19 minute read
Interview with Emily Molnar
by Shanny Rann
When I think about dance icons who have graced Scotiabank Dance Centre in the past 20 years, Emily Molnar comes to my mind. Last year, she made a great leap of her career to become the artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater. It was not an easy decision, in her own words. Under her leadership (2009-2020), Ballet BC has catapulted onto the international dance stage as a groundbreaking contemporary ballet company. We take pride in Emily’s achievements as one of the very few women choreographers who are actively redefining the face of dance. I reached out to her at the beginning of 2021 and asked on behalf of all her dance fans in Canada: “How are you doing, Emily?”
SR: I am curious about your transition from Ballet BC to Nederlands Dans Theater. What are you encountering in your new role?
EM: It is a new job, but it has a lot of correlations because the dance world is very small inside a global world. Due to COVID, it is an unusual transition within a very unusual year. I am very happy in my position here with Nederlands Dans Theater that we can still work. What is wonderful is that we have the funding and the support to continue making work. The dancers are seen as top athletes so they can actually connect, and we found this new way of touring through live streaming. We have two companies and they both have their own performance and touring circuits. In our last live stream, which happened a couple weeks ago, we had almost 10,000 people watching from 63 countries including Afghanistan.
The one thing I have asked as an artistic director, and I would have asked this also of the dancers at Ballet BC before I left when COVID first started: “What can we do now during this time that we wouldn't normally be able to do?” That is what I feel I do as a director—hosting environment for people to come together. “How can we use this moment as an opportunity?” There has been a lot of learning about how to use this time creatively, how to come closer together.
It was hard for me to leave Vancouver. I love Ballet BC, being in that community of such vibrant artists. But I really thought it is the right time for the company to move on and transition into a new separate self as an organization. For me, I felt it was the right time too and these jobs do not shift that often, so I had to go with that timing. I was sad to leave but I am excited to be here. It is a big company with wonderful people. It is a huge creation house. I have already been meeting new artists and talking about the future.
A lot of what I am doing here are things that I believe in and have been working on for years. They are an extension of some of the work I started with Ballet BC. How do we support artists right now? How are we dancing? What is the narrative of the 21st century? How do we bring audiences together? What is the stage? All these questions that I have as an artist, a performer, and a choreographer, I continue to ask here.
Nederlands Dans Theater is 60 years old, and I ask, “Are we 60 years old or 60 years young?” It is different in the sense there is a legacy to NDT but it is also a creation house that is dedicated to new work. We just worked on a new piece by Yoann Bourgeois, which was this upside-down set. Those are things that we are able to make here. That really delights me because the reason I am involved in this is because I believe in the power of what dance can transmit into the world. This is a great company to be in.
SR: You were dancing with Ballett Frankfurt during your early career, then you came back to BC. Now you are returning to Europe with years of experience as an artistic director and you are obviously in a different life stage. I am curious to delve a little more into how you feel about your second move to Europe.
EM: It certainly feels different, but it also feels like I have a history here, so it is not as foreign as it did the first time. I am an older person, so I have a bit more life experience behind me. What is ironic is that we are such an international community in dance that a lot of the people I have been interacting with or speaking with actually live quite close to around here. So in a way, I feel like I am closer to some of my artistic community.
Everything is so global, you can still meet with each other anywhere you are in the world, because we tour and we obviously commissions for different companies. Choreographers are moving around all the time. I love that I have had the experience of the European and North American structure, although every country in Europe is also different in the way they support the arts. I can see the benefits of both systems and also how they relate or not. I love coming back here now having all of this other experience.
One of the things I noticed was during COVID, for instance, there was no discussion about whether or not dance is an essential service. Theatres are staying open, we are present in the ongoing conversation because culturally, it is very much connected inside of the society. Not because in North America, people do not want the theatres open but there is just a different funding model that allows for something like that to happen.
Back to your question, how does it feel? I feel like I am able to come fuller circle on some of the things I was exploring as a performer, I feel like I am really able to eat into them now as artistic director in this company. It feels like a bit of a home but also that I have left home.
SR: You talked about legacy. Do you see it as a greater challenge to push boundaries with 60 years of legacy behind NDT as compared to when you were steering Ballet BC?
EM: History is always an opportunity if you pay attention to it, and if you hold it with respect. I feel really strongly with NDT that it is about bringing our history because it is also what built us to be the company that we are right now. All of those creative processes, all those creative minds that have come—that is what has built this house up. I want to bring that work forward. That will strengthen you.
The spirit of NDT is based on a rebellion against a classical heritage. How do you keep the essence of how something was made alive and how do you bring the legacy forward? Keep asking the question, and what else do I need to add to that. It is very special that we have the legacy. I think it is all in how we hold it, how we discuss it, how we continue to perform and present it, but I see it only as an opportunity, that we balance it, obviously with new voices and new conversations and staying alert with the world.
Emily Molnar with Ballet BC Dancers Emily Chessa and Scott Fowler
© Michael Slobodian
We are not necessarily a repertory company, in the sense that we only do repertory work, we are actually building new work. It is the quality of those two things combined—how they work together, inform, and educate each other. That is the power of a company like NDT that there is that legacy and there is new work at the same time.
