An Interview with Korhan Basaran

I spoke with Turkish choreographer and dancer, Korhan Basaran to find out what made him switch to dancing and how he came to teach and work in New York.

How did you first get into dancing?

I started out as an actor and began dancing around twenty to aid my skills in acting. Within my first year of training, I was offered a contract from the State Ballet of Turkey. There were guests coming through from all over the world, which was an amazing opportunity for me to gain exposure. After two to three years dancing there I was offered a leading role by another company in Turkey. After that I began working with a modern company and started premiering some of my own works.

What brought you to New York?

I came to New York about two years ago to find and establish my own vocabulary, language, and movement in dance. Once I was here I received a scholarship from the Cunningham Studio and had the privilege of meeting the late Mr. Cunningham and performing with the Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group.

You work extensively as a choreographer and performer as well as a teacher, right?

I did the choreography for “Hisseli Harikalar Kumpanyasi,” the first ever Turkish musical production in New York, performed at the Beacon Theater in June 2009. My piece, “Seeking Beauty” premiered in November of that year. “K Search for L” premiered in June 2010 and most recently, “the Second Elegy” premiered on the 15^th of December 2010 at the Cunningham studio.

What makes your class unique?

My class is a contemporary technique based on all of the styles I have experienced in my life as a dancer. It begins on the floor then leading into a floor combination to connect everything before standing up. The class then moves into your basic tendus and plies to warm-up, initially the footwork is basic, but gradually it becomes quite complex. The class is challenging, I am constantly trying to challenge my own instrument as well. The choreography we do during the second half of the class allows the dancers to taste my movement and style. I do not repeat combinations from class to class, but I do work with similar movements that I am drawn to.

If you could give other dancers one piece of advice?

It is extremely important to learn to keep your center strong. I am a tall dancer and I had to learn to strengthen my core to give myself the control required to dance. Once I did acquire this strength and control I was able to utilize speed much more effectively. Articulation of the entire body is also particularly important especially of the feet. These are two qualities a dancer needs to hone to take their dancing to a higher level.

Watch Korhan's Performance at the 2010 Peridance Faculty Showcase:

Korhan teaches contemporary at Peridance Capezio Center Mondays 1-2:30pm. For more information click here.

An Interview with Dana Ruttenberg

Reflections on Dana Ruttenberg’s Creative Minds in Creative Bodies Workshop

Israeli born dancer and choreographer, Dana Ruttenberg trained at the Bat-Dor School of Dance and the Thelma Yelin High-school for Performing Arts before coming to New York to attend Columbia University. While living and studying in New York, Dana was the artistic director of her own dance troupe, The Red Hill Project. She returned to Israel in 2003 and has since been teaching, giving workshops, and choreographing. Currently, she is also finishing her MFA through ADF and Hollins University’s low-residency program, designed especially for mid-career artists. We were privileged to have her come teach a workshop at Peridance this January. Unable to take her workshop myself because of an injury, I instead talked to Dana about her work and was able to watch her showing at the end of the week.

How is the workshop going so far?

It is rather condensed because of the short time slot, but we make it work. The first hour is a warm-up based on what I have learned in my own career, particularly when working through serious injuries. I bring in aspects of Gyrokonesis® and yoga as well as using spirals within the body and imagery. I find that sometimes if you give dancers a new name or image for a frequently utilized movement it can become fresh again.

In the second half we work with exercises and games I have created to aid inspiration. When dancers are inspired they do not need a teacher, but we cannot control when inspiration strikes and it is not always while we are in the studio. Sometimes inspiration strikes in the subway, but once we are in the studio our minds are blank. So, I have borrowed from other worlds like mathematics and poetry to play with old, stuck material.

For instance, today the puzzle we worked with involved telephone and social security numbers. I taught them all some of my material and then split it into the digits 1-9, so that each digit corresponded to a part of the phrase. Then the digits where divided into upper and lower body. Each dancer then organized their upper body movement according to their telephone number and their lower body movement according to their social security number. They then worked through this new material with a randomly assigned partner.

This is just one example of an exercise I might use. They are tools for when you are stuck in choreography or find yourself repeating particular movement patterns. It is meant to challenge coordination and rewire your body. I think it lets you come out of your self and see what you are doing, that way you can clear up what you like and what you do not like. It sharpens the body and mind.


How did you create this method of working?

It comes one part out of my love of crossword puzzles and one part out of all those times I have been stuck and wanted to move in a way I never have before. I found that if you shift one little thing suddenly you have a whole different movement, phrase, or piece. To change you do not have to collapse your whole world rather you can alter one little thing.

I hear so many dancers who say, “I want to move in an exceptional way.” Movement exercises like the ones I have used in my workshop are a great way to find your way of moving and of pushing your movement. You have to travel to know where home is, if you are there then you are just there. If you travel though you may find a new “home” you never thought would be yours. It is the same with a movement style, you can discover that you can or enjoy moving in ways that before you would have said were not you.

You mentioned earlier that you have had some serious injuries, what happened?

I first started having trouble with a spine injury while I was a student in New York. I found that I needed to reimagine the way I though of my body. I think that you have to reimagine your body everyday. A while ago, I read an article about POWs that discussed the three kinds of mentalities that appear. The first do not believe they will ever get out of the camp and they ended up dying there. The second believe they will get out, but they put a timeline on it and they too ended up dying in the camps. The third believed they would someday go home they just did not know when and they were the only group who survived. I found this to be a good way to think about being injured as well, you cannot put a timeline on it rather you must live with your body day to day.

Have you enjoyed working with the Peridance students?

