By DREW SANDBULTE

When the third-year dancers first found out who our choreographer would be, some of us found ourselves not really knowing anything about Dwight Rhoden's work, and others were thrilled about the upcoming experience, having previously seen pieces that Dwight has choreographed. Despite how much knowledge people did or didn't have of his work, we all went into the first rehearsal optimistic that this would be a worthwhile encounter.

Luke Wiley and Emily Walsh work with Dwight Rhoden. (Photos by Rosalie O’Connor)

The first two weeks with Dwight were spent learning movement from the piece he was creating for us, so that he could see us dance and get to know us, and we could begin to get more comfortable with his style of moving. It was a very intense way to start the process, causing our minds and muscles to work much harder than any of us had worked them this year. We would learn a movement phrase and then, as we reviewed the combination and began to understand it better, he would "insert" more movement into the original combination, creating a much more extensive phrase. This process was one I hadn't previously encountered, and it forced me to concentrate much harder on picking up small details of his movement in order for me to stay in control of the combination. Once we had a majority of the movement mastered, he began setting the piece.

I find Dwight's movement to be very technical, and extremely stylized. He is constantly telling us to never "finish" a movement, but always extend it to an extreme—and then move into the next step once you can't keep going without losing control. When I watch his assistants fulfilling the movement, it reminds me of some liquid form that has no bones and is constantly manipulating space as well as time (another important quality of Dwight's work). The timing is essential in order for Dwight's work to be done correctly. We were never given specific counts to do any of the movement to, so it became crucial that we continually breathe together and keep the movement the same throughout the group at all times. The dancers must continually be looking at and interacting with all the others in order to stay together and have the piece make sense.

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

Dwight's work has been inspired by many different things throughout his career. Sometimes the music moves him in a special way; other times he is inspired by human behavior and emotions. But inspiration from the dancers he is confronted with in the studio has ultimately given him the most pleasure as a choreographer. The joy and interest his dancers bring him is a valuable part of how his choreography is formed and translated on stage.

Though the work has been challenging, our confidence and the knowledge of Dwight's movement quality has been increasing continually since our first rehearsal with him. Dwight has said that "the Juilliard dancers' movement comes from a very pure place. Having this purity makes it easier to accomplish what they are striving for." Communication between Dwight, his able assistants (Desmond Richardson and Charlie Neshyba-Hodges), and the Juilliard dancers has been consistently open and giving, which has made this entire experience one the third-year dancers will always look back on with a smile.