© Amy Gardner
Why Short Pieces?
Last June, Dance Magazine published the article “The Big Impact of Short-Form Choreography,” which mentioned Margie and highlighted her mastery of the short form. At the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, here’s why we love short choreographies…
The audience loves grandiose choreographies, but sometimes, a short and stripped-down dance has a much more powerful impact. This type of piece often remains etched in the audience’s memory long after the performance. Creating a short dance requires conveying a whole range of emotions and images in the blink of an eye, which is a unique challenge. For a short piece, one explores, improvises, follows intuition, but it is crucial to distill this exploration into essential elements so that the memorable is not overloaded. They may seem easier to create because they require less time on stage, but this is not always the case. A successful short piece requires a clear vision and a deep understanding of the expressive capabilities of its performers.
Short works have the ability to provoke discovery while weaving together all the elements – the landscape, the distillation of exploration, and of course, the power of the performer. One of Margie Gillis’s achievements is her ability to create short but deeply moving pieces for nearly 50 years. Her piece Slipstream, dating from 1985, is a perfect example. In just three minutes, she manages to create a visual and emotional symphony, dancing to a cello suite by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Short pieces are not just shorter works; they are condensations of creativity and emotions.
Join Adam Barruch as he offers a new interpretation of this iconic work, Slipstream, on August 9 and 10 at the Windhover Center for Performing Arts – https://windhover.org/…/margie-gillis-and-dance-company-4/
You can also learn more about short pieces and the leading choreographers who have made this practice essential in the Dance Magazine article – https://www.dancemagazine.com/short-form-choreography/