California DanceMaker Grants

2002 Grantee Profile: Rosanna Gamson
Two Views (an urban ocean has 29 eyes)

Two Views is a dance-theater piece choreographed by Gamson for her ensemble, Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, with music commissioned from Shane W. Cadman. The award provided Gamson with the critical resources to conduct an intensive rehearsal period with her cast and collaborators between October and December, 2002, focusing on the final development of the work. An extended, concentrated period of full-time work afforded Gamson the opportunity to synthesize, distill and refine Two Views into a cohesive and resonant whole before its premiere in February 2003. Two Views was performed at the Japan America Theater in Los Angeles to an audience of 730.

Rosanna Gamson's Remarks

"The project began with an orientation meeting at my home. All the artists participating in — the creation of the work composer, designers, potential performers — met each other and we discussed the piece in terms of its inspiration, goals and restrictions. I showed images from Japanese New Wave photography, examples of brush calligraphy, Heian art and Chinese painting. We discussed rehearsal protocols and compensation. Dancers would be paid for each rehearsal, and rehearsal pay would be forfeited if the dancer was tardy. This was extremely helpful!

"This was the first time I have had the opportunity to separate the creation of new work from the pressures of preparing the work for performance. The greatest pleasure of the project was inventing movement — by myself, with Johnny Tu and the dancers. I feel I made a big step forward towards expressing my ideas in movement, rather than through layering different elements.

"The greatest challenge was to keep true to my intent — not to fall back on what I already know how to do — to actively pursue discovery rather than success. In assessing the process, it was certainly the deepest and most rewarding I have experienced. I think I hardly yet know how the rewards of the project will reveal themselves."