Let's Have a Look at... Aszure Barton Canadian-Born Choreographer with a Style for all Continents
Is there a voice inside a dancer that says - hey, you have to make dances now? Enough of this pirouetting on and off the stage in other people's stuff, you have to make up your own stuff. You can do it!
Aszure Barton, the 31-year-old dancer/company director/choreographer has heeded her inner voices and been making work since she was 15 and a student at the National Ballet School of Canada, then on her way to becoming a ballerina. Even then she was plagued by an insistent drive to create dances. "I wanted to make something different," she declared, "fulfill another need though I love to perform and still do. At the ballet school after a day of classes my friends and I would gather in the empty studio to make dances. This was a bonus."
There are three sisters in the Barton household (all dancers), and parents who have supported them from the getgo. "My parents keep me grounded, and my sisters, because they love you the most, are not afraid to lend criticism or call you on your work. 'You are repeating yourself, Aszure,' my sisters might say, and I accept it wholeheartedly, because I know it comes with the highest concern for me. My sisters have illustrious careers of their own but seem to be on call for me when I need them." All three dance with Aszure's company called "Aszure and Artists."
Aszure has blazed a trail into choreography that has been noticed, acclaimed, and has resulted in an e-mail full of commission proposals. Her creative schedule is overflowing. In 2009 she will return to her alma mater to create a piece for the National Ballet of Canada. She has completed a work for Baryshnikov that started as a solo and became a dance for 13 people. "He is 59 and dances like a child," she mused. "He seems to embrace wherever he is in his life. The mission of his center is to support young dancers in many art forms. I did a residency there, then did a tour last summer of my work for him, 'Come In,' which had a small season in New York in June of this year."
A little bit o'luck has helped Barton as well. While rehearsing on a top floor of the new Baryshnikov Arts Center in Chelsea, the director Scott Elliott, rehearsing "Hurly Burly" one floor below happened by, caught a few minutes of Barton at work, and proposed that she choreograph his next venture, a Roundabout Theatre revival of 'Threepenny Opera." That she was capitulated to fame with this production is not exactly the end of the story, but it was an opportunity to be seen by another segment of New York audiences and a great boost to her advancing career.
"Les Chambres Des Jacques," Barton's recent debut piece for the 2007 Spring Joyce Theatre season was performed by a spectacular group of dancers from "Les Ballets Jazz De Montreal" who, inspired by her well of creativity, gave all the guts and drive needed to push this lengthy, risk-taking piece of choreography forward to rave reviews.
In The New York Times review dated 4/19/07, Roslyn Sulcas noted: "The work's wonderful theatricality owes much ...to the fully committed performances by the dancers...." Most dancers are committed to the work in which they are performing. But something rare was seen in the Ballets Jazz performance of Barton's piece, and she discussed why the invested interest her dancers put forth was so noticeable. Barton believes she has established trust and respect between herself and her dancers, and that is the key.
"I always like to begin by getting to know the dancers, and I do this by giving them some tasks to do," she began. "I may put two dancers together, ask a question, and listen while they talk among themselves. 'Tell the other person something about yourself,' I will ask. "Then I think about creating movement with their responses. The process is more personal, and the dancers are into it. Moments in the piece develop into phrases they can relate too. It is a lot of brainwork, but the results are worth it. Then from each individual's segment I can construct a giant vocabulary, process it, and eliminate what is not needed. Then the remaining ideas start to percolate into set choreography. These moments in the studio are vulnerable, often surprising, very precious, and give my vision so much of its heart."
It was difficult to believe that this choreographer, still so young, was able to discuss her work process with such erudite clarity, and able to maintain a much-admired balance with her dancers, some of whom are a good bit older than she is. She admitted she tends to overload herself with projects, however, this is where youthful energy and a wealth of creativity are big factors, and Barton has an abundance of both. Now she is turning her focus to "getting in shape" to resume her dancing career in full form with her own company. "Often the movement I create is a combination of my body and the dancers bodies," she said. "So you see, I have to be in shape to create as well as perform." She looks for honesty even if it seems ugly, and the feeling that she has never seen that particular movement before intrigues her.
"It is not always that I need to come up with something original," Barton said, "but rather to push the boundary of what else we can do with something already there. I sit in the studio and think...O.K., let's do it backwards, or on one leg, or with one arm instead of two. If I change it, can I produce something different, beautiful, honest, magical?" She shrugged her shoulders, pulled her cap down on her forehead. It was as if she was securing an image that had just crossed her mind, putting it on file until she could get to a studio to release it on her dancers.