Harmanie Rose © Stephanie Alexandra Service, Jason FA Cole; Make Up Credit: Angie Balbon
How do you give credit where credit is due? Harmanie Rose When I began this project I was so excited to learn. To learn from my mentor Donna Redlick, learn from my dancer, Andrea Cowden, and learn from our shared experiences in the room. What I couldn't have predicted was what we uncovered and the questions that we asked. Questions about our roles in the room, and the ownership of the material. How collaborative is collaborative? When you recognize the different bodies and abilities and curiosities in the room, how is movement generated? How are decisions made? As a choreographer, I tasked Andrea with sourcing material from improvisational scores and then continued to refine and carve down the material based on her authentic curiosity and offerings. In this 8
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process who has ownership of the creative material? This has been something I have been pondering. I want to begin by saying that I believe that the work created only exists because of the people in the room. I am sensitive to the fact that roles are often historically assigned a hierarchical significance. I chose to begin this process by valuing everyone's contribution in the room. We would begin by improvising together and end by discussing and breaking down the discoveries, good and bad of the evening. This was often supported by Donna’s immense dance and somatic experience and often the use of flashcards. Even though I began working this way the questions of who owns the work and how it is acknowledged still arose. My voice was heard through the themes, ideas, and choices of the choreography. The material
