Dark Habits: Kristina Hanna Interview with Larry Keigwin

What’s in a name: FOR STARTERS THEY CALL ME TT

By Kristina Hanna

There are lots of love stories. Not just those about lovers, but of those who come into our lives and change the course of it forever. This is true of the six dancers I work with every day in the studio, and the man who brought us all together. I am never more myself than when I am in the studio with them, and yet it’s in that space, in their presence, that I have the opportunity to challenge that very idea, to break it down, to look around, and reinvent who I’m becoming. It takes time, a good deal of time, to be able to let people in that way and for them to let you in, in turn. And as Liz has said a great deal of trust, of courage too.  But here we are, in this space where spontaneity, discovery, possibility are available to us and between us.  It makes for an incredibly rich, definitely interesting way of living that gives you back more than it takes.  In two years I’ve accumulated more memorable moments than I could have imagined (running across the stage of the Joyce naked!) and a nickname I adore from people I adore more. This Valentine’s Day, I sat down to dinner and drinks with one of the most handsome, charming, and talented men in the city who just so happens to be my boss (lucky me!)  Here are some of the highlights:

Larry: So I’ve never made a piece this long or with this long of a process and I’m curious in general what is your favorite part of the process? (Jokes) Getting the costume on? Opening night? The first day of rehearsal?

Kristina: I think after we’ve generated all of the material and you really hook in and begin to see where you want things. It’s that point where you have an outline and we have more of a structure. It’s so fun because then we can start making choices and being spontaneous every day inside the work.

L: You’ve now been through several creative processes with me, are there any kinds of common threads that you see from one creative process to the next?

K: Consistently there is this time period where you taste and sample movement phrases and ideas and then all of a sudden you arrive at a comprehensive idea, a meaty concept.  I love the leap of faith involved in that, because I never know what you’re going to do.  Do you know what you’re going to do?

L: I don’t. I have idea files in my head and some physical files, images and things, but unless I have a week to make a dance, I like to play a lot, and I like to see what percolates and which dance comes to the surface.  The hook for this piece was the stages of addiction. And the words “dark” and “habits.”

K: This is also the first time in a process where it’s still evolving so much so close to the show. And it’s uncomfortable and scary sometimes, exploring a lot of emotional stuff in this material.  Sometimes at the end of rehearsal I’m like, “I need a drink!”

L: Oh I know! (Jokes) The next dance is going to be a hell of a lot lighter!  It’s going to be color color color.

K: This piece is also coming at an interesting time in the company. As a group we’ve been dancing together now for almost two years and we’re really starting to take risks with each other.

L: Like what?

K: Well just little things.  Things they’ll tell me, or I’ll tell them.  It’s hard to show people the things you’re afraid of.

L: And our dark habits are things we don’t share.  If we shared them, they wouldn’t be secretive. That to me is tricky to excavate in this work. It’s interesting too, having collaborated with you for a while now, to consider how touring or other elements of our interaction come into play in the creative process. Like when we were in Philadelphia doing Elements and we went out to the club one night, and I got to see you jam on the dance floor, and then getting back to NYC and asking you to do some of those moves in the studio. To me, a lot of the creative process is excavating people’s strengths, highlighting those strengths, so that everyone looks at their best.

K: I think that that openness though is something that comes with time. With dancing, the personal and professional become blended, because you are giving so much of yourself.  I don’t know how a person can dance and NOT be personal.  I like that about you, that you’re a person who reveals things over time, because I’m like that too. I do think it’s important to not just see who a person is in the professional setting, but also in the personal, it’s more encompassing.

L: If there’s a narrative unfolding at this point in Dark Habits, do you think it’s driven by the dancer’s perspective or the choreography?

K: I think generally when you make a piece…I can see how you are inspired by visual arts, because you kind of look at things with an eye for visual design.  And then from there, I think you trust that the narrative is going to come out of that.

L: I don’t even know if there needs to be narrative in every piece; to me it’s more essential to create a world, a very convincing, committed world. That’s what I want Dark Habits to do.  Maybe we look at each section and define the overall idea by the habitual pattern of that section.

K: I don’t think we have to look at time as being linear in the piece either. Maybe instead of looking at time as a running video, we look at it as series of snapshots. Because I think about relationships and you can have a relationship for five years or one day, and both can affect you deeply. I think what’s so exciting about this process, is that up to this point, there are some extremes that you’ve dabbled in with other pieces, but in this, we could really go there.

L: Make the extremes more extreme.

K: Exactly. Taking that huge risk. We have 7 dancers who believe in what they’re doing, that are committed to going balls to the wall. That’s enough.

L: I love that. To me, theater is best when it is outrageously spontaneous and balls to the wall.

K: It’s the first time in a creative process where from the inside there are all of these crazy impulses that are coming, that are driving what I feel comes next.

L: Love it.  Like your impulses might determine the process or the sequencing of the piece.

K: Yes, sometimes there are moments where I feel compelled to make a specific choice, like to interrupt an interaction or to move into a particular place in the space. What’s most important to you in all this?

L: That the work lingers for a long time in the audience’s mind, that they feel represented on the stage, and that there’s an engaging connection to the work. I want them to come away feeling something. Sometimes there are things that are so gross or so disturbing, that it’s hard to look away, and I think that would be fun.

K: Everybody’s putting their chips in. We’re upping the ante and all the walls are coming down.

L: I think it’s admirable that we’re taking on a project where we’re even trying, even contemplating breaking down those walls.

K: On all fronts there’s a lot of risk taking going on, a lot of growing.  It’s an inspiring way to work and live.

Kristina’s 5 Words for 2011:

GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Photos by Matt Murphy, Rehearsal Photos by Whitney Browne