 |
| Photo By: Rosalie O'Connor |
Hailed as America's Quintessential Ballerina, Madame Jaffe has enjoyed a renowned career which has enabled her to wear nearly every hat imaginable, both on and off the Stage. Dancing Classical, Neo Classical and Contemporary Works, Susan's career with America Ballet Theatre, spanning 22 years, has proven that no role is out of her reach. Entering ABT II at the young age of 16, here in NYC, then progressing through as one of the favored Ballerinas of our Time, there really is no more perfect woman to discuss the life long work and passion of a Ballerina.
Susan has danced in nearly every ballet one can name, by nearly every choreographer one can name as well. Her experience is beyond all imagination, and as I sit here typing it all out, I am just floored. In fact, I am officially, Star Struck! Mdme. Jaffe has danced the works of Petipa, Balanchine, Tudor, Robbins, Kylian, Agnes De Mille, Nacho Duato, Roland Petite, MacMillan, John Cranko, Twyla Tharp and Kudelka. She has partnered with such Danseurs Nobles as Alexander Godunov, Julio Bocca, Carlos Molina, Marcelo Gomes, Guillaume Graffin, Ethan Stiefel, Robert Hill, Victor Barbee and, of course, one can not forget the fiery chemistry with partner Jose Manuel Carreño. Further, she has graced the stages of The Metropolitan Opera House, Royal Opera House of Covent Garden, the Mariinsky Theatre, English National Ballet, La Scala Ballet in Milan, Bavarian State Opera, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and the Vienna State Opera Ballet. Her accomplishments are astonishing... her contributions, incredible.
To complete her education as a Ballerina, Mdme. Jaffe continued after retirement to sit as an Advisor to The Board of Governing Trustees of American Ballet Theatre, as well as serving as faculty to The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, since 2002. In addition, she co-founded Long Island University's educational initiative for the dancers of American Ballet Theatre; serves as a Guest Lecturer for Duke Corporate Education on "Excellence; co-founded & co-directed the Princeton Dance & Theater Studio; and she has also given master classes throughout the United States and Japan.
Susan Jaffe is a Dance Magazine Awardee, and was invited to join Dance Magazine to co-produce and host the weekly television show Dance New York. She has been featured multiple times on Dance in America; in the series PBS Dancing; in the movie Angie, starring Geena Davis; and in the Frederick Wiseman documentary, Ballet. Additionally, she was a guest on the Charlie Rose Show, and has written and published a book for children 7 to 13, titled Becoming a Ballerina.
Furthermore, Mdme. Jaffe has choreographed for dance companies and universities internationally. In 2007, she joined Configuration Dance Theatre, where she premiered three works in New York: Velez Pas de Deux 2007, Novem Pas de Deux 2008, and Royenne Pas de Deux 2009. In 2008 her work, UNCAGED, was premiered at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Later that year, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by TCU.
In 2010, she created Pulse as Guest Choreographer at Princeton University. More recently, her work titled We Insist was premiered in 2011, in NYC by students of The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet Theatre.
She is currently serving as a Ballet Mistress of American Ballet Theatre.
NOW, on to our Interview! Join us below, where, sharing breakfast in The Fairway Cafe, Mdme. Jaffe & I journey together along her passionate path as a Ballerina, Choreographer, Teacher & Mentor.
Questions, in red.
_________________________________________________________
ON HER BEGINNINGS, WORKING PROCESS, TALENT & TECHNIQUE.....
It seems you began your Career with a bang! You were 18, and you were to fill the shoes of Gelsey Kirkland, at the request of then Director of American Ballet Theatre, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Take us back to that time.
Susan Jaffe: Well, I want to go back further-- to when I was 10 years old. I had fallen in love with ballet pretty much right away... when I was about 8 -- 8 or 9. I had actually had a prophetic dream that I was a ballet star, and that was it for me, I decided right then that I wasn't going to do anything else. Then my ballet teacher reminded me, about 2 years before I retired, of the time when my mother asked her to sit with me and talk with me about the importance of school, because I wasn't doing well in math. I had sat down with her and ate lunch, while she proceeded to speak to me about the importance of schooling, and doing well in my studies. As she spoke to me, I sat there and listened, but at the end, I BANGED MY FISTS ON THE TABLE and said "Ms. Fonseca! I AM GOING TO BE A BALLERINA! I don't need Math!" (laughs all around!)
