A new approach to mentorin
In parallel to his work as a choreographer Jonathan Burrows has also been developing, over the past five years, a unique approach to mentoring dance.
The aim of this mentoring is to allow the dancer or choreographer the opportunity to reflect for a moment on their own practice and focus on what is at the heart of their work and how best to access their particular energy and clarity of purpose. In other words what is the thing the choreographer needs to make and can make?
This approach to mentoring is based upon asking questions. The mentor assumes nothing but only asks questions. The participant in turn is encouraged to “say the stupid thought” in response. By this process the participant sweeps away long held and cherished illusions and arrives at new and more grounded perspectives on what they’re trying to do.
This way of working is particularly useful in a world where dance artists are so constantly required to write descriptions proving what they want to do before they’ve started work, a process that leads people to fool and trap themselves in words and ideas that take them away from the heart of the thing they’re doing.

How the mentoring works
Questioning is usually done in a group, with one choreographer at a time sitting in the ‘hotseat’ and the other participants able to ask questions and provoke discussions as the session proceeds. This can be an intense experience for the individual in the ‘hotseat’ but for the rest of the group there’s a wonderful recognition of shared experiences and concerns which causes a rich flow of self questioning throughout.
The intensity is balanced throughout by more open discussions about wider issues raised in the talking. Emphasis in these discussions is on encouraging people to remember fundamental things about why they started to dance, perform or choreograph in the first place, passions that can get buried in the daily struggle to keep on working. Each person, for instance, might be asked to say why they began to dance; to describe the first performance they saw that changed them in some way; to talk about what dance might do that other art forms can’t; or to try for a moment to analyse what we might mean when we talk about performance. By beginning with obvious and personal experiences the door is opened to resurrect the sometimes childlike wonder we have felt about dance and performance, a wonder which we are in need of constantly to fuel our continuing desire to make and perform.

The wide ranging application of this kind of mentoring
This way of mentoring works with all types of work, in fact the opportunity it gives for people to discover things they have in common with people using very different approaches can be extraordinarily liberating; for instance between someone who works in a theatrical way and someone who is interested in pure movement.
It also works at different scales of work, whether people work in intimate spaces or large proscenium theatres.

Working with dancers
For dancers or performers involved in this process there can be an equally liberating effect, allowing them to see beneath the veil of mystery that often surrounds the idea of choreography and understand in new ways why their input is essential to what happens. For both choreographer and performer the process encourages new ways to communicate with each other and so helps break down the hierarchies that can get in the way when we work. This work also gives new energy to the dancer in all the other work that they do by allowing them also a moment to reflect and connect with their essential passion for their work. Thoughts that have come up in the sessions will resonate onwards through the following months and enrich future performances and projects.

Summary
The point of this work is not to change the way the artist thinks but rather to help them follow more strongly their own heart.

Bio
Jonathan Burrows is a former Royal Ballet soloist and now internationally acclaimed choreographer. He has made work for William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt and his last two pieces Weak Dance Strong Questions and Both Sitting Duet have toured to 14 and 17 countries respectively. His new piece, The Quiet Dance, made in collaboration with composer Matteo Fargion, opened in Munich in August 2005. In 2002 he was given an award by the New York Foundation for Contemporary Arts in recognition of his contributions to contemporary dance and Both Sitting Duet was the winner of a 2003 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award.

Jonathan Burrows 2005

Seminaret holdes:
Gjenreisningsmueseet
Mandag 27. mars 10.00-17.00
Tirsdag 28. mars 10.00-17.00
Onsdag 29. mars 10.00-17.00
Fredag 31. mars 11.30-14.00
Lørdag 1. april 12.00