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Culture Dance

Movers and Shakers

Rating: NNNNN

Beginnings

First dance memory?

claudia moore: Climbing doorways at age four. Creative dance class at five — I was in the corner, watching.

bill james: Fred Astaire, The Wizard Of Oz and running through cornfields.

What made you get onstage?

moore: I liked wearing costumes.

james: Albert Reller, my high school drama teacher. He gave me no choice.

First bit of choreography?

moore: I created my own solo in grade six as “memory,” the Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol.

james: A piece I performed with a rock band in Saskatoon in 72. It was lame.

Major influences/mentors?

james: Jean-Pierre Perreault, Peter Boneham, Meredith Monk, Thomas Merton, Hyemeyohsts Storm, Frank Lloyd Wright….

moore: Pina Bausch, Lindsay Kemp, Tedd Robinson.

You’re the love child of two artists who are they?

moore: David Bowie and Pina Bausch.

james: My mom and dad.

The Work

What’s your current show about in a single sentence?

james: The present.

moore: A taste of heaven and hell on earth for myself and my three favourite performers, Bonnie Kim, Fiona Drinnan and Miko Sobreira.

What inspired it?

james: The present and recent past.

moore: I wanted to go one-on-one with the feisty beasts.

What’s your biggest challenge in this piece?

moore: Making something meaty enough for Bonnie, Fiona and Miko to sink their interpretive teeth into, and making a dance for me — way hard.

james: Trusting that the dancers will make the right choices.

Last show you saw and loved?

james: That wonderful duet by Louise Bedard and Sylvain Emard.

moore: Bausch’s Kontaktoff.

How can you get new audiences interested in dance?

moore: Good question. Nudity doesn’t seem to work any more.

james: Honesty and directness.

The arts grant process pro or con?

moore: I’m glad they’re still supporting me, but the system is flawed.

james: Pro.

The Career

Best career move?

james: Moving to T.O. Also my worst career move.

moore: Having children. As a mom, I’m too tired to be stressed.

What keeps you motivated?

moore: I’m addicted to dance and enjoy working with other junkies.

james: The dancers I work with and the future goat farm I’m planning.

Best thing about getting older?

moore: Am I?

james: Being able to see the spectrum of the world’s diversity — meanness and beauty and potential — and not get too mad.

Worst thing?

moore: Arthritic hips.

james: The erosion of civility.

Percentage of friends in dance?

james: 50 per cent.

moore: 50 per cent.

Second Thoughts

If you weren’t in dance, what would you do?

james: Raise dairy goats and make the world’s best soft brie-like goat cheese.

moore: Parisian pastry chef.

Biggest regret?

moore: Meeting Pina Bausch too late.

james: Not becoming an investment banker.

Worst stage experience?

james: Being on an outdoor metal stage in France during an electrical storm and not being able to leave without getting electrocuted.

moore: Balancing a wig on my head all over the U.S. in Sleeping Beauty with the National. I quit dance after that, but meeting Lindsay Kemp got me back on track.

Pleasures and piss-offs about the Canadian dance scene?

moore: Pleasure: the great community of artists. Pissoff: that the Premiere Dance Theatre is inaccessible to Toronto independents.

james: My only piss-off is with choreographers who abuse dancers by making excessive demands on their time and then don’t pay them well. This must change.

glenns@nowtoronto.com

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