Emerging Choreographers Take the Spotlight

October 17, 2010

This fall, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center is hosting a performance series called Your Move!, which showcases emerging choreographers and gives them a chance to present their work on an NYC stage. Twenty-two-year-old Courtney Ramm created her first piece more than a decade ago, when she was a young student at the School of American Ballet. In

addition to her seven years of training at SAB, Courtney, an NYC native, studied at Ballet Academy East. When she went to college at Indiana University, Courtney discovered contemporary and modern dance. She presented a contemporary ballet piece called Still Lingering at Your Move! this past Sunday and talked to DS about her work. –Katie Rolnick


Dance Spirit
: How would you describe your choreographic style?


Courtney Ramm:
I love Balanchine. I grew up seeing Balanchine ballets, so no matter what, there’s always some of that influence. I’m really into musicality–dancing with the music and being inspired by it. I like using choreography to express who I am as an individual and to give the audience a satisfying experience.


DS
:
Can you talk a little bit about Still Lingering?

CR:
It’s a duet for a male and a female to Gabriel Fauré’s Elégié in C Minor, Opus 24. I think it’s the most gorgeous piece of music. The piece explores comfort, attachment, vulnerability, freedom and containment. It’s not a clear-cut story. It’s about some kind of relationship between the man and the woman, needing each other versus wanting to be free. It’s largely inspired by the feelings and emotions I find embedded within the music. It’s influenced by ballet and modern, and it’s a reflection of the movement style I find unique to my own body and training.


DS
: What are your future goals?


CR:
I definitely want to keep choreographing and become known as a choreographer. As far as my dance career, I want to explore new possibilities. I want to expand and find new forms of expression.

Pictured: Courtney performing with IsadoraNOW, a company dedicated to preserving Isadora Duncan’s works. Photo by Lauren Mirsk.