So it started then. I never dreamed of doing anything besides this. It was not that I was to be only a dancer, but I was going to be a Ballerina; so that was always my mission. Everything was focused on this mission, and, you know, I was always sort of the top girl in my school, I had all the leading roles. So, when I went to NY they said to me "yes, you are talented", but there were a lot of talented people. I then spent 2 years in the second company of American Ballet Theatre, where I had some roles, but I certainly wasn't the leading dancer....my body was changing, and I thought that maybe my aspirations were just not going to happen....so it was a depressing time. Then in June, Baryshnikov had came to watch the class of the second company and the Ballet Master came to me to say that Baryshnikov thought I was very talented...
Wow. BARYSHNIKOV thinks you're talented? I am not one to be too star struck, but that's Baryshnikov. He has always had such an Enigma around him. Between White Knights and Sex & The City, everyone knows Baryshnikov!
Susan Jaffe: He was an unbelievable star....
I'd say!
Susan Jaffe: It was kind of wild and then they had me audition for the Big Company -- and you know, after the audition there were only about 10 of us left standing in the center of the studio. Charles France, his Assistant, came to me, and said "Misha thinks you are very talented but you have to lose 10 pounds. We are going to give you a conditional contract until the end of summer, to see if you can lose the 10 pounds".
How did you respond to that? Were you upset, or were you just like, ok..... this is what it takes to do this...
Susan Jaffe: Well no, I had been on a diet, so I said to them "I have been on a diet for 4 years, so how am I going to lose the weight?!" Hearing that, they decided to send me to a diet doctor; I had to go to Charles France's office every week, and stand in front of him and turn around, so he could look at me -- to see if it was working, to see if I was losing weight. But as it happens, during that Summer my Mother passed away, and so the weight just fell off. About 2 weeks later, I received a contract, and started with the Company. While this would normally be a joyous moment in my life, there was a heaviness to the beginning of my career; it was a very traumatic time...which brought up a lot of things for me. My Mother was an alcoholic, which had been going on my entire life. It was a very difficult upbringing, so I was sort of used to being on my own and taking care of myself emotionally, and otherwise. My father was present for the children, but it was still very difficult. So I had developed intense survival instincts.....and when I joined the Company, and started getting parts, everyone was looking at this girl and asking, "who is she, why is she getting parts...."
OK Susan, I have to interject here. Back in college I found, in a used bookstore, a book titled, Private View, which is this amazing photojournalistic view of ABT during Baryshnikov's time there .. and of course you are in there... but all these people around you -- it is like everyone was amazing! The company at that time was incredible...literally, one perfect specimen after the other....and you are 18, an ingenue of sorts, in this situation, and in a company where there were so many Stars, where there were so many Ballerinas who were looked up to...how was that? Was this intimidating.....?
Susan Jaffe: Well, yes, I mean, it was amazing. I would walk down the hall where there was Bissel and Bujones, and Gelsey & Godunov and then, Baryshnikov is your boss! And, as I was being pushed, I felt that everyone was hating me ......I felt that all the soloists hated me. I mean, hate is not really the right word, it's too strong of a word, but I think it's more that I felt they weren't really happy that I was around. I was learning soloist parts; I was learning the Coquette in La Sonambula with Baryshnikov; from the second I walked in the door, I started learning soloist and principal roles ..so this didn't make me very popular.
That must have felt good though...to be asked to learn all these great roles?
