JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
CHRISTIANNE ULLMARK: At the moment, I am in the process of working on three projects, with three different companies. I am performing in Fall for Dance North, with a piece by Hanna Kiel called “G.H 5.0” (Toronto Dance Theatre); I am performing in a remount of a work called “Nuit” choreographed by Jean-Pierre Perreault (produced by Citadel + Compagnie); and finally I am finishing up the creation of my own work called “close encounters in the fifth dimension” that will be presented in November at The Citadel Dance Mix.
All three of these projects are important to me because each one satisfies a different part of my creative soul, and each offers a unique outlet for the range of my expression. Hanna Kiel’s piece is a crowd pleaser; fast-paced, and showcases individuality among the cast; everyone has a moment to shine. “Nuit” is about the power of the collective group; task-based, sometimes improvised, sometimes slow and sparse; we see metaphors for humanity, simplicity, and strong imagery. It is really nice to be able to work in these different ways to remind myself that there are in fact different ways of working and relating to how I am thinking about dance and what, where and how value can be placed. In my own choreography, I am able to ask my own questions, and I am able to express deep desires that I can’t express in words. I am able to communicate my ideas, theories and perspective on the universe and beyond. It is extremely liberating and empowering to be able to create my own work and have people watch it.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
CU: Working on my own piece “close encounters in the fifth dimension” has in particular been very special. In fact, over the time that I have been working on it, I have discovered that I really love facilitating a space for others to explore ideas and bring to life visions in my mind. I am excited by the idea that I am perhaps transitioning into focusing more on the production of my own work and I think that working on my own choreography has also allowed my to see how much I like teaching and helping others learn new things.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
CU: My current work uses a structured improvisation as a choreographic score. I think that from the outside, it might be hard to understand and appreciate how much awareness of the whole self that is required of the dancer to carry out improvised tasks inside of a choreographic structure. I think that it can be hard for an audience to appreciate the high level skill it takes to perform a piece based in improvised tasks, because one might think “improvised = no memorizing movement and anything goes”, when in fact there are very specific parameters which require concentration, practice and experience to execute.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
CU: Honest feelings and genuine curiosity.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
CU: Getting stuck in my head, self-doubt and pressure to be original. But I think it is one of those paradoxes, where not worrying about originality (because, come on, everything has been done by now) actually allows me to access a greater sense of freedom, which in turn produces authenticity and individuation- something, and someway of being and making that belongs just to me.
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire because of their work in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
CU: Right now, I am really obsessed with David Lynch; both his films and his perspectives on the relationship of consciousness and art making. I would say to him, that I think his films are very much like the way I am thinking about contemporary dance. That each frame, each moment, image, task, has to be taken in for what it is; moments in time that are not always causally related. I think he would say to me, that I have read his books and my interpretations of what I have seen and believe need no approval and are for me alone. I don’t need to convince others; I just need to make what I want to make.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
CU: Honestly, for me personally, I think a turning point was simply reaching a certain age and level of experience. I spent so much time when I was younger (even though I know I am still young) worrying about what other people thought of me, that I needed approval to carry out my visions. For sure this is a life-long lesson, and I will continue to gain age and experience, but I think it might have taken me a little longer to reach this point where I really feel comfortable with my opinions and views of the world and where humanity is headed. These realizations have really informed the themes and point of view that my work is taking.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
CU: How much time, energy and all consuming it can feel. How it can feel isolating even when performing for large groups of people, feeling like you can’t make mistakes. It can also be scary to be holding big questions and rarely having the answers.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
CU: I would really like to collaborate with a visual artist and present a work in a gallery space. I am interested in this because I am curious about dance outside of the theatre (not a new thing) and I want to see the shape and life that a dance piece can take on inside of a space where people come and go, where it is possibly more casual.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
CU: Maybe I would have moved away after my university training, maybe to Europe — I have an EU passport going to waste — and I wish I would have been more brave, even slightly ignorant, so that I could have started working on my own choreography sooner and not been worried what others would have thought. Maybe I would be further ahead. But maybe not. I am really happy for the experiences I did have that are now shaping what and how I want to create.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
CU: It is depressing, of course, to think about the on-going financial budget cuts for public funding. As someone who is just starting out as a maker and will need help from public funding bodies, it is scary to think about how to develop a portfolio of work, and doing it the way I want, without some security. I do have hope that the broader community outside is continuing to appreciate dance and art, and that there will be space for some new voices and people that want to listen.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
CU: I mean, this sounds like a such a cliché, but I feel really lucky that I get to dance all day, and that is my job! I love being physical and being able to express very deep emotions that I don’t always know how to talk about, it can be really therapeutic; in a way that can also challenge things I thought I knew about myself.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
CU: As someone who has a hard time letting go of control and order (in life and in the work I make) it really stood out for me when someone told me not to be afraid of things looking “messy”. I often have thought that I need to have everything solved, and everything needs a reason to be there, but when I remind myself that a message can still be delivered even if I don’t have it all figured out, and if I allow things to get “messy” I will probably discover something else I didn’t even notice before. It also will allow the viewer agency to see things that I am not maybe aware of.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
CU: I guess it might be surprising to know that as a dancer, and someone who has a close relationship to their body and the natural world, that I am very interested in cybernetics, science/science fiction and post-human theories. I have a strong sense of spirituality, and belief of a higher plane of existence, but I also believe that consciousness can exist without the body. Not sure where that leaves me and what that means, but I am working on it; I have questions, and these questions are driving my current projects.