In connection with the upcoming New York International Ballet Competition, I am pleased to present an interview with the Competition's director and former Paul Taylor Dance Company luminary, Richard Chen See. Above, Lois Greenfield's photo of Richard.
In the Summer of 1996 my friend Rich and I made one of our frequent day trips to Jacob's Pillow to see our long-time favorite Company: Paul Taylor. We always went up to the Pillow early on matinee days, had lunch in the Tea Garden and strolled around the grounds. Of course, it was always exciting to see the dancers in pre-performance mode: warming up or having lunch before the show. On this particular day we spotted someone we hadn't seen before: a very handsome young Asian man sitting alone in the garden looking rather meditative. An hour later we had our first experience of watching Richard Chen-See dance:
You must realize how exciting it is for me now in my blogging capacity to meet dancers like Richard whose performances - especially at the Pillow - always kept me feeling very connected to the art form in a particularly meaningful way.
Tom Caravaglia photo of Richard the Dancer from his days with the Paul Taylor Company. Richard danced with Taylor's group for fourteen years and I last saw him perform with them in Spring 2008. The following year he was no longer dancing but was among the audience at the performances I attended. Of course I was to shy to speak to him, though I wanted to.
Lois Greenfield photo, above. Richard Chen See very kindly took the time amid the many demands made on him during the preparations for the Competition to answer my questions:
1. How did you come to be born on the island of Jamaica, and how long did you
live there? Where did your parents hail from originally?
I am of Chinese parentage though my parents were also born on
the island of Jamaica. My grandparents all emigrated from China in the early
1900s. I lived in Jamaica until I was 15 years old.
2. What is your earliest memory of dancing or wanting to dance? Do you remember
your first public performance?
I wanted to take dance lessons from about the age of 5. My first
public performance was for a class called “musical movement” when I
was about 7 years old.
3. Where and when did you begin seriously studying dance? Was it something you
wanted to do or was it your parents' idea?
In Jamaica I began seriously studying ballet with a teacher
trained at the Royal Academy of Dancing named, Normadelle Facey. I studied
Afro-Caribbean dance forms and Horton technique with many local and New York
based Jamaican dancers. My parents were not particularly happy with the idea of
dancing being my only physical activity, and it was balanced with swimming and
badminton as my sports of choice. My grades in academic studies had to be
sustained at a good level, or I would have to give up a physical activity.
Dancing was an avocation for me. I had great capacity to be active for hours on
end, and I loved the challenge of creating a language out of movement.
4. At what point did you decide to pursue a career as a dancer?
At the age of thirteen I was recommended to the faculty of the
Royal Ballet School in London as a potential candidate to do a final year at
the school after I graduated from high school at fifteen. I decided at that
point to see if this was an offer that I could make come true. So I guess I
decided at that point to pursue the possibility of a career in dance.
5. Who were your mentors or sources of inspiration as a dancer?
Obviously, my first teacher was a great source of support for
becoming a dancer. For a number of years, I was the only boy on the island of
Jamaica that was studying ballet. However, when I was dancing in England, I had
the privilege of being taught and coached by Christopher Gable who shared with
me an interest and tools to explore dance for its dramatic capacity to create
mood, character, storylines and emotions all without words.
6. You trained in and danced in the classical ballet repertoire but your home
as a dancer was with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. What prompted you to move
from one style to the other?
I started out performing where ever I could find work, and I was
not particular about the style of repertory. I had wonderful classical and
modern training with a soulful love of movement instilled through the
Afro-Caribbean traditions of communal dancing. I later got involved with
contact improvisation, puppetry, mime, jazz and musical theater (I was never a
good tap dancer). I had been performing professionally around the world for
fifteen years when Paul Taylor offered me a chance to dance with his company. I
was actually contemplating retiring, and I auditioned without any expectation
of work. I had seen Paul Taylor dance with his company back in the late sixties
and early seventies, and I loved the physical demands on the dancers to be
committed and technically secure. But I also recognized that his male dancers
were all much taller than I would ever be. So I never auditioned for his
company until I was in my thirties and figured I had nothing to lose by going
to an audition.
7. Do you think it is possible for a professional dancer to work in the classic
and modern genres concurrently?