Susan Jaffe: It was scary. I remember when my name went up on the call board to learn Pas D'Esclave, and I was in the room with Marianna Tcherkassky, Fernando Bujones and Gelsey Kirkland, etc.... and then there was me. I remember thinking that "this has gotta be a mistake"...so, I went up to the office and said "I think you made a mistake"...they said, "no... it's not a mistake." I was like (wide facial expression... big eyes) OMG! So I went in the room -- of course I was freaked out while I was trying to learn the steps. As the rehearsals go by and we were going to open at the Kennedy Center, I remember that I was supposed to be the last girl in the Czardas of Raymonda on the opening night...and about 2 days before, we had a big dress rehearsal, and Gelsey and Patrick didn't show up. So, Misha fired them. Then he came up to me and asked "how would you like to go in the place of Gelsey?" and I said "Oh, thank you so much, but, I am very young..I am inexperienced...I...I... I am not ready!" He just laughed at me and said "Oh, you'll be ready". And then he threw me into a studio with Alexander Godunov (!) and there we were -- we went in to rehearse and the next day, we went on.
Kismet! WOW.
Susan Jaffe: And then as this happened, suddenly people were interviewing me, talking about my green eyes, and you know, I had never been described before....and it was like someone was lifting a veil...
That's interesting to describe it this way, because you come out onto the stage in a veil, so that was sort of symbolic.. because this was in a way, this role, this opportunity, was what lifted the veil for you in terms of your career. And what I am also interested in exploring is given that you came from a difficult background, which in turn made you intensely determined....and that the Classics, while based in fairy tales, are at the heart of them, very human & symbolic stories that communicate to people from every walk of life, acting as the stories for all humanity -- representing what we all long for, aspire to and on a personal level, sometimes experience even in our very modern lives -- do you feel that your background, not being as clearly privileged and not being such that you were sort of chauffeured into your career, that you were so independently determined outside of your home circumstances to become a Ballerina....do you feel that this, in some way, helped you?
Susan Jaffe: Oh, Yes! Absolutely...
Did it sort of bring you to a place of thinking, "I have something that I am going to express here", or...
Susan Jaffe: No, not so much in those terms, but what it gave me was The Will to make it happen. The Will to Survive, the Will to make something of my life, because my early years were quite sad. I don't always see that kind of Will today... I mean there is so much talent out there -- HUGE amounts of talent.. but THE WILL to work that hard...to look under every rock and to make it absolutely 1000% the best it can be for that moment in time...
It was your imperative...
Susan Jaffe: It was do or die for me. I don't see that as much anymore.. I mean there are some people ... there's certainly some people out there, who, do or die, they walk into the room, they've thought about what their coach said, they've thought about the corrections, they've thought about their own stuff ...they have digested things... everyday they walk into the room, they are bringing something new. Then there are other people who walk into the rehearsal room and they still have the same placement issues, they don't want to do their variation that day, they are still not using their full capacity, or they may try a correction once and then go on.. ya know..? It's just different.. I mean I would spend HOURS... entire rehearsals dedicated to only the Pique Arabesque in Sleeping Beauty... a whole hour....for weeks on end! Over and over, that one step.
Well that's interesting because you know with a Pique Arabesque... it can be one of those things where the Ballerina is balancing but not present in that balance and not grounded in it to convey a feeling through it... it makes the audience sort of removed from that movement, or from the story.. and then they lose the story, they lose the meaning. It becomes periphery. Plastique. I once nodded off watching the Rose Adagio because I closed my eyes when her balance became so precarious that it made me uncomfortable... and so I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded right off. There are emotional qualities and meanings that can be conveyed in these movements.... that are really, when present, able to make even an imperfect balance beautiful....meaningful.
Susan Jaffe: ABSOLUTELY.
You have to, in a pointe-shoe, to balance in this pose, which essentially is thrusting you forward... well, you have to practice a lot, no?
Susan Jaffe: Well I had to... I had to practice a lot. But nowadays, the talent is so vast out there.. they can do things more easily and naturally and so the actual FIGHT to get there, which requires a certain kind of internal, physical work, which I teach in my class, sometimes this is just not there.
Certainly there are meanings and emotions that need to come through these movements.. Ballet in general is very architectural -- it's really a sort of scaffolding.. quite linear. In general if these movements are not filled with meaning they can look very timid.. or removed from the audience ...
Susan Jaffe: Removed and a little bit empty...
It's just not that interesting in and of itself... you know what I mean? Physically, there is this structure by which emotion and story can be communicated through the form, not just "by the form". My opinion is that simply doing it on the superficial level, is not enough for the Classical Works; you need to go deeper. To find the Art.
