When Classical Intersects Contemporary: An Interview with Anja Graham. By Indigo Porebska-Smith

Anja Graham is a young emerging artist who has been developing a unique approach to contemporary dance and choreography as a student at Simon Fraser University. In this interview Anja speaks about her background, her approach to aesthetics, the inspiration behind her practice as both a dancer and choreographer, and a couple of things she just could not live without!

Anja has studied dance from a young age. Her background can be categorized into varying form-based techniques. She has trained in ballet, jazz, and modern dance, and has completed advanced level ballet exams. Today, in her own practice, she finds herself predominantly interested in form, rather than emotive dancing. She enjoys working with bodies geometrically, thinking of herself as a designer of body architecture in a given space.

Anja works within a diverse range of musical genres from classical to electronic/drone. She “prefers to choreograph to music”, whether or not it’s the final score, because it provides “an impetus for movement”.

Anja’s most recent work will make its stage debut on January 31st in Meraki, a student choreography show at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. The piece, called an empty sky, was choreographed to contrast the music of Bach, specifically his Cello Suite no. 2 in D minor. This music was present throughout the choreographic process of the movement and became a part of the final score. During this piece, the dancers do not interact with one another. Each dances in isolation, their individuality taking precedence, yet together they move with the same ease and flow of the emotive cello suite. Anja’s choice to separate her dancers from one another comes from her effort to distance the dancers from the emotional musical backdrop. It is meant to be a contradiction, yet in their asymmetry they fulfil one another. It is her philosophy that “music with a strong theme can be very effective, but sometimes the way it is used can be overbearing if it is not contrasted”. Anja’s work presents exactly that: contrast, a contemporary approach to classical composition.

Over the course of Anja’s education she has been inspired by many artists, both local and international. Thus far, her greatest influence has been a piece by Staatsballett Berlin that she saw in 2016 called White Darknesswhich explored the adversities of addiction and its repercussions. During the piece sand fell from the ceiling. Slowly, more and more sand accumulated on the stage, impeding the dancers. At the end the principal dancer stood still as tremendous amounts of sand poured down on her, the addiction itself represented through this medium. Despite its dramatic nature, this work continues to influence Anja’s work to this day.

As a dance artist Anja “could not survive without her physical wellbeing”, as it is essential to her practice. The other single most important thing in her life is her dog Cooper, whom she says is her most dedicated support system.

Cooper

Anja’s vision for the future is ever-expanding as she continues to evolve over the course of her undergraduate degree. In future works she hopes to collaborate with a large group of dancers, and an orchestral score. She would also like to explore the use of live and pre-recorded multimedia in performance and continue to design bodies as architecture in space.

Anja Graham 2019

For more information on Meraki: http://www.sfu.ca/sca/events---news/events/meraki--sca-student-choreographers.html

To read a review of the aforementioned White Darkness: https://bachtrack.com/review-duato-kylian-staatsballet-deutsche-oper-berlin-december-2015