Quindecim

Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: A & E

Media Credit: Sonya Sofranko

We were all dressed in our ballet best – tights, leotard, slippers and the bun – but we were pleasantly surprised to let down our hair and throw on some tennis shoes for a different kind of dance class.

Clarence Ford, a choreographer of the new Cirque du Soleil show Kooza, Kooza, had arrived in Baltimore and, on February 11, taught a master class based in hip hop and influenced by other genres of dance to Goucher dancers.
Ford crowded all the dancers around him in Todd Dance Studio, luring us with the intimacy and the immediacy of a rhythm-based exercise that started with clapping.
After getting in synch with the rhythms, Ford explained how we also have to use our voices in rhythm. In three groups, he conducted our different sounds, letting us know when to come in and when to drop the beat.

Ford kept our attention by having us warm up with a dance similar to the two-step. The rhythm was fast and required the utmost focus. After learning a few more combinations, the group was able to showcase an upbeat combination. 
As a result, many traditional ballet dancers were encouraged to perform a style unfamiliar to them. This change in style fit Ford’s desire for the dancers to add their personal flavor to any given style.

Ford then demonstrated a part of the combination with his own narration, which enhanced his movement. He asked if anyone else had the confidence to try it on their own, pulling Adriana Saldaña ’10 to the front of the room.  Saldaña narrated her doing the combination. 

“I walked into a room, and I’m lookin’ fine. Mmm. People are watching me, and it’s cool, cause I know I look good,” Saldaña said. “Mmm but I can’t look anymore. Oh but, hey there, how you doin?”

Ford followed up the workshop with a pep talk for the dancers.
“When you get out there in the world, they’ll chew you up and spit you out,” he said. He explained that the arts world is a really tough place and these walls, this college, are a safe space.

Cirque du Soleil draws from an international community of audiences as well as performers and creators.  Ford said the performers in Kooza all came from very strong acrobatic backgrounds which, including the art of clowning, are the basis of the show.

With Kooza, Ford aimed to make a return back to the traditional circus, creating a foundation in the show to perform traditional circus acts.  For Ford, this required an emphasis on dance and technique that was not as apparent in other Cirque performances.

For Ford, the hardest part of choreography is “finding that groove, that place. It’s like a roller coaster ride… There’s the talent, the music and so many aspects to the performance that you just have to be able to stay on for the ride.” Ford’s goal in his choreography is to reinvent, to create something to sell to his client, the audience, that’s new and eye catching. He doesn’t want to create something that could easily be seen somewhere else.  Ford spends a lot of time on YouTube, what he calls his “visual encyclopedia.” He’s not looking at other hip hop videos; instead, he looks to something different, something he doesn’t do, for inspiration. In a performance setting, he “loves when it hits hard” and when the choreography leaves “room and space to show your personality.”   

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