SR: NDT attracts a lot of international dancers. Do you find yourself working cross-culturally now more than ever?
EM: We had this with Ballet BC too, especially halfway through my tenure. We also toured around the world and did auditions. The company was starting to pick up a lot of notice from dancers around the world. But I would say yes, it is more established here [at NDT]. There are people auditioning from all over the world.
One of the things I have spoken to the company about now is micro-auditioning. We always have this big audition that happens here, but can we go into more remote areas? Can there be a satellite community-engagement project that we do in remote places that we may not always be open to? We are finding talent and helping to support them. Maybe eventually they will come and perform with us or choreograph for us.
One of the things I am really trying to do is to make connections with artists sooner. Let us build more ways that we can find exchanges like internship satellites. If you are going to dance or choreograph, there can be different stages. The support is one of my big passions.
My work with Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is about what artists need at each point of their careers. We put a lot of attention on emerging artists, which is fantastic. Midcareer artists, established artists, sometimes they are the more complicated area, they need more individual opportunity or monitoring. We do not always pay as much attention to that. I find that thrilling here because we have the two companies: NDT 1 for mid-career and NDT 2 for emerging dancers. We used to have NDT 3 for dancers aged 40 years plus. I think that is really special because there is an intelligence along the way that is different. They are all important. All of that is such a beautiful journey and brings different points of view and different values to the table in a performer’s life.
SR: What happened to NDT 3?
EM: It was beautiful. It lasted for a few years, and I think it just became trickier financially to sustain a large company. While it was not large in the sense, there was only about five or six dancers, but it still needed its own kind of touring, track, and funding. But it is definitely an idea I would like to pursue as the director because I also think the dancer who is 40 years plus is a very, very interesting performer. There is a dancer right now in NDT who is 40 years old, and she could keep dancing for years. The training has become more proficient in the sense of healthier bodies, healthier minds. We know how to deal with complex contemporary choreography. We have a lot more people helping with preventative medicine. There is a lot to offered to a dancer when they are in their early years that helps them take care of themselves better so that when they start dancing professionally, they are not wearing themselves out, they are able to dance for longer.
SR: That is such a good thing to hear about, because we talk about dance as a shortlived career.
EM: It is getting longer but not everybody wants to do it. Sometimes your body can still do it but your interests go somewhere else. Sometimes the body shuts down at 25 and people have to retrain.
SR: I know you made the decision to become a choreographer in your late 20s. Was it an organic choice on your own part? Have you always known that?
EM: It only became more apparent to me once I started directing Ballet BC. When I was at the National Ballet School, there was always the joke that I would direct. I loved being in the studio making work with choreographers. I did not even have to make it myself. I just needed to be thinking about making. That is what brought me into the world with William Forsythe. Along that way, I was always looking at our environments, asking, how do we cast? How do we coach? How are we making dance? Why are we thinking in this way? I was often the dancer who was asking too many questions. I did not always say them, but I kept thinking. I think I am just really difficult.
I was fascinated about why do we do all this? What does it mean? What is the psychology behind it? I found certain things fascinating. It was not always about my name being on a casting list or about the next part. Of course, when I was dancing, I went 100% there. But in my mid-20s, when I left Ballett Frankfurt, I thought I was going to stop and study anthropology because I was just overwhelmed. I did not think I was making a big enough difference in the world as a dancer. It was just my own little thought process which was not my comment on dance. It was more of my own participation of it. Then a little voice said, “Stop, Emily. Dance has never let you down the minute you walked into the studio. You kept learning about yourself, maybe the things around dance have let you down but not dance itself.” Something inside told me that I have to not leave the art form, I have to go deeper and continue to perform.
I started to run a company for youth at Arts Umbrella and I started to choreograph. I needed these two things to start happening to build more tools and to have a conversation with what was interesting to me. Something was going on, but I did not know where to land it. It was about that moment I started to see—I wanted to choreograph, I wanted to examine composition more and I wanted to take on more responsibilities. It was also about working with larger groups as a choreographer and building projects. I got as much of a high making a work as I did, supporting someone else's work. That is when I know directing is where I want to go because it was not just that I wanted to choreograph. I love doing it. I found it a fascinating practice which deserves full commitment, but something in me was also curious about holding spaces. I knew I wanted to direct more of a multi-platform, multi-voiced choreographic platform, which was in Canada at that point, Ballet BC. One day, it became something that was possible for me, but I just really did not know how it was going to happen. I just knew I wanted to eat up more learning inside of the art form. It took me a while. I just kept building projects, working with people, and figuring out. Staying involved in the art form—that was important to me to keep finding out what do we need? Specifically, for Canada, where is the need? What exists that needs attention? I just wanted to make sure that anything I was participating in would be of relevance for more than just myself.