Susan Jaffe: Right. There are some people who embrace this method of working deeply, and others who just don't want to go there.. they don't want to push themselves to another level because well, it takes hard work.
And vulnerability...
Susan Jaffe: Vulnerability, hard work and it's...it's a leap of faith. You have to take a leap of faith to know you are going to come out on the other side. Some people feel that they are good how they are, they know their performances will be ok as they are, and ask why they would want to work so hard when they are not sure of how it's going to turn out? Julio Horvath (inventor of Gyrotonics Systems) once said to me, "you have to work really, really hard to understand what freedom means". The more work and power you put into something, the more you eventually come out the other side and understand the freedom that comes from it being truly honed into yourself. You are in control of it for your expressive purposes.
I have one dancer that I work with, you know, she doesn't use her turnout, her back-side is soft.. I mean she is gifted and she relies on her talent, she can do pirouettes and everything, you know.. but she is not getting to the depth of the movement.. everything looks light, very light... almost prancy...it doesn't have MEAT.
It doesn't have that depth of control where you can, as an Artist, make a decision to say something.. to hold the balance in yearning, for example...
Susan Jaffe: Exactly. It's a decision to do this or that...when you are fully developed, you make those decisions.
I have to say that as a student and a performer, this is the most frustrating thing....in terms of wanting to do something with your body and wanting to say something and it simply not being in the body to do.. meaning your body does not agree to do it...which of course can make you seem unmusical,or uninteresting to watch, or weak..or even prancy as you say... mainly because you haven't gone to the depth -- it's not inside. Of course, it may look serviceable, or pretty...but the shallowness translates to the stage. Many times a dancer may be pretty, or "nice", but unable to move an audience emotionally, or to move them to cry out BRAVO!
For me, coming from a background in athletics where you don't hear the word talent as much until you get to an advanced level where you can see who stands out -- and where you are not encouraged to do skills that are just natural....and everyone gets trained with the same set of expectation to become great... well it's different to see how you can progress in this field if you have the major skills naturally, even it there is no working depth behind it.
Susan Jaffe: I try my hardest to get people excited about this deeper way of working... I had a conversation with this girl and she said "when I try to do what you are telling me to do, I feel tense, I feel locked up, like I can't move..." and I said, "that is because you are working externally, you need to go through a period of time where you are struggling to get to the inside of the body and it's not going to feel free at first." And then, after that conversation, she didn't show up to my class for the next few weeks. There is only so much you can accomplish in rehearsal, you've got to do it in class in my estimation. You've got to just commit and you've got to do it for yourself. Then there are those who just want to take anything I have to give and I see them develop instruments that they can use as they want. The instrument is only a tool for the soul, but if you don't develop the instrument, your soul can't speak in full volume.
You certainly can't show musicality when you are struggling internally...
Susan Jaffe: No you can't because the body needs all kinds of different types of energy. If you are not using plié for example, how can you be musical? Even if you are in fact, musical in your ear... it won't translate to your movement.
ON TYPECASTING, RETIREMENT, GISELLE....
You retired in 2002, dancing Giselle. Kisselgoff, said that it was not in your "natural range" but that indeed, by the time you came to retirement, YOU HAD IT ALL! For me I feel that typecasting is so much a part of the ballet world, and I often think that it must be difficult when your soul may be longing to say something outside of your "type". How did you go about getting the powers that be to give you such an incredible range of roles?
Susan Jaffe: I don't know. I definitely had my ups and downs as far as getting cast for things..but I always tried to just rely on my work, hoping that my work would speak for itself. It was very seldom that I asked for things; but I did ask for Manon, and also for Coppelia.
How did it feel to finish your career with Giselle, a role that is not only hailed by the critics as a dramatic powerhouse, but is also highly sought out by Ballerinas across the board?
Susan Jaffe: You know, it was basically an accident that I ended my career with Giselle. I would have preferred to finish with Tatiana, from Onegin, as her character is more deeply connected to my inner being. Giselle just happened to be the last performance I was cast in that season, and I decided after the casting announcement that I would retire that season. I didn’t want to not finish my season, and I thought symbolically, that it was really quite interesting, because at the end of the ballet Giselle says to Albrecht that their love will last forever....even though I was leaving, our love will last forever, so it was a perfect ending. I was happy with that.
