Emerging Choreographer?

What does it mean to be an emerging choreographer these days? The term itself has become something of a joke. “Emerging” means you have the energy of the new, but still exploring possible endeavors without knowing where your next gig is coming from. What artist does? Even Bill T. Jones and Twyla Tharp are building new ideas, theories, and exploring the unknown, without the title “emerging”.

Andrea Miller’s company Gallim Dance has performed at major venues, with commission invitations and media attention. Is she emerging? Or has she already emerged? Does the age of a choreographer restrict the terminology used? Does the creativity, and structure of their work? Or is it the length of time a choreographer has been working determine their relevancy in the world of dance?

The daughter of a Spanish mother and Jewish-American father, Miller’s demure manner should not fool anyone. “It’s like investigating places you didn’t think your body could go,” says Francesca Romo, the dancer who has been with Miller the longest and is Gallim’s associate director. “We always try to work in a safe environment, but not putting limits on your body, and not restricting yourself in your mind. Taking that lock off your mind really releases a lot of things in your body. It’s been interesting to find what the body can do, and how far it can go.”

Gallim dancer Caroline Fermin was a Juilliard freshman when Miller was a senior, and recalls her as being very focused on choreography even then. “I remember her work being very dramatically loaded, but well crafted. She already had a strong voice,” Fermin says, adding that her freshman classmates who were cast in Miller’s works “were a little scared of Andrea. They’d come back from rehearsal and say, ‘She’s so intense, so wild.’ “

Gallim is now in residence for the Spring at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, creating a contemporary piece with high tech music. She began the year creating a new half-hour piece entitled For Glenn Gould, which was commissioned by Dance Theatre Workshop.

For Miller, who stopped dancing a few years ago, the choreographic process is as intense as the resulting works tend to be. “I always feel like every piece I make kills part of me, destroys something—and then it also invigorates something else. It feels like a reincarnation—like a very visceral, violent experience for my body, to create.”

*check out my list for choreographic opportunities:

  • Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, Maine)
  • Choreographic Investigation Course for Dance New Amsterdam (NYC, New York)
  • National Outreach Project for Dancers (Dance New Amsterdam)
  • Fresh Tracks (Dance Theater Workshop <DTW>)
  • International Choreographer’s Showcase (Louisville, Kentucky)
  • Emerging Choreographer’s Showcase (Pasadena, California)
  • Emerging Artists Commissioning Program (Brooklyn, New York)
  • The Field (NYC, New York)