Budding, Not Yet Blooming: Bryn Cohn and Artists

Bryn Cohn and her company, Bryn Cohn and Artists, have been quite busy since their start in 2011. With performances at festivals and showcases for emerging choreographers in New York City, numerous teaching engagements including a weekly class at DANY studios, and their first tour on the horizon, it doesn’t seem like they will slow down any time soon. And, why would they? Cohn embodies the excitement and urgency that motivates early career choreographers to break boundaries and create opportunities to get their work out there. In an interview with Dance Informa, Cohn talks about her most important influences, her ever-evolving aesthetic, and why it’s an exciting time to be a part of Bryn Cohn and Artists.

What originally drew you to choreography? Do you have any early influences you can recall?

During my last semester at California Institute of the Arts, where I received my BFA, I started to become very curious about movement invention, specifically in devising various gestural vocabularies. I spent hours in the studio investigating the transference of various human actions, such as kissing, punching, pinching, pointing, drinking, into codified movement. I was intrigued by how these minute actions felt so potent, so loaded with meaning. This was a huge revelation to me at the time, how dance can become this very honest and relatable way of universally communicating.

One of the earliest and most impactful experiences I have had watching dance was seeing Hofesh Shechter’s Uprising. It’s effect on me was tantalizing, an engrossment deep inside a world where I seemed to lose myself entirely. Hofesh creates movement that seeps from every crevice of the body; each motion is uniquely nuanced and dynamic. Watching his dancers ferociously commit to extreme physicality in its most sensitive and forceful form made me feel like dance could change the world – no exaggeration.

Bryn Cohn. Photo by Jaqi Medlock.

How would you describe your aesthetic and style to someone who has never seen your work?

My work continues to evolve with every rehearsal, every work created [and] every year. And I presume this is the beautiful thing about being relatively new to this medium. When I look at the body of work I have made thus far, I recognize the connective thread as an avid exploration in pushing imaginative and physical edges. The frontier where technical clarity meets intricate and dense innovation is the place I like to be choreographically. The place where a myriad of movement idioms are employed as to how to body can speak in the most authentic ways. I like to see real life through the lens of dance. I like to see my dancers as people, in their most bare and genuine of selves, contributing to the worlds that we construct.

What is the biggest challenge for emerging choreographers in NYC right now? What are the strategies you’ve employed to navigate that challenge?

Financial burden is easily the greatest challenge as it is a widespread and frequently spoken about dilemma. We know this reality, we are submerged in it, and I think this exists in accompaniment with the non-profit model, whether you are emerging or well established. I feel the issue is greater than money: it is sustainability of practice, it is identifying what it is that will keep one specific company relevant or significant over an extended period of time. For me, it has become vital to understand where I feel my place is in the dance world as opposed to aspiring to tackle it all.

What are the next steps for you and your company? Any upcoming performances, residencies, etc., we should know about?

It has been an extremely exciting time for us over the last few months and 2014 already seems to be blazing forward with the same momentum. This month, our work is being produced in Seattle at Chop Shop: Bodies of Work, where we will be performing and teaching alongside some very talented artists. I will be reconstructing a piece I made in 2011, which is a first for me, to have an opportunity to reexamine and rework something older. Additionally while in Seattle, I will be teaching a masterclass at Velocity Dance Center. The dance scene is currently booming there, some truly unique performance, and I couldn’t be more excited to explore and participate in it.

For more information on Bryn Cohn and Artists, visit bryncohn.com.

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Photo (top): Bryn Cohn. Photo by Michelle Friend.