Now you are back at ABT as a Ballet Mistress...is it exciting? Do you feel that you are back at home?
Susan Jaffe: Yes, I feel like I am back home. I'm thrilled.
You seem really happy. This, after I had read in an interview that you had said you really didn't want to work in ballet at all after your retirement. How did this change?
Susan Jaffe: At first I didn’t want anything to do with the ballet, but 2 weeks after I retired I was asked to come on board with the Chairman of The Board as an Advisor, so I worked with him and learned how things work from behind the scenes. So I was sitting at a desk and learning email and all of that. Nevertheless, it was maybe 6 months in when I just couldn’t stand sitting in a chair anymore… my hips hurt, everything was starting to hurt. So I said to myself...I actually had an epiphany, this moment… where a thought descended on me as if it was coming from a different source, and I remember it saying “Susan Jaffe! You are so selfish! You have worked with the best dancers in the world of your generation…Baryshnikov, Makarova, Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Macmillan, Jiri Kylian, etc. and here you are sitting on your butt in a chair not passing that along. This is the way this art form gets furthered so WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!"
And I remember thinking, "Ahhhh… I have no choice.. Whatever I think I am doing, I have no choice.." It really was the same as when I chose to dance, I danced because I had to. Now I teach and coach because I have to. So, then John Meehan, who was the new Director of ABT's School, The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet Theatre, came to me and said "Come on Susan, just come and teach once a week”, so I started teaching.
Then, I had another moment that informed me that I would enjoy teaching as a profession. One day, while teaching at the JKO, there was this one boy who was really beautiful, but not trained well and you know, he had a habit of slouching. So, when I walked around the studio, I’d have to pull him up, then a minute later, he would go back to slouching again. The next time I walked around the room, I would have to pick him up again… So, about 3 months later he began to stand up beautifully, and he did a tendu, to the fourth position and proceeded to execute a beauuuuuuuuuutiful triple pirouette, and he stopped and he was just sort of… he didn’t know what to do! He was so excited… and my heart just burst open and I said to myself, "this is one of the coolest things to do in the world!"
Shortly after this, a woman whom I had grown up with at my dance school when I was younger, wanted to open a studio in Princeton, and said, "look, I don’t want to open it without you, you have to...." She sort of strong armed me into going into business with her, and you know I wanted so much to get out of my chair in the office and I thought it would be great to teach more and learn about operating a school. I thought it would be good for me…so I did it. For a few years it was very difficult, as I was going back and forth between Princeton and NY before I moved out there. Yet, it was there that I really fell in love with teaching and choreographing and setting ballets; I’ve choreographed a full length Nutcracker, and also staged things, like Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, etc.
Yes, from your website, you have set a ton of ballets! Your website also notes that you have been choreographing quite a bit... and that you have also been exploring with some Contemporary ideas?
Susan Jaffe: Yes, I have and have been enjoying it immensely. One of my first pieces was created on Texas Christian University dancers, a piece titled, Uncaged… and they gave me an Honorary Doctorate for that -- it is very Contemporary, en Pointe, and using a John Cage score.
That’s a bold choice… the music choice is quite avant garde. I find it interesting that coming from such a Classical Tradition, surrounded by great Classical Artists, where there is usually a sort of disdain or rivalry when it comes to the Contemporary or Modern Works, I think it is quite brave of you to venture into this territory.
Susan Jaffe: Well, after I did my Nutcracker, I thought to myself, "Kylian was a Classicist, and what does he have that I don’t have…. ?? (laughs) "Well, Courage…!" So that is why I decided to start choreographing in this way as well. I started with the John Cage music, and the staff at TCU told me that it was such a strong piece that they wanted to bring it to a Festival because they were really excited by the work… and I also taught the girls at TCU and gave them class everyday and made them stand up & pull up and it was en Pointe, so it was very difficult and very demanding…but we did it.
How did it feel to create that?
