Enzo Celli believes in the group – the swooping form of a flock
of birds as they navigate through thick air. He also believes in the
individual; a dancer should be recognized as a person first, a part of the
company second. In this, Celli is complicated. In his deep love for dance,
Celli is clear.
During my interview with dancer and choreographer for the
Italy-based company, Celli Contemporary Ballet, Enzo Celli found constant reprieve from a list of
questions in the encouraging smile of his wife, Elisabetta
Minutoli. Minutoli is one of 13
dancers in Celli’s company. When Celli teaches class, she is at the front
performing the movement (it never could be marking on her endlessly languid
form). Below is an interview with Enzo Celli, with a few remarks from Minutoli.
This interview has been edited, with permission, to reflect
Celli’s meaning. Editing was done to a minimal extent, and in some instances I
have kept his wording because it is simply more poetic than what is
grammatically correct.
Enjoy.
Peridance Capezio Center We can start off with meme….
Enzo Celli Meme arrived from the concept of a man who
studied social science, Richard Dawkins. He said that meme is for the
social science like the gene is for the biologic science. For instance, how
Italian people have white skin and everybody is not so high, how Italians talk
and move with their hands and have a talent for music. Dawkins calls this meme.
(Read a full description here)
So I use this name, meme, because one of the most
important issues for me is to translate the dancer as an artist onto the stage.
For me, every dancer is a soloist onstage. And my mission is to show this to
the audience. It is important that you recognize everyone as an individual, and
after that, you recognize them as a dancer. In this way it is important that I
don’t change their personality for the stage.
In this way I also put meme into my class. When I say in
the class “I don’t like that everything is so clean,” it is because I believe
details in the movement are up to the dancers to decide. I give you the gene of
the choreography. I give you the dynamic. But I like detail that is born from
each individual dancer.
P.C.C. Is it different to dance with your wife? Easier to
create a relationship onstage with someone that you know so well?
E.C. Dancing with my wife totally changed my career. I’m very
lucky because my wife is probably the artist that I respect most in the world.
I have a good respect for her personality, her story, her capacities. Working
with her… it is the greatest stimulus that I have in my life. And this stimulus
totally changed my career.
P.C.C. What was your career like before meeting (your wife) Elisabetta?
E.C. I didn’t believe in myself like she believes in me. Meeting
her, four years ago, improved my vision of dance. Because she knows me, she
probably knows me better than I do, so I can’t bluff with her. In this way, I
have to improve myself as a teacher and as a choreographer every day.
By the way, that’s very difficult too, because we live together.
It’s not so easy…
Elisabetta Minutoli: No, it’s not so easy
(don’t worry, they’re smiling, a connection and mutual
understanding passing between the coupe)
E.C. She’s my wife in the studio and out of the studio.
When we’re in the studio I have to remember that she is an artist and I have to
respect this.
P.C.C. Do you work together or is it ‘Enzo: the
Choreographer”?
E.C. I am the choreographer, she is the dancer.
P.C.C. (To Minutoli) Do you want to choreograph?
E.M. I’m trying to do something, but I try in another situation, not
with him. I try to create something that is all mine. Of course I am influenced
by him, but that’s okay because he is a master (of his craft).
P.C.C. (To Enzo) How do you choreograph?
E.C. It depends. When I perform, it is total improvisation. I
put myself in very difficult situations to improvise. But the dancers don’t
improvise.
P.C.C. Why not?
E.C. It’s an issue of meme. When we are creating the
movement we are improvising and after, we translate this improvisation into
choreography.
We have another process, too. When we are in the studio we
create the choreography, film it, and we have an archive of movement. I tell
the dancers to choose from that archive what they think is best for them.
It starts out as an experiment. I think that it is the greatest
strength of the company. The dancer is an artist. I like when I see that they
create another movement from my movement. It is amazing. It is a constant
growth.
E.C. Nathan Trice. Absolutely. He is a poet. I believe the most
important thing for the new generation (of contemporary choreographers) is to
create work for the same people that go to the cinema to watch a movie. I
believe it’s important for contemporary dancers to open our vision of dance and
try to work for the common people. I believe that Nathan trice does this work.
P.C.C. When I interviewed Nathan Trice for the Periblog last
week, I asked him if it was enough for the choreographer to like a dance that
they make, even if the audience dislikes it. He said that this was selfish. How
do you feel?
I believe that when you go on stage you have the responsibility
of that stage. An artist has to be honest. This is the most important thing.
Last week, my wife and I performed a duet and I started to cry during this
duet, because it was (an) honest (reaction). So in that situation, it seems (as
though) I make the work for me. But it’s not true, because I’m living in that
moment and the audience is living in that moment with me.
P.C.C. If you had 1 million dollars, what would you do with
it?
E.C. I would love to give students the opportunity to learn
dance for free. I would love to give job opportunities. Economic opportunities.
A lot of young dancers stop dancing because they have to work. I believe that
it is not good for New York, for the world, if a dancer has to lose their
talent because they have to do another job.
P.C.C. What are three things that you think are beautiful.
E.C.
My wife.
The Holy Spirit.
Humanity.