I do. And I don’t think it is easy. Certainly there are
great examples of dancers today who build careers more on freelancing than
remaining with one company, and the range of work that they perform can span
the range of their interest and talent.
8. Tell us about meeting and auditioning for Paul Taylor. I've heard that his
audition process can be quite rigorous. Did you find that to be true?
My audition for Paul Taylor was at an open call. It was actually
a very long process whereby the initial audition took place over two days of a
weekend. Then a number of us were asked to return to participate in a week of
rehearsals with the company. Fortunately for me, the week was a short one, when
Paul offered me a place in the company after only one day of rehearsals.
9. What works by Paul Taylor were especially meaningful or memorable for you as
a performer?
All of his works have special meaning for me, because they all
represent a different capacity required of my abilities. About half of my
repertory were works that I had the privilege to have Paul create on me, and
they all reflected Paul’s creative interest in finding something
different and unique in me as a dancer and in exploring movement, intent,
musicality and choreographic craft. Of the works I inherited from great dancers
before me, I had to learn to dance very differently to find a way of making
roles come to life through my performances. Many of these roles were memorable,
Aureole for its austerity of movement and musical lyricism, Arden Court and
Airs for their seemingly effortless patterns that only served to enhance their
technical challenges, Musical Offering for its serene majesty, Sunset for its
humanity and pathos, Last Look for its cathartic and unabashed portrait of
human desperation, and the list goes on…
10. The Paul Taylor Dance Company do a lot of touring. Did you enjoy life on
the road?
I grew up on a small island in the West Indies. To go anywhere,
I had to get on an airplane or on a boat. I think I grew up imagining that life
on the road was a perfectly normal thing. After thirty years of touring with
multiple companies based in multiple countries, I can say that I thought of
touring as part of my job description, so in choosing to be a concert repertory
dancer, I was also choosing a “gypsy” life, touring the world. It
is not as glamorous as it may sound, and at the same time, learning to take
each day as it comes no matter where you wake up in the world.
11. I saw the Taylor Company so often up at Jacob's Pillow in the 80's and
90's. What are your recollections about dancing there?
I first performed at Jacob’s Pillow with
ODC/San Francisco and did a three week residency there. It was a perfect
introduction to the property and its history for me. I was able to bring that
experience and knowledge forward with me for each of my subsequent visits there
with Paul Taylor. There is so much artistic and creative history to build upon
in a beautiful country environment when performing at Jacob’s Pillow. And
the most rewarding part of performing there is the knowledge and appreciation
of the audiences.
12.
What's the funniest or worst thing that ever happened to you during a
performance?
During a performance of Cinderella, I was leading a procession,
and I was supposed to have a flag on a pole held high in my right hand. As I
was about to go on stage I couldn’t find my flag. So I went on stage
without it and did the next few minutes on stage pretending that I actually had
a flag on a stick, while everyone else actually did. It was not the best
performance choice I ever made, and in hindsight is must have been pretty
funny.
13. I read that you have participated in performances of some of the
Diaghilev repertoire, including Fokine's SCHEHEREZADE and Nijinska's LES
BICHES. In this 100th anniversary celebration of the Ballet Russes, can you
tell us about those performances?
The Diaghilev era works have been mounted on many companies over
the years, and both Scheherezade and Les Biches have unique movement
vocabularies that are still eye-catching and technically challenging today.
What I found the dances to have in common is that there was a specific intent
behind each step, pattern, shape and rhythm. These driving forces created works
that reflect not only great creativity, but speak to the attitudes towards the
power of dance and art in that period. The works were created by collaborations
between great artists in their own rights, Michel Fokine, Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov, Leon Bakst, Bronislava Nijinska, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel,
Francis Poulenc.
14. Have you ever choreographed and do you have an interest in creating dances?
I have been commissioned to choreograph in the past, and I have
created only about 10 works in my whole life. It was a good process to go
through, and I don’t think I will ever be a great choreographer. Unlike
being a dancer, I don’t have an inexplicable need to choreograph. I was a
good dancer because I seemed able to interpret and express through my dancing
the intent of a wide range of choreographers both living and from generations
past.
