By ABBEY ROESNER

Choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi dances with second-year student Idan Sharabi. (Photo by Rosalie O’Connor)

A year ago, the class of 2006 was introduced on stage as an ensemble for the first time in Discoveries Uncovered, a choreographic work created for them by alumna Jessica Lang. The success of commissioning a new piece specifically for last year's freshman class was part of what gave Lawrence Rhodes, the director of Juilliard's Dance Division, the idea to have original dances created again this year, but this time for all four classes.

The class of 2006 has had the opportunity to work this season with Juilliard faculty member Jacqulyn Buglisi, choreographer and co-artistic director of the Buglisi/Foreman Dance Company. Over the past few months Ms. Buglisi has developed a new ensemble dance to original music by Daniel Brewbaker, a Juilliard alumnus. Working with a different choreographer undoubtedly presents a fresh set of challenges, but it also brings new insight into how the creative process functions. As dancers, we are expected to be both technically proficient and individually interpretive. While creating her piece, Ms. Buglisi would often give us a movement phrase with a corresponding image. For example, she would demonstrate a low-centered, walking or crawling movement and explain that she wanted it to appear to be a struggle, like that of the great King Nebuchadnezzar, who was condemned to roam the earth on his hands and knees like an animal for all eternity. We would then take these ideas and improvise on them, until the choreographer discovered something interesting and useful that she liked. Our individual interpretations of the steps helped her to physically manipulate the dance phrases, noticing our various nuances and sundry choices of detail, to develop the exact intention for the movement she wanted. This process is so open that, often, the original steps Ms. Buglisi created were completely changed by the end result. This open-mindedness and ability to improvise is one of the most important aspects of creating new choreography, according to Jacqulyn Buglisi. "I love to work with the individual," she says. "It is so exciting to have the possibility to collaborate with new dancers and to discover their spontaneity. Working on a dance is an adventure, and there is always exuberance in realizing the discovery. We dance to touch the world. We are artists because, without what we do, where is our humanity?"

Return to the New Dances at Juilliard Edition 2003 index page.

To be a part of this creative process with two different choreographers so far has been a wonderful learning experience, and has created a much closer bond among our classmates. We hope the class projects will continue to be a success, and be welcomed as a new tradition for the December dance concerts.