AN INTERVIEW WITH: JAMAAL BURKMAR What is How To Build A Universe about and what was your inspiration for the piece? How To Build A Universe is a show about making shows. It’s about the first blank page, an empty white walled studio, a solo metronome ticking in a room filled with instruments. The show is an exploration of my relationship to the unseen and unspoken ‘rules’ of creation that are steeped in known and unknown biases. Why did you decide this piece should be intergenerational? Does it feature your mother because of her dance experience? I’d say my first desire was to make this piece in such a way that anyone could interact with it. When I was a student and then when I was a younger graduate, I really felt the weight of what ‘dance was supposed to look like’. That weight may have been imposed on me by others, it may have been imposed on me by myself, but it’s become a weight I've wanted to unburden myself from for a long time. Welcoming guests into this work, regardless of age, background, ability is another step in creating a place for myself that anyone can come and be a part of. Asking my mum to perform in our premiere felt like the most apt way to begin our tour. It actually has little to do with her dance experience and all to do with literally everything else.
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