ChoreoFest Interview: Meghan McCaffrey!

by Nicole Harris

IMPACT Dance at NACHMO 2014 © Nicole Tomaselli 2014

We're only 10 days away from ChoreoFest, the one and only 24-hour dance festival dreamed up by Luminarium founders Merli V. Guerra and Kimberleigh A. Holman, and we couldn't be more excited! 
The Connect 2 Choreography blog is running a series of interviews so you can get to know the choreographers of each participating group. First up, Nicole has some questions for IMPACT Dance founder and choreographer, Meghan Theresa McCaffrey.

Nicole Harris: What made you want to make the move from being a dancer to a choreographer?
Meghan McCaffrey: Great question! I have always loved dance and at a pretty early age I made the decision that being a 'professional dancer' was not in the cards for me. I was introduced to the craft of choreography in High School and fell in love. But the actual 'move' I believe was when I started IMPACT. I decided that I was going to step back and solely be the painter and not the canvas. 

Nicole: What are you most nervous about regarding ChoreoFest?
Meghan: Hmmmm-I would have to say the fear of not being good enough- or creating work that I didn't like or my dancers didn't like. 

Nicole: Have you participated in ChoreoFest before? If so, what is your favorite memory of that experience?
Meghan: Yes! We participated in 2014 :) My favorite memory is the bonding aspect within the process. I felt closer to my dancers and the other companies. 

Nicole: What advice do you have for new ChoreoFest choreographers? Are there things you hope to do differently this time?
Meghan: My advice is to be open to the process- let it inspire you to be the best you can be in that 24 hour span!  I am hoping to take more time to investigate and discover the dancers' movement. 

Nicole: Since this is a very controlled creative space (in terms of time and topic) where do you see yourself starting when you get in the space?
Meghan: Last ChoreoFest the dancers and I settled into our studio and took out notebooks. We all 'popcorned' ideas and thoughts based on the topics we drew from the hat. I am envisioning a similar starting point. 

Nicole: In creating a new work, what in the relationship between you and your dancers? Do they participate in the creative process? If so, how?
Meghan: I believe it depends on what type of piece I am starting, however my dancers always play a pivotal role in my creative process. I like to bring up topics that I know my dancers can connect their own voice to. I also am very image driven and sometimes it is hard for my body to display what I see or feel in my mind. When this happens my dancers are so important to figuring out what is going on in my head and translating it to their bodies. 

Nicole: Knowing that Karen Krolak will be on hand as "choreographic guru", what things do you hope she can help with in the overnight process?
Meghan: I am hoping that she can offer us feedback, constructive criticism, inspiration, advice etc etc throughout the process and especially if we are having an "I am stuck" moment! 

Nicole: Who are some of your favorite choreographers?
Meghan: Currently some of my new favs : Emma Porter, Emily Shock,Talia Favia, Jaci Royal, Kirsten Russell, Andrew Winghart.
Some of Always my favs: Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Moses Pendelton, Nathan Trice.

If you want to learn more about IMPACT Dance and see what other awesome things they're up to, check out the links below!

Website! www.impactdancecompany.net
Facebook! Impact Dance Company Boston
Instagram! _impactdance
Twitter! @impactboston

Choreofest, (Somewhat) Explained

by Kimberleigh Holman

In celebration of our friendship with the folks at Luminarium (who are coming in to the studio with us next weekend to see what sort of trouble we can all get ourselves into!) we asked Kim to share her thoughts on the upcoming ChoreoFest with you!

It's very easy to get swept away creating dance solely for the end product.  Maybe you're working on a new piece for a production, a festival, for your own satisfaction or for others' eyes and brains.  Luminarium's 24-Hour ChoreoFest is a festival that focuses on the importance of process while building community.  The abstract: six dance companies with local ties arrive at the Dance Complex, get locked into the space, pick themes from a hat, and create brand new work that premieres in a fully-produced concert the following day.  Now that you have the 'what', hopefully the following text provides insight to the 'why' behind the 24-Hour ChoreoFest.

Let's rewind to the period of time between 2010 and late 2011.  As Luminarium transitioned away from being newcomers on the dance scene, we noticed a lack of community in our collective creative processes, and a lack of opportunity for the process itself to shine.   With those thoughts steeping in the combined brain space of Merli and myself, our desire to produce a unique event that the Boston community (dance and otherwise) could participate in got harder and harder to ignore. Combine that with a love for anything ridiculous, challenging, involving caffeine/adrenaline, or a combination of any of the aforementioned, and ChoreoFest was born!  

I am happy to report that our inaugural 2012 participants (including a wonderful trio representing Monkeyhouse) exceeded all expectations in building community within the festival.   We had many discussions as a group throughout the twenty-four hours of creation that enabled all participants to find similarities and differences and celebrate them.  To further integrate the Greater Boston community, we decided to make the entire overnight period viewable to curious individuals on their own home computers through a live-stream broadcasting from the Dance Complex studios.  The hope was that anyone that tuned in online might be interested enough to come view the festival's culminating concerts, therefore growing the number of new-to-dance viewers in the live audience.  A final facet of 24-Hour ChoreoFest's community goals; all of the profit made from ticket sales to the culminating concerts is given to a local youth-serving charity for performing arts programming.  

Since we are on the cusp of a second ChoreoFest, it's no surprise that the festival was a success in its first year!  Our goal, in years of 24-Hour ChoreoFest to come, is to keep stimulating creative process and community as they are equally important to this endeavor.  We hope that local choreographers and companies aren't scared away by the idea of working amongst their peers in a timed and transparent manner, and we hope to keep developing a steady flow of interested audience members who do not regularly attend arts events.  This year's second 24-Hour ChoreoFest features 
Monkeyhouse, Ryan P. Casey, Paradise Lost, Intimations Dance, Impact Dance Company, and Luminarium Dance.  

Please visit www.luminariumdance.org/choreofest to watch the journey unfold and new work come together overnight.