Pam Tanowitz

We jumped into the creative process with choreographer Pam Tanowitz ahead of the world premiere of her new work, Coincident Dances.

Pam Tanowitz is a New York-based choreographer and founder of Pam Tanowitz Dance, known for her critically acclaimed works, including New Work for Goldberg Variations (2017) and Four Quartets (2018), hailed as “the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century” by The New York Times. She has received numerous accolades, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Bessie Awards, and the 2019 Herb Alpert Award. Tanowitz has created works for prestigious institutions like New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and The Royal Ballet and holds degrees from The Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College.

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you start choreographing?

I started dancing when I was 10 years old, in modern dance. My training is eclectic—ballet, Cunningham, jazz, everything. I began choreographing my junior year of college. I became very interested in being on the other side—making things, solving puzzles, and figuring out how to present a dance. I was dancing and choreographing, and it grew from there. I never made a conscious decision like, “I am going to be a choreographer.” It unfolded naturally.

How do you approach the creation of a new work?

Each project has its own unique qualities. For Miami City Ballet, I came with music in mind—a composer named Jesse Montgomery, who I’ve worked with twice before, her music’s amazing. I created a piece here in 2019 with MCB and Dance Theater of Harlem, so I was able to get a little taste of working with MCB dancers, which was great.

Can you tell us a little bit about your process?

My process working with ballet companies is different than with modern dance companies. I have to come with more set ideas, but I still allow for experimentation. I come with steps, and through those steps I create situations where dancers can experiment. They’re still doing my steps and my vision, but they take ownership of it, which is important to me, and to them, to feel like they have their imprint on the work.

For this work, I chose music by Jesse Montgomery. I loved “Coincident Dances,” but it was 12 minutes long, so I picked other pieces from her catalog to extend it. Jesse liked “Starburst,” which opens the ballet with all eight women on pointe, in unison—it’s a burst of energy, just like the title.

Do you typically begin with music? 

Not often. I usually work in silence and add music later. This was different. But again, I feel like when I work with music, I come at it in a different way. I work with the dancers to create landmarks, not strict counts, to give them freedom while still knowing where they need to be

How would you describe your choreographic style?

My steps are “talking dancing”, which means there’s a lot of lexicons. They’re having a conversation together—a mix of ballet, modern, and pedestrian movement. There’s no hierarchy. A pas de chat is as important as a hand wave or head turn. It’s a dialogue between steps, but it’s also a dialogue between the steps and the music; It’s a dialogue between the dancers themselves; It’s a dialogue between me and the dancer; It’s all of these layers happening at once that create the meaning of the piece.

How does working with the MCB dancers inform your process?

I like to take ballet steps and not only deconstruct or reverse them, but also work with the dancers to see how else a step could be performed. Could we change the accent? Change where the weight is? Some steps are closely related to ballet, so they’re familiar, but become harder when I ask them to do it with a different head, épaulement, or without usual arm movements.

So they really have to think. After a couple of days, their minds were tired, which is good because it means they’re present. I try to talk to them about how it’s not about one being better than the other, it’s just having more tools in their toolbox as they perform.

Don’t miss the highly anticipated world premiere of Coincident Dances, premiering in our Winter Mix program, Feb 14–Mar 9, in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach.

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