Dancing together: Eleanor D'Antuono and Richard Chen See, above. Ms. D'Antuono is the Artistic Director of the Competition.
15. Tell us how you came to be involved in the New York International Ballet
Competition.
In 1993, I was hired to join Paul Taylor Dance Company in
August. I moved to New York in May, and it turned out that I was available to
volunteer my time as a rehearsal director for NYIBC in June of that year. My
background in both ballet and modern idioms also allowed me to be a resident
coach at large as the dancers rehearsed their personal solos. That year,
Eleanor D’Antuono was coaching La Bayadere as the final round pas de deux
and I was invited to assist her for rehearsals as well. So I had a very
complete initiation into the process and participation in NYIBC. However, since
1993, I have never been available during subsequent events as I was always
performing on tour. Following the 9th NYIBC in 2007, Ilona
approached me to present my c.v. to the board of directors as a potential
executive director. I was closing in on my 30th anniversary as a
professional dancer, and I was still actively doing the full repertory of Paul
Taylor’s works. It seemed like the potential timing of this opportunity
came when I was at a point in my career that might be the right time to
consider transitioning from performing. The board offered me the job of director
during the New York season of Paul Taylor in March 2008. I conducted both jobs
through my commitment of performing for Paul Taylor until December of 2008.
16. One of the pieces chosen for the Competition this year is from Paul
Taylor's AUREOLE. What do you look for in watching young dancers perform the
Taylor rep?
Paul Taylor authorized me to license the excerpted duet from
Aureole because he felt that as a duet it represented his unique style and
craft. I believe it is a great introduction for young professional ballet
dancers to Paul Taylor’s style of movement, and Paul’s dances live
in the repertoires of many dance companies all over the world. The challenge
for the dancers is that the duet is deceptively simple in look, and yet the
lyricism is in the “fluid” quality and “weight” of the
movement that can be quite a contrast to the “lifted”, crystalline
qualities so evident in many classically trained dancers. Increasing the range
and depth of the dancing of NYIBC participants is the essence of the
organization’s mission. So offering a piece or Taylor rep seemed to fit
right in.
17. Tell us about the Manhattan Kayak Company and about your other non-dance
activities. How do you find the time to do everything?
In 1985 I had an injury that made it almost impossible for me to
walk. A very close friend of mine introduced me to kayaking and a life in the
outdoors. Developing a contrasting love of the outdoors, nature and a low-impact
sport to the indoor theatrical life of theater and high-impact dancing helped
to prolong my performing career. I was less prone to “burning out”
on a sole focus in my life. A good friend of mine had started Manhattan Kayak
Company back in 1997 and I joined forces with Eric Stiller in 1999 as a
co-owner/manager and instructor trainer. Today, Manhattan Kayak Company
continues to operate at Pier 66 here in the Hudson River Park on the West side
of Manhattan, and I reduced my involvement to ownership oversight when I took
on the job of directing NYIBC, and embarking on yet another career in my life.
I still hold great love for kayaking and the outdoors, and I look forward to
making time to renew my involvement in getting people with physical disabilities
active in kayaking and the outdoors. Creating time for things that you love is
often difficult, but human creativity is endless, and passion is the ultimate fuel
to achieving an end.
18. Is there a place in the world that you've never been that you would like to
see?
There are many, and just as many places that I have been to
which I hope to return.
19. What's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you about dancing?
“Account for every second you are onstage and for the
seconds before you enter the stage and the seconds after you have exited through
the wings.”
20. Do you have a favorite quote or thought that is especially meaningful to
you?
“Choose a path and take a step. Never be afraid to change
direction.”
In the middle of one whirlwind morning at the studio last week, Richard took a few minutes to be photographed by my friend Kokyat. I very much like the resulting portrait, above.
In the days leading up to the Competition I had the pleasure of meeting
Richard and being welcomed by him to the studios where the entrants
were being coached in the repertoire scheduled for the Competition. I
expressed my concern that I didn't want to infringe on the work process
to which he replied: "I want people to see these dancers!"
My thanks to Lois Greenfield for generously allowing me to use her beautiful photos. Please visit her website filled with remarkable images.