{"id":7257,"date":"2017-11-10T22:35:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T22:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.balletx.org\/?p=7257"},"modified":"2020-06-17T20:05:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T00:05:20","slug":"interview-brigitta-herrmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.balletx.org\/interview-brigitta-herrmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Brigitta Herrmann"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was a privilege to sit down with <em>Beautiful Decay<\/em> guest dancer Brigitta Herrmann to discuss her thoughts on the project. Herrmann is co-director of Philadelphia\u2019s seminal Group Motion, a contemporary modern dance organization established in 1968 and recognized for pioneering the art form of multimedia dance theater, as well as a world-wide touring program, which has taken their company\u2019s repertory to France, Argentina, Germany, Japan, Cyprus, Taiwan, Poland and Lithuania.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your familiarity with BalletX\u2019s work before you joined the cast of \u2018Beautiful Decay\u2019?<\/strong><br \/>\nI had seen BalletX before I joined the cast of \u2018Beautiful Decay\u2019, always loved their innovative and contemporary style of Ballet and their excellent performance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How would you describe the creative process in the BalletX rehearsal studio, so far?<\/strong><br \/>\nSo far, rehearsals, and looking at video recording from previous shows, I feel inspired and challenged.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you consider your greatest strength as a dance artist, and how does that strength contribute to an ensemble piece like \u2018Beautiful Decay\u2019?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy ability to be present in the dance. I believe my strength lies in my relationship to the music, the space, and my physical ability, relevant to my state of being at this time in my life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has been the most rewarding aspect of working with BalletX, and what has been the most challenging?<\/strong><br \/>\nMost rewarding: Being in the highly professional arena of dance and their beautiful dancers, and all around supportive and kind individuals of staff and direction.<\/p>\n<p>Most challenging: Physical limitations and pain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think the dancers of BalletX stand to learn from your experience in life and in the dance world, and have you learned anything from them?<\/strong><br \/>\nMaybe the fact that age is not the end of being a dancer. I am inspired by their endurance and strength.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Performers often talk about the magical and ethereal quality of being on stage in front of an audience. What makes performing so special?<\/strong><br \/>\nIn my over 50 years of performing, whether improvisational or choreographed, I gain insight, and heightened awareness of my physical and mental skills in order to perform and connect with an audience. In dance making and performance I practice my capacity towards wholeness, and its ability to be the catalyst for transformation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A BalletX fan was once overheard in the audience whispering to her friend that she felt as though she was moving with the dancers on stage when they performed. How would you explain that phenomenon?<\/strong><br \/>\nI believe that a certain amount of kinesthetic transference takes place between performer and audience. Movement has the ability to communicate emotional states and inspire empathy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you think Nicolo Fonte, the choreographer, is trying to express with this piece?<\/strong><br \/>\nI don\u2019t want to assume what Nicolo Fonte is trying to express, other than what the title itself already indicates, there may be a sense of beauty in the process of dying and decay.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is life like for you outside the dance world?<\/strong><br \/>\nFor myself, I feel rather lonely outside the dance world. My entire life has been anchored in the world of dance, inclusive of my family. Both my daughters are dancers, my grandson dances, my love for music and my social life is linked to the world of dance. Most often, people I meet get inspired and start dancing sooner or later.<\/p>\n<p><strong>There\u2019s a Voltaire quote: \u201cLet us read and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.\u201d Do you have anything to add to that quote?<\/strong><br \/>\nSounds like a good quote to me. Here is part of a poem I wrote in 1976:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is a form of life<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is speaking from your soul through your body<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Where dance is, there is happiness<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is effortless<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">When you dance, you are not dancing, but it is dancing you<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is healing<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is the singing of the breath<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is a state of being high<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is important<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is an expression of how to be<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is interplanetary<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is without fear<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The grass is dancing<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The trees are dancing<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The water is dancing<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The stars are dancing<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Having seen dance is like waking from a dream<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is reality when you are in it<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is taking you where you want to be<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance is a form of love<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">When you dance you are without name, you are energy passing through, flowing merging,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">connecting, transforming<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Age is not the end of being a dancer.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behind-the-ballet","category-interview"],"acf":[],"cp_meta_data":{"_edit_lock":["1592517483:5"],"_edit_last":["5"],"slide_template":["default"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"filter_category":[""],"_filter_category":["field_575000bf40f4b"],"show_donate_baletx_banner":["0"],"_show_donate_baletx_banner":["field_573341c2d686c"],"show_slider_revolution":["0"],"_show_slider_revolution":["field_578755a04f37f"],"slider_revolution_short-code":[""],"_slider_revolution_short-code":["field_578752fb40ad0"],"top_show_dates":[""],"_top_show_dates":["field_576bb0c8af8e4"],"show_dates_period":[""],"_show_dates_period":["field_576bb0c8afcb8"],"numbers_of_premiers":[""],"_numbers_of_premiers":["field_576bb0c8b00d5"],"show_choreographers":[""],"_show_choreographers":["field_576bb0c8b0475"],"page_show_dancers_all":[""],"_page_show_dancers_all":["field_576bb0c8b0848"],"show_schedule_title":[""],"_show_schedule_title":["field_576bb0c8b0fe4"],"show_sidebar_rows":[""],"_show_sidebar_rows":["field_576bb0c8b1375"],"show_sidebar_tickets_title":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_title":["field_576bb0c8b1745"],"show_sidebar_tickets_description":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_description":["field_576bb0c8b1b34"],"show_sidebar_tickets_link":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_link":["field_576bb0c8b1ee1"],"show_sidebar_video_title":[""],"_show_sidebar_video_title":["field_576bb0c8b22b7"],"show_sidebar_video_link":[""],"_show_sidebar_video_link":["field_576bb0c8b2684"],"show_colaborators_section_title":[""],"_show_colaborators_section_title":["field_57767382e42fa"],"show_colaborators_cart":[""],"_show_colaborators_cart":["field_576bb0c8b2e6f"],"show_sponsors_section_title":[""],"_show_sponsors_section_title":["field_57767127e4dee"],"show_mobile_sponsors_carousel":[""],"_show_mobile_sponsors_carousel":["field_576bb0c8b35ed"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["217"],"_thumbnail_id":["3733"],"_eael_post_view_count":["1312"],"_elementor_page_assets":["a:0:{}"]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - 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