FLOODESIGN

The choreographer Pam Tanowitz has a rich history of seeking out and working with musicians. But in this case, it was the pianist Simone Dinnerstein who approached Tanowitz for a collaboration that will eventually yield an evening-length dance to Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations." The interdisciplinary artist Larissa Velez-Jackson sat down with them mid-process to discuss how this project has come together. Larissa Velez-Jackson: Pam, you've talked about how you treat music in different ways inside of a work, whether to go with, go against or ignore it altogether. While I was listening to a recording of "Goldberg Variations," particularly the first aria into Variation 1, I just grinned ear to ear with empathy for your task. Pam Tanowitz: I haven't choreographed the aria yet. I'm saving that for last; it's so gorgeous I don't know what to do. My first reaction to the possibility of "Goldberg Variations" was no: I can't tackle that. That's too big. But then I thought maybe that's the exact reason I should try. LVJ: It's such divinely monumental music. I'd love for you both to talk about exactly what it means for a choreographer to tackle this piece and for a musician to come face to face with it. Simone Dinnerstein: One of the things that's different about this is that it's a collaboration. It's not just that Pam is taking an abstract performance and thinking about how she feels the dance should be to that music. It's also about my particular interpretation of this music and how that is going to relate to the way Pam thinks about movement. PT: I don't read music, and Simone has lived with this score way longer than I have. So she also talks to me about it: what's going on in the score, what's going on inside of her approach, all this is part of the project. It's not like I could have any pianist come play; the choreography is very specifically based on how Simone plays. I go periodically to the library and checkout the video of Jerry Robbins's "Goldberg Variations" [which premiered at New York City Ballet in 1971]. The playing is so different from what Simone is doing. Her approach is so much more danceable! So much more open and fluid; I don't know if I could make a dance to another version, actually. LVJ: So in a way, Simone's interpretation is like a map. "New Work for Goldberg Variations" in rehearsal at the Alexander Kasser Theater. Photo: Marina Levitskaya SONG AND DANCE SIMONE DINNERSTEIN and PAM TANOWITZ in conversation with LARISSA VELEZ-JACKSON 22 www.peakperfs.org

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