Collaborations

In the 1980s I found myself drifting towards a slightly glamorous solo career touring as a performance artist, even though I had no interest in a life of "one-night stands" with an audience. Once I realized where I was headed, I abandoned the solo work and initiated a partnership with Pathways (a health care crisis resource center in Minneapolis), which has lasted over twelve years. I usually prefer to "co-labor" rather than to labor independently. Working with others grounds me in the intimacy and mutual learning that is possible through long-term committed relationships. Collaboration happens when my creative process rubs up against the creative process of other individuals or organizations.
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Performance as creative apprenticeship In between my own projects, I worked as a professional performer for more than 25 choreographers, directors, composers or performance artists. Being a dancer in particular was an apprenticeship in creativity. Unlike most art forms (like painting, music composition or playwriting), where the vulnerable moments of creative choice-making happen in private, choreographers make their work "on the spot," using dancers as their raw materials. Dancers are privy to intimate decisions that reveal each choreographer’s unique creative thinking.		PREVIOUSNEXT

While dancing for different choreographers I discerned dimensions of the creative process that seem universal and dimensions of creative process that are unique to an individual. Being inside the creative processes of other artists was an in-depth training in the nature of creativity itself. This understanding of creativity enriches everything I do, from cooking leftovers to playing with neighborhood kids to facilitating a project design team.
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