Dancing With Carol Abohatab
Feb 12, 2009
Carol Abohatab has been teaching Modern Dance and choreographing consistently nationwide in the drum & bugle corps and winter color guard activities since 1987. A few of these groups include Spirit of Atlanta, Glassmen, State Street Review, Emerald Marquis, and San Jose Raiders World Guard, Leigh High School and Live Oak High School. She came to Santa Clara Vanguard in 1996, and was the co-caption head there with Mark Metzger from 1997-1999. Carol began performing at the age of nine with the Centurions of Enfield, CT, and continued with the 27th Lancers, Star of Indiana, Quasar, ERTE, and State Street Review. She choreographs and teaches dance for the SCV World Guard & Drum Corps, and teaches Modern, Jazz and Choreography classes at West Valley College and San Jose City College. She founded Children's Adventures in Movement, an outreach dance program of the Santa Clara Vanguard, and is the artistic director of the Vanguard Dance Company, which she created to allow aspiring dancers to dance side-by-side with professionals from the community.
Tell us about your influences in the world of dance?
I started my dance training at UW-Madison; this was the first University program in the country to offer a degree in Dance – it was through the PE department. The department really strived to foster creativity and inventiveness of movement. The German techniques were prevalent there, mainly the Laban Movement Analysis – what we use in color guard with regard to efforts and spatial awareness.
My mentor, Professor Claudia Melrose, danced with the Nikolais Company in New York. You may remember Nikolais’ work in the opening credits of the movie ‘The Company’ with Neve Campbell; Nik was way ahead of his time with regard to music and lighting and props, as well as inventiveness in movement. I too studied there extensively and became interested in choreography with regard to inventiveness. He is my main influence.
Finding your own vocabulary has always been my MO….Other influences are Mark Morris, because he has an intuitive wit and musicality to his dances. You see the music happening, not only on one level, but within the many layers of a score. I feel it’s very important, imperative, that choreographers have, at the very least, a basic understanding of music – what to listen for and how to read a score. It’s so important to know what you are hearing, then, one can make the decision to go with it or against it.
Should today's choreographers be exploring new styles of dance and movement?
Absolutely! I believe that every individual creates his or her own style, inherent simply in the fact that we are all different. To me, style and personality are analogous. It’s the quality that is put to a technique. Merce Cunningham has quite a different style than Graham, and Tharp is different from Mark Morris. It’s the way they move, and it’s distinctive. I don’t see how we can find it difficult to credit – it’s not a matter of whether one likes Tharp more than Cunningham, it’s simply that it’s there and it’s clear.
I feel that we get confused as choreographers when we are not clear with a style that we want to portray. And, if a choreographer attempts to convey different styles within one show, depicting different musical styles, perhaps, that may be where there’s confusion on how to credit them. Also, one may choose to contradict the musical style with a totally different movement look (take Suburbanettes using Vivaldi, done in leather costumes and a hard style of movement – it worked!).
We need, I believe, to look at the style and make sure it’s being performed clearly and distinctly from all performers. Coming up with a vocabulary to fit the style is important. I never underestimate the importance of improvisation for myself and the members. It breeds vocabulary. And when the performers understand my style, they become part of the process. I love when they own it, because there’s something of them in it. This comes through the face as well.
I recently saw a short documentary on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ which compared the ballroom dancer to the athlete in physical force needed to perform. Unlike the athlete, the dancer, they recognized, also has to allow for expression through the face, and I believe that sometimes we don’t feel this organically, and it is just ‘put on’ – ‘fake it til you make it’. This can also confuse the style, when the expression does not match. Simply, exploring new styles is imperative to growth; crediting it means recognizing if it’s clear to the intent.
Who do you feel has significantly pushed movement in the activity, past or present, where dance is concerned?
Ahhh, there are so many – Of course, Stanley (Knaub) comes to mind immediately. He is the first to validate the importance of learning dance from the ground up – literally and figuratively – and making connections through the body with breath as opposed to just learning steps. He gave the rest of us permission to spend the real time necessary to build the art form.
I was fortunate enough to have been taught by and have worked with Scott Chandler. I’ve learned so much with regard to getting dancers to perform, to speak with a clarity and intent, and he produces greatness through style.
I’ve gotten to work with Jim Moore over the past few years, as well, and seen a totally integrated approach to using the equipment with the body.
Often overlooked are the designers who stage the choreography. These are the ones that are open to the choreographer’s ideas, rather than solely asking for steps to a certain pathway. Jay Murphy is great at this, as is Jon Vanderkolff. Sal (Salas) worked that way, as well. I know there are many others; those are ones that I’ve been privileged to work with. Of course, many choreographers get to do their own staging and do it with great success, such as Mark Metzger with James Logan (HS).
Where do you see the potential for growth in the area of dance as it relates to our activity?
There is a lot out there in terms of dance, theatre, site-specific works, and a blending of all the art forms – visual and performing. There is a whole world to explore, but we offer a unique blend of props, and I still think there are ways of marrying the body and equipment, and finding a way to understand the physical and mental demands of that, that is yet to be explored. There was a wave of that happening in the late 80’s through the 90’s - choreographers exploring ways of manipulating the equipment with the body and finding new levels, shapes and unique moves.
As trends go, the next wave brought it back to inventive ways of using spinning, double-time and older tricks in different ways. From here, I believe there is yet another way to blend that is just beginning to emerge. Without losing the uniqueness of the activity, there are also performance possibilities that can definitely stretch the limits with regard to the organic nature of training and in stylistic realms as well. If something looks ‘less color guard-like,’ it is our job to recognize the significance it can have, and if it works for us.
What are some of the needs that choreographers have that aren't being addressed or could use further attention?
Choreographers need time to build a program, to explore their style with their dancers, or to have someone else be able to do that for the program. It is a real talent to be able to budget your time between spinning and dancing, especially at the high school levels. I feel that there can be a bit better understanding that spinning starts with the body and an awareness of space and time that can get beginning students past the ‘clumsy’ phase. This can all be mastered through a great dance program. There really is no fast way to get there.
Another need of choreographers is an open mind from the community when it comes to exploration. It’s the age old question of – if something isn’t pleasing to some of the audience, or the judges, is it still worthy?
There is so much out there now, especially with YouTube, that it’s unforgivable not to see as much dance as possible. Of course, there’s nothing like live performance to inspire and educate. You know, I get those emails all day with links to silly videos on YouTube… take some time and explore the world of dance. See styles – it’s so easy to consume yourself. Then, go to the theatre. What ever happened to field trips to the ballet…
We are fortunate to live in an activity that has a wide range of styles, and we are consistently making strides through WGI to open our world and meld it with the professional dance world. This is so exciting. The more we know from within, by educating and inspiring ourselves and our students, the more the universal language of dance becomes understandable, and thus our activity reaches the masses.
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