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This weekend, Craig Salstein, a soloist at American Ballet Theatre, presents his Intermezzo Dance Company at the Miller Theatre (at Columbia University). The program, "From Myth to Philosophy," explores classical myths through ballet and includes choreographers Ja'Malik, Adam Hendrickson, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Gemma Bond and himself. In honor of the season, Salstein, in his typically lively way, explained his motivation for starting his dance company.
"I would fuse three of my huge influences. Outside of the New York City Ballet, really the only one who put something together was [Edward] Villella in Miami. He created a ballet company. That infused with Mark Morris, a smaller chamber ensemble with no titles and dancers who don’t have to scratch their way to levels. Also, another source of artistic influence is being around Alexei Ratmansky. It's the idea that the man who’s choreographing, as with Mark, is the guy in the room who is actually alive. I love doing [Kenneth] MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, and I love doing [Frederick] Ashton, but it’s getting harder and harder to do them for myself. I would like to do these for the people who choreographed them, and unfortunately those guys are dead. I don’t know if you went to public school or private school, but parents are always saying that kids learn better in smaller groups. I also feel dance is better done without having to have 50 girls stand behind each other. I mean they’re not even staggered. It's like, Could you stand behind her? I don’t know if we’re really bred to be that kind of dancer. I know it’s important that audience members see this stuff, but it is getting harder and harder.
I think Intermezzo wishes to be the classical Mark Morris. I’m not Joffrey, I never put my name out in front, and I’m not Mark Morris, but Intermezzo wishes to be that third-party candidate. If you don’t get into the New York City Ballet or ABT, the chances of quitting are higher, and I would just make sure that young adults don’t throw in the towel too quickly, because sometimes when you get into these major companies, you go, 'I didn’t really expect I’d be doing that.' Often, there isn't a lot happening for them in the studio, and they seek something else that will feed their artistic soul. People are really trying to make it for themselves like David Hallberg going to the Bolshoi, and Misty Copeland doing things outside of where she is. I think that’s where success is. I’m not 100 percent sure the repertoire nowadays is carrying the success of people. I think what people are doing outside of it is really what’s going on; repeating and reviving can be dangerous for a dancer, though it could be great for what the audience needs. I just think providing new work is important. Being with a living choreographer. I hope in years to come Intermezzo would be something like a Joffrey.
I definitely see what Mark Morris has done: He’s a man who’s gotten his own building, he knows that location and is providing dance for the local community too. The Met is great—but 4,000 people need to see it, they need to see Giselle or statistics will lead somebody to believe that, well, we could do a new ballet, but we have to fill seats. I’m not 100 percent sure it’s really what needs to be done. What I think needs to be done is new work, and people need to be happy. Everybody loves to dance. I love to dance. But I wouldn’t confuse it with, does dance make them happy? A lot of people want to be leaders, and it’s like a popularity contest. I think we get overwhelmed when we have to compete with a lot of things. It’s hard to have a good time. I hear a lot of people before the performance say, “Have fun, have fun.” I don’t know how many people are really having fun. It’s very difficult, and I think that being a member of a company as opposed to having a title—I’m in the corps de ballet, I’m a soloist, I’m a principal…the dancers in Intermezzo just want to dance. But that’s not what happens when you go into a major company. It’s a whole different thing. Eric Tamm [of ABT] is now the executive director of Intermezzo. He’s quitting dance! It is mind-boggling, but you realize we’re reacting a little bit to tradition; I don’t think people are really into it. They’re into it to a certain level if it’s good for them, but how many times can you lace up for Villagers? Or put on a hat or a mustache? These are wings and hats and wands, and we’re getting to be adults. It’s not easy to do that, so Intermezzo is also about treating it on that adult level. What Intermezzo has to offer is a chance to build new repertoire and a change of content."
Intermezzo Dance Company is at Miller Theatre (at Columbia University) Jan 17 at 7:30pm and Jan 18 at 3pm (millertheatre.com).