self portrait

Choreographer George Balanchine said ”God creates, I do not create. I assemble and I steal everywhere to do it –from what I see, from what the dancers can do… ”.

In making art we gather from what is already there, more than we create it. I remember the turning point for me on my journey learning choreography, when I read a quote that said ‘the reward of the choreographer is in mining for gold in personalities’ (I would quote here if I could remember who said it… possibly Doris Humphrey). The point where I knew the process was not about coming up with or teaching choreography but in fact looking for it. Mining for gold in personalities. Allowing the dancers to bring something of them selves to the process of developing the work. Not only in their movement, but in who they are. Gathering from what is already there. Being able to see it. If it’s in the making of art or in the making of our lives, we need to mine for gold. As a mother, as a women, as a friend, as a photographer… looking honestly for beauty & truth in others… and reflecting it back to them.

*(self portraits taken by Peter & Lisa Jay – including Anouk age 2)