Exploring the Master of Choreography

7.1.2025 0 Like 0 kommenttia

Chen Nadler (@Chen.nadler) is a master’s student in Choreography who transforms her dreams into worlds. In this blog she shares her creative process and beautiful view of circles.

Chen Nadler (@Chen.nadler) is a master’s student in Choreography who transforms her dreams into worlds. In this transcription of a recent podcast interview, she shares her creative process and beautiful view of circles.

Who are you?

I’m Chen Nadler and I’m studying in the Choreography Masters program. 

What do you learn in your degree program?

I learn how to create new worlds that do not exist right now. I make these worlds from people and in connection to performance, dance movement and collaboration. I also learn how to navigate between different rules or wishes of people, and how to create a common landscape where we can create and feel comfortable to do something together.

What is it like to be a choreographer and to create choreography?

For me it’s very related to movement language. I have a particular way of moving and I keep teaching it to my dancers. We develop it together, but also I’m very precise of what I want to see. I work very closely with music and rhythm. In this production that I just finished now, we also had a lighting designer and a costume designer. It’s a very collaborative thing to be a choreographer. You need to see the whole picture all the time. Even though you are focused on the movement language, you still need to think about the kind of world you would like to create on stage. I consider also the feeling I want to evoke in the audience who will see it in the end. And the fun part is that you actually don’t know. You meet the audience and then you really experience your piece. 

What role does the choreography play in relation to the lighting and costume design?

It depends on the choreographer. Some people work in horizontal ways, so creating together and deciding together. But in short-term productions, I like to work in the way that I conduct things. So mostly I choose and have the last word on most of the things. If I have a production where I have a lot of time for, say one year to do, then I can be more free in terms of who is deciding. So it’s more fluent. 

Do you also have theory courses?

I have a lot of theory courses. My program is full-time and we have some terms where we only learn theoretical classes, but then the other times we only focus on production. We learned about the history of dance, but then it’s so wide, so we learned only one part. We also learned some tools for choreography. We read a lot of literature regarding the themes that we are interested in. Because we are such a small group (five students), our professors give us specific things to read regarding our own practice or interests.

How does the choreographing process work? 

For me, first of all, I have some kind of thought or a dream that I dream at night. And then, there is some kind of idea that comes to me. In the first place, I don’t know what it’s going to be, and it’s not so clear to me. It can be, for example, an image, or that I want to see people doing this or that, like moving in this kind of way. Or just standing in this kind of particular way. So creating kind of a structure. Most of the time I start with this, just following my dreams. Then I realize, okay, wow, it is so deep, and I can go even deeper. And then I understand what is the concept and what I want to create from it. Then I start to move in the studio alone and start to see, okay, what is the movement language here? And then I stop researching movement, and I start to do something that relates to what I’m searching for. For example, I will research people who are dealing with the same things. I’ll expand my references to see how different people do these kinds of things that I’m dealing with. And then I come back to the studio and it’s back and forth. Sometimes I invite dancers to come, learn, and flow with me. Sometimes I just teach them some material, and then we develop it from there. Also, I work very closely with the music. 

How do you work with dancers in the studio?

When I am in the studio with dancers I use a lot of different tasks and imaginations, like improvisation. I start to notice what are the qualities that come up from these tasks and create connections within the dancer. Sometimes I keep the movement one-on-one and go really slowly. Other times I tell them that they can take it to their own improvisation, and I give them time. And I watch. And then I come back to something that was very interesting for me, and I ask them, how do you feel inside, and what have you found? Then we start a collaboration from there, in a way.

What was the application process like?

It was long and intense, and I just decided one day that I’m going to do it, and I just went 100% in, and then it was fun. I dug into a lot of texts. I was reading a lot. Then I needed to provide some material of my own. And to speak about my art and my work, how I use choreography, and how I seek choreography in connection to the world. There were three parts, and each time was very stressful. But it was nice.

When you’re recording choreography, do you write it down, or video it, or make a code system?

I think it’s super important to film every performance, because, well, if you don’t do it, it’s gone.

This is the magic of the dance and performance art. It’s living in the present, and then you don’t have it later. In practice sometimes I film it, especially if I’m dancing on the inside. If I’m on the outside just seeing it, then it’s kind of okay to not film as I know what I’m seeing. Most of the time I’ll draw some kind of small simple drawings, like triangles, people holding hands, or a progressive path. I draw dots in the space, lines, or circles. My notes look full of those drawings.

What are you aiming for, hoping for, or post-graduation dreams?

I dream to present my work in all kinds of festivals. Then another one is to create some kind of community, like a collaboration between musicians and dancers, but more like multidisciplinary things. So not to focus only on a very small scale of only dancers, but some kind of community that shows people from different places or cultures or artists’ backgrounds.

What are some of the themes or ideas that you’re working with?

I like to focus on circles, so circular movement. And also to think about circles in relation to rituals and nature. And how we can use circularity in our movement in order to use the energy that already exists to create some things. I’m influenced by the power of nature. I see the patterns that are like circles in nature. There is something very powerful in connection also to tradition, and family, and community. To see things in a circle, to gather in a circle, and then you see everyone. Also in connection to how the audience is seated, for example, in a theatre. Most of the time I use more circular seating and not this kind of one-line that creates a boundary with the audience.  

What does collaboration mean to you?

Collaboration for me, it’s kind of everything, it’s the base of what I do. I try to find a way to be with others and to create with others. This is, for me, the special place of art. To share something unique, and then to create something new, or to change something, or to re-shape something. This is for me the basics. I like to invite people to my home, and to cook, for example, and to create parties. My other small project is to create jam sessions where musicians, dancers, light designers and visual artists are coming together for two hours just to improvise. I create this kind of space for people to just meet. After you meet you have a lot of questions and also fears can come up when you meet someone who is not from your culture, country or field of art. This is an interesting point for me.

How do you care for your well-being?

I walk in nature with my dog who is super cute. I just walk with him outside, and we go to the sea and we sit. Walking is very healing for me. When I walk I don’t think about anything, I just release what I need to release. And when I can rest, I try to rest. But I’m just this person with fire all the time. Another thing that I learned here in Finland is to go to a sauna with friends, to breathe for a moment and to just rest and to not do anything, to not be productive. The body needs to have some moments of relaxation. Then there is Chinese medicine and tea in the evening.