Article

‘Dance As An Illness.’
By Maya Pritzker

Mariana Bekerman created her own dance company in
January of 2000. Just recently her fourth six-act
performance, premiered three times in New York.
She was born in Odessa, Ukraine and immigrated to the
United States at age three, and even though she
is still quite young, she has choreographed
dozens of dance performances, extensive as well
as small.

- How did the desire come to become a
choreographer?
- I have always danced, since very early
childhood. My mother, before she immigrated,
danced. My father did gymnastics. When they

sent me to dance school, they just wanted to
correct the bowleggedness. I fell in love
with dancing and decided to go to La Guardia High
School, where the Arts are treated seriously – I
knew I would study only there. The same with
College – I only wanted to go to NYU, and I was
accepted. In La Guardia, I started to
choreograph. My first work was called
‘Bekermania’. When I lived through my first
success, I realized I had chosen the right path.
I started to value my choreography more than my
performance, though I sometimes do dance in my
performances.

- Why did you choose NYU?
- They teach choreography on a superior level,
allowing me to see and experience different styles.
While at school, I had no clue about the
diversity available in dance. We knew of two
directions – Classical ballet and Martha Graham,
who is also already a classic, only in modern
dance. But there, my eyes opened. Now, I work with
three styles: modern, classical, and jazz.

- When did you create your company?
- First I spent a year in Mexico, where I
choreographed plays for the entertainment of the
vacationers. I only had two professional dancers,
neither spoke any English. I had to learn
Spanish. Then I returned to the United States to
dance. But I always had an objection or two to
the choreographer – I always had my own opinion.
And I realized that I have to build my own
company.

- Tell me about the company members.
- The core are the regular members I’ve been
working with for already five years. They are of
various nationalities, Brazilian, Polish,
American. I always need lots of performers who
are different. I look for people who are
beautiful, skilled in technical craft, and it’s
crucial they be expressive.

- Modern dance isn’t exactly the field to get
rich.
- Of course. I request and receive grants. But
grants are not enough to pay for rehearsals.
Sometimes I pay my dancers out of my own pocket.
Of course, I’d like to have a manager and
administrators, since a dance company is 90%
administrative work. But still I do everything
myself. We only rehearse two times a week.
Dancers have other jobs, and they need to rest,
to live. Some dancers study, some work as waiters
or bartenders. And I teach children to dance in a
Junior High School.

- They teach dance in public schools?
- Some do. I teach grades 5 through 8 and have a
total of 11 groups. I love these kids. Yet it’s
difficult work, since they’re not professional
dancers. I try to give them the key to dance. I’d
like for some of them, those who are talented,
when they’re about 25, to come to dance in my
company. Quite a few have what I seek in my
company dancers.

- You live and work in Queens and your students
represent various ethnic groups. Many probably
bring to class their national culture of dance,
since Queens is a motley of cultures, the most
varied place in America. How does it affect your
work?

- It affects tremendously. Children are not shy.
They show their feelings. I teach them not only
to dance but to choreograph as well. It’s
important. A performer will dance better, if s/he
knows how a play is set. And a choreographer will
be a better choreographer if s/he is also a
dancer. I take a lot from my students.

- Do you take from other choreographers? Who is
closest to heart for you?
- Martha Graham. I studied Graham for four years,
and of course she influenced me. She has what I
really love – exactly outlined geometric forms; I
love to play with space and form. For me, people
like Graham, are geniuses. They take risks. I like
that. Today, most choreographers call a
strip-tease - risk. I don’t agree with that. I
also like to shock, not with that, but with
unexpected forms and themes, and it’s vital to
have taste and balance, a sense of measure. It’s
difficult, it requires dedication.

To continue with favorite choreographers, they’re
also Mark Morris and Boris Eifman. I love his
expressiveness. I want dance to have a strong
impression. I love a dance that’s emotional,
fluid, where emotions of the dancers play a large
role.

- How do you manage to discipline your students
to have taste in choreography?
- You have to demonstrate your own interest, to
actively work with them, not fear to tell them
about their mistakes. Also, they can’t focus on
one thing too long. I have to continually set new
challenges before them.

- How do you usually design your play, what comes
first - movement or music?
- First of all, there’s magic! I’ll explain.
First, I have some kind of an idea. Sometimes, I
see a whole dance right away. Or I may see a
postcard, or hear music, and an idea is born. To
receive a grant, I have to write a proposal, and
sometimes in the process of writing, an idea is
born. Sometimes a dancer’s work inspires an idea.
Sometimes, it’s something on the street. One
time, my father and I were riding over the
Whitestone Bridge and by the bridge on the East
River, there was a pile driver, standing there
and making lots of rhythmic noise. So was born a
performance, created specifically for that spot.
We performed it right there, with the pile driver
as the back drop rhythm. My father is a collector
of Russian Avant-Garde. He, too, influenced me a
great deal. When I was choreographing ‘Bekermania’,

I used the images hanging on our walls as inspiration.

- How do you memorize the structure of your
dance, and how do your dancers memorize it?
- Movement is born spontaneously in me. I just
come into the studio and turn on the music. I
come with a feeling, an idea, but I could change
my intention 15 times. I like when dancers can
catch the movement right away and I don’t have to
show them twice, because I won’t be able to
repeat as it was the first time.

- Dancers don’t have an easy life, and yet they
come to you…
- I think dance is simply an illness. I could’ve
had a quiet, measured life, if not for dance. I
don’t even have time to talk to my mother on the
phone, no strength to go for a walk. My thoughts
orbit always and only on dance. And even if no one
comes to view us, we’ll still dance.