Susan Jaffe: It was great and so much fun! And you know I have a piece now I am working on for JKO for the Spring Performance -- it's titled We Insist, using 27 of our students, en Pointe. It’s a large work… very layered…pas de deux, pas de trois, pas de quatre, pas de six and then a Corps. It's pretty huge!
Recently, I read a blog post by a former Dancer, a formidable dancer, (unnamed because they were not contacted for comment) who wrote in praise of Balanchine, stating that not one major ballet has been created since the death of Balanchine, and that while there was some wonderful works by Ratmansky, Forsythe, Wheeldon, etc., none compared to Balanchine in terms of the scope of his work, particularly given his age. He then went on to state that today's Choreographers may be, possibly, only "polished mediocrity". How do you feel about statements such as these, coming from quite informed members of the community? Does it intimidate you at all or do you find this sort of thinking harsh?
Susan Jaffe: I just think that the critics are a bit vicious… they are just looking for a reason to say its not as good as "fill in the blank". For me, more than being harsh, it is uninformed. What amazes me is that Artists are supposed to understand the process, and as such, have the ability to understand how and why things develop as they do.
I find it disheartening -- there is just so much competition for people's attention and culture is moving towards easy, cheaper thrills. Ballet, for me, is one of the only remaining Art Forms that takes you into such a lavish, slower, more polished world -- far away from today's gimmicks -- far from the mere surface of society. The Classical Arts create a world where ideas aren't simply forwarded and brandished, but are symbolised, and infused with not only surface meaning but spiritual & historic meaning. It is one of the only remaining Art Forms where the Artist trains for a decade in near seclusion...behind closed doors, out of the sight of the public eye. Ballet embodies more than simply dancing; it is an entire culture. A 400+ year tradition. So, for me to hear such criticism on those who are TRYING to continue the traditions of this form and make it viable & relevant for today's audiences; who are working under the most extreme fiscal circumstances imaginable...which even penny pinching can't deter; and who, in many cases are not even able to make a living for themselves... as they are literally thrown contracts with little resources to complete them, with harsh deadlines and non-existent budgets, well it just seems an unfair and diminished manner of criticism.
I mean, doesn't it take some time, to develop as a Choreographer, a Master? It seems it may take 20 or 30 pieces to get to a good one. Balanchine worked under the radar for years creating works here and there -- before he ever met Kirstein and crossed the pond! His first work was created during his teenage years, and the works that he created for his initial ensemble The Young Ballet, were considered "too experimental". Yet, even as he was struggling and honing his craft, he had a culture of support, which we certainly DO NOT enjoy during this particular time. Further, he had the personal time to craft and hone his vision. Many of today's choreographers barely have a moment not spent on working to pay the bills, nonetheless the time to dream and craft a vision. I don't believe it's necessarily a lack of talent or vision. Culture plays a role.
Susan Jaffe: Yes, I agree. Balanchine said the same thing you are saying to Robbins…when he was sort of up and coming. He told Robbins to just keep creating, and that "every once in a while, you will make a good one". You absolutely just have to keep working... to do it because you believe in doing it; not to stop because something didn't work as you had planned or because someone didn't like it.
You are coming into ABT now as a Ballet Mistress with such a profound back ground…in terms of your breadth of experience, you have really danced a lot more than just The Classics; your education as an Artist, as a Ballet Mistress, and a Teacher, is really quite prolific. It's something you can see more often in the Modern Community where the dancers have branched out into so many forms, but I feel it is rare to see in the Classical Community. Given that you have had such a formidable Classical Career, to then branch out into the Contemporary World... to attempt a John Cage score....I feel it's daring. Do you ever fear harsh criticism for your choices? Does it make you a nervous wreck? Do you ever worry about being "hung by ye britches to swab de deck"?
Susan Jaffe:: I never went into Ballet worrying about what people thought.. I just had to do it. Now they could say, well, I was this, or that I was that, that they loved the performance, they hated the performance, they loved me as a dancer, they hate me as a dancer, but they have nothing to do with me…they have nothing to do with who I am in my journey, they are just on the outside…they’ve got their own journey…but they have nothing to do with my journey. So if I was dancing to hear what people had to say about me, I wouldn’t be dancing for the right reason. I feel the same about Choreography -- I am choreographing not because I’m wondering what people are going to say about me, but because I need to do this right now. Whether or not I think I have a big talent for it or not -- this has completely nothing to do with it. I am not thinking about it, I just know I need to choreograph right now, and I am having a great time. I am not aspiring to be Balanchine, I just want to choreograph. I am an Artist and I need to be creative.
