By GILLIAN BROWN

Each autumn, six student choreographers and six student composers start down the "road less traveled" in a unique course titled Choreographers and Composers Workshop (also lovingly referred to as "ChoreoComp") with their faculty "guides"—Elizabeth Keen, member of the Dance Division faculty, and Pia Gilbert, member of the graduate studies faculty in music. These explorers spend the first three weeks of the class getting to know each others' creative work, perspectives, and approaches. After this introductory period, the choreographers and composers pair up to create original, six-minute pieces. The intrepid pairs then spend the remainder of the semester (and part of the next) exploring the interdependence of music and dance—the "great exchange," Gilbert calls it.

Pia Gilbert (foreground) and Liz Keen are the faculty members who teach the Choreographers and Composers class. (Photo by Jane Rubinsky)

Gilbert hopes that the choreographers and composers achieve "sympathetic relationships that result in good teams." As the class unfolds, students work together to create their pieces through a process that involves creating measures of music and dance in a "present-and-respond" fashion; the pieces take shape over time as the choreographers present segments of movement, which are responded to via the creation of music, and vice versa. This process is supported through conferences with the faculty and reports on the teams' progress. The works are also shown intermittently while in progress for the class, and are critiqued by class members and faculty. The pieces are rehearsed outside of class and can involve up to 10 musicians and 10 dancers each, depending on the demands of the creative work. There are space constraints that dictate the ensembles' sizes (given the dimensions of the stage where the works will be premiered). The finished works for this year's class will be showcased on January 21 on the Wednesdays at One series in Alice Tully Hall.

This creative path is less traveled for modern choreographers and composers due, in part, to the advent of the Western-concept proscenium arch that now separates the once-united performing space of the dancer and musician. It is also a less common path as most composers do not plan to have their music "danced." Likewise, choreographers do not often plan their movement and then search for the "right" piece of music; instead, they find a piece of music they like and then create choreography based on that music. Here, the music is created in a symbiotic fashion with the movement—the music makes the movement and the movement makes the music.

Elizabeth Keen says, "Dance and music are like twins—who cares which came first? We don't know, but they grew up together." ChoreoComp allows students to fully explore the relationship between the two arts. "The choreographers really learn to accept what they hear, rather than what they expected to hear. And not just accept, but utilize," adds Keen. She explains that, when choreographers (like all artists) encounter a problem in their composition, working collaboratively with composers can provide "an aural solution that they themselves would not have thought of on their own." This dynamic interplay between dancer and musician highlights the mutuality of dance and music.

"They're learning about each other, learning about the intimately related [other] art, and hopefully understanding the link between the two arts on a much deeper level than before," says Gilbert. It is this increased understanding that is the promise of ChoreoComp. Keen explains: "Dancers' usual approach is to have a kinetic response to each beat of music … With the coming together of the musician and choreographer, it becomes clear that is only one possibility. Instead you can have movement in counter rhythm, in canon, or choose to follow one or another of the voices in the music. Just as music is written over the bar line, your motion, your choreography can too." In a similar way, composers gain additional appreciation for the art and physicality of dance. Sean Shepherd, a second-year master's student in composition taking ChoreoComp this year, says, "One of the surprising things is seeing what amazing instruments the dancers have made out of their bodies."

Wednesdays at One: Composers and Choreographers Alice Tully Hall Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1 p.m. Free; no tickets are required.

The choreographer-dancers have all studied first-year composition with Keen, so they are familiar with the fundamentals of choreography. This class offers the chance to learn more about the mechanics of creating and add an additional, dynamic conversation to the choreographer's repertoire. While the composers are almost always master's students and have a firm grasp on the composition process, they too are willing to explore the interdependence of their art and dance for the chance to expand their creative vocabulary, for the opportunity for exploration, and for the sake of the "journey." Shepherd adds, with obvious appreciation: "The dancers can instantly tap into just as complicated a vocabulary as a musician to express the idea, the phrase, etc … and not any of it is written down in the time-bound way that music is."

ChoreoComp's "road less traveled" promises surprises to all seekers as the artists sign on for the adventure of co-creation. Luke Wiley, a second-year dance major and choreographer in this year's class, says, "I wanted so badly to collaborate and be informed by different perspectives. It's really healthy to be humble, to give up a piece of yourself, to compromise, and see what can we make grow out of this."

"You go along and it gets created simultaneously," says Keen, rubbing her palms together, thumbs up, to make a soft, whooshing sound. "You don't really know what the end product will be." And that—as Robert Frost reminds us—has made all the difference.

Gillian Brown is office assistant in the Jazz Studies department.