Finding a voice

One if my biggest struggles as an independent choreographer - and surely the same as every aspiring freelancer - is getting some tangible responses to my wide-range-outreaching email applications.

Sending about 200 emails to almost approximately 200 dance companies - I might slightly over-exaggerate - I consider myself happy if I receive 20 replies, even to let me know that they are not looking at the moment, that the next three seasons are already booked or that I don’t fit their artistic lines. Getting one enthusiastic answer makes my week!

I am aware that I am one of many others in the same situation but this is something of an unspoken reality for many. Or barely mentioned in conversation. A stone-cold reality that I had no knowledge before starting as a freelancer.

But my point is not to whine about it but to express something that I am struggling with personally.

Each company and each directors has their own idea and concept about what standards and aesthetic they want to show on their stage.

I am a fairly new choreographer - I mean already in the “up and coming” category but rather fresh in the market - and having worked as a dancer on many different styles I feel comfortable to work with different companies of different approaches should they be modern, neo-classical or classical. The thing is I am adaptable in my approaches and I actually find it exhilarating to use the dancers for who they are and where in the creation process we can meet.

Therefor for some I can appear too “classical”, for others not enough. Some are confused wether I only work with pointe shoes or not, some might think that it is just a phase.

Bottom line is, I am changing constantly either to follow a desire I might have at a certain time or to use the dancer’s qualities at its best.

I know with time and with a lot more creations of different approaches, there will be a red thread that will define myself as a choreographer. For now - even for myself - everything seems quite disparate.