Originally from New York City, Michele Kadison has travelled extensively around the globe, from Europe to Japan before landing in Buenos Aires to absorb the city into her wealth of experiences that range artistically from acting, jazz, contemporary dance, tango and music. Qualified by Hamiliton and Connecticut colleges in the United States, Michele now teaches ‘Contemporary Jazz for the Stage,’ working with some of the most renowned names in the performing arts in Argentina.
Michele Kadison (Photo: Andy Donohoe)
What brought you to Buenos Aires?
Well there is the superficial reason and then there is the real reason. I was asked to choreograph a TV series in The States and one of the episodes was based on tango. I had zero concept of tango but I said ‘Oh sure! No problem!’ Fortunately it was a comedy so I got away with it, but in apology to the art form I started to learn how to dance tango. At one point I felt I should come here to see how I stood with the locals.
I really fell in love with the sensation here, I came here alone, stayed here for ten days and danced like a banshee, then I came back again and I decided that it was time to make a big change. The pace here is so different. I was finding that my life in the States was on more of an exterior level and I found that by coming here I could focus on something that was on more of an interior level. It changed my approach to my teaching and to the art form.
Can you tell me a bit about your dance programme?
I feel like it’s a compilation of contemporary dance and ballet. The class is constructed in a similar way to a yoga class. It starts in a very rational way to warm up the body so it’s not a shock to get into the later movements that we do. All the stretching in the beginning is to create space in the spinal column and all the places where we have a lot of tension. After that, we go to the floor and start working on strengthening exercises to work on the abdominal muscles. Then we get back on our feet and combine the stretching and the strength and work on the axis.
The principle behind my technique is to cut through space efficiently and quickly so the whole concept is working the secondary muscles of the body as opposed as the primary muscles. We are developing the spindle muscles such as the muscles inside the biceps. For me is a metaphor for life because working on the external as opposed as really feeling our emotions, it’s the difference between living an authentic life and a superficial life.
One of Michele's classes (Photo: Andy Donohoe)
Do you borrow from different art forms?
I don’t even know if it’s borrowing. I started dancing when I was three so it’s sort of an osmotic process – you just absorb all of the things that you are exposed to, not just dance, art, theatre, music, poetry, the street, being bruised…all of those things go into the work .
How does the jazz scene here compare to New York?
I don’t know how to compare it. I just think it is on a smaller scale. There are really good dancers here and they’ve got the sensuality, the rhythm and the desire to dance. I think in many ways there are certain elements of various art forms that are still a little bit behind the times and maybe it is because there is not enough exposure – we don’t have a lot of different things coming in all of the time from all over the world like in New York – there is some very good jazz here, but maybe not enough of it. I come from New York so I come with a very specific voice, attitude towards training.
I think a lot of the dangers that are in jazz are about getting your legs up higher at the expense of the health of one’s body. I don’t do that, I say be more humble – I would prefer a low leg that is really well placed, I want to see a balance because you crawl before you walk. I taught at one of the best studios in New York called Steps, it is very renowned and there was a time when everyone would say that my class was pretty much the hardest one around. I know that I demand a lot from students but in a way that is observing the health of the trajectory – we are working slowly to achieve an inner strength; that the expression comes from within and all the rest is like an adornment.
What have you done in the past?
A couple of years ago, I asked the question ‘why isn’t tango used to tell other stories other than the normal stories? Why can’t we use it as another language?’ I developed a concept for a tango ballet based on Orpheus. It was very well received at a festival called Cambalache which is a modern tango festival. Also, I was in a movie with Rita Cortese, where I was in the movie as a dance teacher where I coached her, which was not much of a stretch for acting!
And now?
Now, I’m working on a project called ‘The Love Project.’ The aim is to take sixteen classical poems in Spanish and unite them with four really amazing DJs. The classical poetry is being united with techno and chill out music. The idea is to create a cd project where kids can be exposed to classical poetry through the music. Alongside that I am doing performance, choreographing my dancers, which will be available to download to create a sort of virtual party.
Eventually what I want to do is have a whole series of CDs from every country, taking the poetry from each country, mixing it with cool music, creating a party, creating a cd and making it a worldwide experience with a lot of dance.
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