I have had a strong core of about ten people in a class of twenty. It has been a challenge to keep giving the returning students room to progress while allowing new students to join us. Working with them has re-energized me rather than draining me. I think that creativity and humor stem from the same place and all of the students I have worked with have had a good sense of humor and are open to the unexpected which I appreciate.

After I watched the studio showing at the end of the week:


Immediately I saw how the dancers I had watched at the beginning of the week had lost their inhibitions. They seemed comfortable with experimenting and not phased that they were being asked to dance in random couples and then random groups of four. The energy in the studio was palpable and I have rarely been so inspired watching material in a classroom. It made me wish that I had been able to take Dana’s workshop, but after our conversation I both have ideas for how to work on my movement style when I have recovered and a new outlook with which to approach my unwelcome “break.”


Watch excerpts from Dana's Workshop:

Dana Ruttenberg @ Peridance Capezio Center, NYC from Dana Ruttenberg on Vimeo.

For more about Dana and her company visit: www.drdg.co.il/

Faculty & Student Showcases

Two showcases, one weekend!

See unparalleled performance created by Peridance faculty, and experience the creativity and talent of Peridance students.

Participating Faulty:

Alan Danielson, Alexandre Proia, Anabella Lenzu, Andrea Beeman, Antonia Katrandjieva, Benjamin Nathan, Cecilia Marta, Diego Funes, Grant Chang, Jana Hicks, Joanna Numata, Korhan Basaran, Kristin Sudeikis, Marjike Eliasberg, Marinda Davis, Nina Buisson, Oliver Steele, Parijat Desai, Sekou McMiller, Shelby Kaufman, Sifa Marti, Tomita Masayo, Yuki Hasegawa, and Igal Perry.

FACULTY SHOWCASE

FEBRUARY 5, 2011 - 8:30pm

FEBRUARY 6, 2011 - 3:00pm

TICKETS $18/$12 Students

Tickets available at Peridance's Box Office or online at peridance.com (service fee may apply).

STUDENT SHOWCASE

FEBRUARY 6, 2011 - 7:30pm

TICKETS $15/$12 Students

Tickets available the day-of at

Peridance's Box Office.

Watch excerpts from the last showcase:



*Produced by Yarden Ronen-van Heerden

Peridance Capezio Center's KIDS FAIR

We hope you will be joining us THIS Sunday, January 23rd from 11am-3pm right here at Peridance for this year's KIDS FAIR!

This is an event you will not want to miss...

- 95.5 WPLJ radio station will be here doing "shout outs" on the radio and giving away prizes!

- Meet & greet with representatives from some of the top Performing Arts Camps in the tri-state area.

Wether your child is interested in a day camp or sleep away camp there will be a lots to choose from here at the KIDS FAIR!

- Dubspot will give a FREE DJ lesson at 1pm.

- Free PeriChild dance classes in Hip-Hop, Salsa, Musical Theater and more!

- Goody Bags for the first 100 attendees with Capezio items, discount show tickets and more surprises.

- Pizza and yummy treats.

A FUN PARTY YOU AND YOUR CHILD WON'T WANT TO MISS - GOOD FOR ALL AGES!

An Interview with Jose Traba

Peridance's, Jose Traba began teaching while his performing career was still in full force. For Jose, teaching has always been a natural extension of his dance career and is now his number one priority. I spoke to Jose to learn a little more about this dedicated ballet teacher. Here is what he had to say:

What is your background?

I was born in Havana, Cuba, but I grew up in New York City and I have lived here with the exception of about twenty years I spent touring various places. After touring, I returned to New York to take a position dancing with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, one of my most enjoyable jobs.

How did you transition to teaching?

I had already started teaching while I was still performing because I thought it was important to begin the transition early and it really was a natural extension of my career. After I had a huge injury I gradually began teaching more and more.

How is it teaching open classes?

It is important to realize as the teacher, 90 percent of the time your students expect you to bring the energy to the room. It is part of the job to posses this energy and share it with your dancers. Since I am not teaching in a conservator setting, most of my students are dancing recreationally. This means I have to make class fun and enjoyable for them and also I have to be more flexible in the class I am giving. Yet, I find that even more serious students would benefit from loosening up in class. Fear and tension are enemies to every dancer’s training, so letting go a little is the best way to let the information into your mind.

What do you do in addition to teaching at Peridance?

I guest teach, I have worked the convention circuit, I am a certified fitness instructor, and I teach at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. I have been both a teacher and a judge for Dance Educators of America. At these conventions you teach one-hour classes for five to six hours straight. It is quite a grueling day for the kids and the teachers. Teaching the conventions has been an education for me because kids come from all walks of life and dance backgrounds.

What is your class at the Harkness Center?

At Harkness, I teach a class for dancers that is half-and-half, fitness training and ballet. The class begins with the fitness portion focusing on core strength through exercises from Pilates and yoga. In the second half the students apply what they worked on to classical ballet. I think this is important because they can make a direct connection between the more targeted training of muscles and their ballet practice.

Are you working on any choreography right now?

I do choreograph, but my first focus is really teaching. I do choreography upon request for companies, schools, and individuals and have very much enjoyed the process and the end products I have created. Recently I have created pieces for students of mine who are going to competitions like Varna in Bulgaria. I also do one-on-one coaching for dancers who are about to go away as guest artists.

Jose teaches:

Advanced Beginner Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays, 2:30pm-4:00pm

Beginner Saturdays, 6:30pm-8:00pm

For more information on Jose's classes or Peridance click here.

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions you might have.