20160505RobertoCampanella
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
RC: In every creation there’s a personal discovery, but especially in The 9th, probably due to the scale of popularity of this monumental music masterpiece, I find myself constantly fighting my doubts. What I feel it’s happening is the development of allowing myself to trust my own instincts, and the ones of our co-creator, Robert Glumbek, as well as our wonderful collaborators, ProArteDanza dance artists.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
RC: What others might not understand or appreciate is beyond our control, but I always hope that the audience sits down allowing themselves to experience the phenomenon of what they’re seeing, open their hearts and to unleash their own imagination: experiencing the performance as a real escape from our day to day top heavy lives. We’re not spoon feeding anyone but just hoping to connect and take them with us to an emotional journey.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
RC: Passion! What I can definitely promise is that the incredible amount of passion myself and the rest of our collaborators have for what we do it will be visible on stage.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
RC: Doubts. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a constant fight. I personally feel that overthinking your choices, could be more damaging than helpful, although I sometimes fall into the trap.
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?
RC: I’d let them know how grateful I am of having had them as my inspiration. I’ve had the fortune of working with some extraordinary choreographers, some of whom are still in my thoughts while I’m in the studio creating and for that I’d like to say, THANK YOU!. Most likely they would say, YOU’RE WELCOME! 🙂
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
RC: When I stopped creating for the experts. Another trap I kept on falling into was asking myself, what would the experts say about this? My turning point was channeling that unnecessary waste of energy into having fun in the studio and by being in touch with what I wanted out of the creation.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
RC: My insane schedule and what’s the fun in living in a constant deficit! 🙂
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?
RC: I would like to bring more of the dance world here in Toronto. Unfortunately, the lack of resources is delaying the process, but I’m not giving up.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
RC: I would advocate more and take stronger actions in support of the arts in general, because we can all always do more!
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?
RC: Well…Depressing is that while I know how much each one of us work in trying to maintain the high standard that our company is known for, ProArteDanza has currently been unjustly targeted for a major cut by the Ontario Arts Council. On a positive side, I’m hopeful of personally knowing some amazing gladiators in Canada and abroad who continue to fight to make dance visible at the standard that it deserves.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
RC: Choreographers are known to be the worst critics of their own work. In general, I’d say that the most fulfilling part of it is to witness how our dance artists translate my choices, their commitment, devotion and the growth that inevitably goes with it.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
RC: Don’t create for the experts! 🙂
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
RC: Intriguing…I’d say that my being very affectionate and warmth towards people could spark some curiosity. Also, perhaps, it might come to a surprise to some people that I give the benefit of the doubt to anybody without distinctio
