How do you see the application of the academic technique to current choreographic languages?
I think ballet technique is such an important and valuable foundation for a choreographer to work on it and then develop their own language and style. I think that in the work of many choreographers today the classical technique can become unrecognizable in the final result, since their own movement can really grow from its initial design and evolve into something truly unique.
What relationship do you have with music at work and what are your sound preferences?
In the past music has been my first source of inspiration and this time my inspiration was a concept, an idea, and then I turned my attention to music. I recently went to see the performance of a music group in London, Flux, which combine many elements of my Indian roots, something familiar but nevertheless strange and somehow unknown to me. I decided to experiment in collaboration with a composer, with the energy and drive that first attracted me to his music and the surround sound. I wanted the music and the choreography to develop side by side, simultaneously and spontaneously … and for the original idea to inspire both of us to create whether it was individually and collectively. I looked carefully this time at the individual instruments (in this case the Indian flute and the acoustic guitar) and what their tonality and sound evoked in me and this greatly influenced the type of movement vocabulary of my piece. For me this has been a totally new way of creating, which I have never experienced like this before.
What choreographers do you recognize direct influences on your creative materials?
I would say that everything around me and what I am involved in while I am in the creative period influences me in some way. In this case, this year I have been working intensively on the Kylián program and I have to say that his choreographic creation bases have influenced me in an epidermal way, they have gotten under my skin. I have learned that behind every movement there is a source and a reason that is almost always a very strong human and natural emotion or feeling. And since I dance in my own choreography this time (for the first time as well) I certainly have no choice but to dig deeper into myself and use my feelings and emotions to help me create the movements. And I have to say that it has been therapeutic and liberating to create in this way this time.
