watch students interact and start finding a movement language
together.
They do incredible things.
For me personally, the fact that I ended up dancing again, which I didn’t
expect to do, is meaningful. We as dancers think that after 35 you’re not
a dancer anymore. I’ve come to grips with, “I’m always a dancer.” This
has been a big revelation. There are a number of us right now at this more
advanced age who are not willing to quit. For example, Vicki Blaine and Karen
Bell [Dean
of Fine Arts at Ohio State].
Our generation of dancers is trying to find the power of dance as it continues
to mature in us. We won’t be dancing with the physicality of an 18-year-old,
but there is a presence and an attitude that’s important to keep putting
out there. No other artists quit right at the time when they are just starting
to get it. Musicians, actors, visual artists continue to develop their artistry.
So must dancers. It is a huge loss to the field if dancers quit just as they
are beginning to develop their greatness.