SR: Margaret Mead found dancers to be good anthropologists because they are sensitive to the choreography of cultural behaviour. She studied Samoan culture and the role of dancing in it, but dance is still a very understudied aspect of every culture. We do not think dance is important enough in what makes us human, but it is. Through your choreographing, you are studying human cultures to a certain extent, right?
Emily Molnar in studio with Artists of Ballet BC
© Michael Slobodian
EM: Yes, I have often said that dance is one of the most beautiful acts of democracy. I remember being in a room with entrepreneurs from different fields in Vancouver, and I talked to them about what it is like for us to be in the studio. They were thrilled by this idea that dancers do not always speak the same language, we converge from all over the world, and we give our body weight to somebody which is a huge trust. We can laugh, we can build, and we make something together. This happens collaboratively in most dance studios a lot of the time. That is a beautiful act of democracy—this kind of cooperation, of community, of exchange and flexibility; being adaptive to the body-mind connection. There is so much about what we do that some of us in the field take for granted because we are in it. Dana Caspersen, a beautiful dancer from Ballett Frankfurt and The Forsythe Company, has a great book called “Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution”. She articulates it beautifully. There is a lot of psychology around what we do.
As dancers, we cannot deliver an idea unless we get agreement from another human being. An act of dancing requires more than one person; it requires communication. It has got another person on the other side, who is going to give you their thoughts, you have to basically get an agreement in order to even exercise the idea. There is a constant need for communication directly with another human being at every level. That makes dance very, very complex.
SR: You once said dancing is an honest act because we really expose our bodies on stage. Juxtaposing it against other situations where people come together to make an idea work, I feel dancing takes that communication to a more honest level because bodies do not lie. I think that is what makes dancing difficult too. How do you be honest with another person and trust them enough to hand over your body?
EM: It [dance] allows us to be very vulnerable and very open. That requires a certain kind of groundedness or maturity, or it can also lead to anxiety and insecurity. I do think it is really hard for the body to lie. That is the privilege of performing with our full body, but it is also what makes dance super complicated.
SR: I want to bring you back to Vancouver. Scotiabank Dance Centre is celebrating its 20th anniversary, can you talk a little bit about your memories there?
EM: Well, I actually choreographed a piece with three or four dancers for the groundbreaking ceremony. I remember all those scarves with the same colors. I danced in the building as a dancer with Ballet BC when it first opened, and I remember us coming from our old studios into that new, beautiful building.
Whenever I travelled across the world, I would tell people about this building in Vancouver that is specifically for dance. It is such a beautiful proposition. It is not something that is usual in North America. I felt very proud to say that. What it represented for our dance community was a sense of pride. Here we are, all these different artists coming together on a professional level, being able to share, to be in a building where 605 Collective is making their next work alongside with Ballet BC for example. There are so many different intersections, cross-pollination from our communities. It continues to be very, very special—its location and all of that. I know it was a long endeavor to get there. It is something that we can be very proud of, not just in Vancouver and BC, but actually across the country.
SR: What kind of advice would you give for young dancers?
EM: If the profession is the only thing you want to do, then you absolutely have to do it. If you have any concerns about how this is all going to work out, just don't try to figure it out. Just go for it. I think my advice would be just go day by day and keep dreaming, keep doing the work and show up. Trust yourself. Trust the community. Let the world help you with that. It is this complement of dreaming but also making sure you want something that you are also giving yourself the chance to get it.
I think showing up is important because it is a passionate endeavor that we do through our bodies. It can get vulnerable. That is exactly the moment when you want to let your dance help you through and let your questions move you through in the world. Every day we show up and we find out and we ask questions. That is what I would say to a young artist is keep asking, keep showing up, keep making sure to play.
SR: Yes, play is important.
EM: Keep touching base. Keep grabbing more tools. Keep asking those questions. Get in front of
people. If you find something curious, go search it out. Make sure you are reading, looking at other art forms and bring it all back into your work.
It is so important that we know our careers are for us to also guide, not just for the people who we think are going to help us make an opportunity. First and foremost, we belong to our careers. They are in our hands. We have that choice. I would also say to young artists, we need you. So please, please go forward and dance with us. Because we need you in the profession. We need to keep finding out how we can describe the world through dance. And we need the young generation to help us with that.
SR: Will this advice also apply to choreographers?
EM: Absolutely. When I talk about showing up, I have often thought, how can you write a book if you only know five words? If you really want to express the expansion of what we feel or think, you want to have a whole box. That is where training comes in. Something to write with, to write through your ideas. Keep learning along the way, because sometimes we stop.
Training in your professional career is also a really important question. You can grab at anything and learn from it. That is important to any young artist. When you find something interesting, get closer to it. Keep looking around.
Emily Molnar is one of Canada’s most acclaimed dance artists. She graduated from the National Ballet School of Canada, and danced with the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC and Ballett Frankfurt under the direction of William Forsythe. From 2009 until August 2020, Molnar was the Artistic Director of Ballet BC and in 2014, she became the Artistic Director of Dance at the cultural education institute of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In 2016, Molnar was named a Member of the Order of Canada, one of Canada’s highest civilian awards. She became the Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater in 2020.
