Evocation 2008

Evocation was wrapped up last Saturday. It is one of two annual concerts put up by NUS Dance Ensemble, with Evocation being a sort of preparatory ground for the bigger scale The Next Wave.

With that in mind, this reflection on Evocation is not about dancers who shine on stage or inspire millions. Neither is it about good, bad or could-be-better choreography. Evocation is about a dancer’s journey to somewhere – be it to gain experience before The Next Wave; to become a better performer; to grow as a dancer into a choreographer; to experiment with new styles; or anything else. There is no way a dancer can stagnate or be less of a dancer after a production, unless he or she did not reflect, learn and be brave enough to change for the better.

Evocation to me is especially about the journey to becoming a choreographer. Choreography is certainly not something that comes naturally to everyone. It also means a lot of homework to familiarize oneself with history, vocabulary, styles, ideas, meanings, context… to decide for oneself what ideals to meet, what visuals to create, how to tell the story, what to do with the dancers you have, how to teach, how to adapt to changing circumstances, how to help people respect you and your choreography, and, returning to square one, to decide for oneself the answer to ‘why choreograph?’.. Kudos to everyone who survived the entire process, and more.

I initially thought it was a natural and logical process that dancers want to become choreographers one day, but I found out it wasn’t always true. I cannot fathom the reasons for not having the desire to choreograph – can someone enlighten me? I do know, however, that taking that step helps you look at dance from the other side, and that the little choreographic endeavour will benefit you immensely when you go back to being a dancer, learner, performer. And after being a choreographer, what’s next? To be an artistic director in all senses of the word? To spread the love for dance in some other ways? If a dancer thinks long-term, I’m sure that’ll be on his or her mind. Tell me what you think.

Credits also go to Ensemble founders who realized this platform for aspiring choreographers. It was a decision made with plenty of foresight. It also speaks a lot about the passion that existed in the dance company – then. It still remains to be seen if years down the road Evocation is still viewed in the same way as it was originally intended to be; organizations have to experience ups and downs. I certainly hope Ensemble continues to grow dancers well, if not better.

Evocation 2008 displayed a varied repertoire. There seems to be more and more variety each year, which serves Ensemble’s strivings towards versatility well. This variety does more than achieve higher entertainment value for a concert. It also displayed the fact that dancers cannot and do not want to be pigeonholed. Hence every year we see no lack of choreographers coming forward to propose new concepts and styles, and we keep seeing ballerinas attempting zazo; hip hop-based people experimenting with contemporary movements, as well as fusion-everything, where in this case “fusion” should mean building onto something, rather than to dilute or confuse.

To qualify, one cannot be termed a versatile dancer just by the number of uniquely different items he or she “collects”. One has to genuinely understand where the different forms are coming from, accept them, and put equal heart into each of them before anything can be gained from such dabbling. The individual has to also organize oneself in relation to these experiences – what are my strengths and weaknesses that were exposed in the process? How do I apply these insights and new dimensions in movements to enhance how I move currently?

Having said that, Evocation 2008 went well despite the usual production woes. Surviving the journey and getting something out of it is probably the best measure of success here. Cheers to all others embarking on any big productions/ projects.

And the question for those who just came out of one:

So, how was your journey?

~Candy