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CLARA GIBSON MAXWELL HOW MY DANCES WORKMy choreography neither visualizes accompanying music nor follows musical structures mimetically. Yet it isn't so independent of sound patterns that it simply functions in juxtaposition. Studying Ornette Coleman's musical theory of "Harmolodics" (which gives equal value to harmony, motion, and melody) I've learned a singular way of living movement in sound. My dances work with music in a complex, compelling, and always challenging way. The movement I create is an autonomous element of the music, just as the responsive musician brings a heightened presence, assured, in-the-moment contributions to the dance's agile unfolding structure. Musicians become integral elements of the dance form, their movements and scenographic placement offering the audience insight into this new-found intimacy of my music in motion. See also Statement of Purpose, 1987.
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