Do you miss performing at all?
Susan Jaffe: No, not at all. I sometimes will step in for a Cameo when they really, really need someone...but not for any personal need to do so. I prefer not doing that, really. I enjoy being in the studio and it takes a tremendous amount of energy and time. I think its more important for me to be in the studio honing the next generation than being on stage myself, than doing anything for myself.... I mean, I've already done that. I've done it.
And you did it really, really well.
Susan Jaffe: Yes. I did it to The Hilt.
ON THE JOURNEY AS AN ARTIST.....
One thing that I have noticed in the pictures I have seen of you, and in your demeanor in class and in some of your other interviews, such as the one you gave with Charlie Rose... You don’t seem like you have this brooding, tortured soul that many acclaimed artists report having. You are really, refreshingly accessible...present. And bright! You have an air of ease about you.
Susan Jaffe: After my Mom’s death, I spent a lot of years in therapy and also I think dancing, doing all of those roles….I had to face my demons... it was a cathartic experience… and I was looking at the Shadow side, because for me there is never just one side. For Giselle, I looked at her shadow side… also for Lizzie Borden…which was important to me, was very interesting for me....I investigated both the Light and the Shadow side of her character.
Then, for my last 12 years or so of my professional career, I investigated meditation and spirituality quite deeply and let me tell you, meditation grows you up faster than any therapy, because it involves the body, and when trauma is hooked into your psyche, meditation unhooks it. It helps you see your shadow side, it helps you understand how you are meant to walk through the fires, that it is supposed to be a mixture of your light and your dark, and that this mixture creates a very deep, well-rounded human being...a human being that will be capable of understanding pain and understanding joy. And by understanding that pain and allowing it to just be a part of you, rather than driving it deeper inside, you develop compassion & empathy. You realize that the pain is there to be loved and embraced and given space to teach you. By accepting that part of yourself, you are able to accept and embrace others....to help others. And it's ok. It's ok for the dark side to be there…even to walk around with your pain and hold it like it's something you own. I say, to myself, "Hello Pain, it's ok to be here...right next to my joy!" And all of it has a space and it's all there. It's there to develop me and to develop us, as a Human Race. And that is what meditation taught me…. to actually be able to transcend all that pain.. to see that it is something I can transform. This really developed me and so that is, for me, why I don’t have that brooding artist thing, because I accept that I have a shadow, and I am always investigating that and when it pops up, I can say "Oh, here you are again… Welcome." Then, knowing it is there and that it is a part of me I can then show it a bigger vision...I can change my emotional responses -- and as an Alchemist, make them something beautiful and rich.
Well we are nearing the end here and you have a rehearsal to get off to. Any parting thoughts to share with us?
Susan Jaffe: Yes. Something I often share with dancers, particularly about the experience of being nervous… I say to them: energy is "energy" and it is only our minds that think a feeling or a thought is good or bad. It is our minds that judge… so, energy is energy and you can take that nervous energy and say, "thank you so much for being here" because I am now going to take that nervous energy and make it useful and transform it, like an Alchemist, into something positive. For me, the more nervous I was, the more energy I had to work with and I would think, "Oh this is great", I am going to take all this nervous energy and say, "ah, you’re back! but this is where you are going to focus: on the performance.. !" So this is training your mind, because you have to train your mind, to show it a positive, broader view.. And this is the same thing as with a shadow… you can think of it as something that needs attention, so you can hold it and you can help your dark side see a broader view -- to see a better way of using your energy.
This has been an incredibly insightful chat. Thank you so much...enjoy your rehearsal!
Susan Jaffe: Thank you -- it was a great time! A lot of fun!
___________________________________________________________
 |
| Susan Jaffe Rehearsing Lilac Garden Photo By: Paul B. Goode |
For more information on Susan, please visit her Website, Here
You may also view her wonderful interview with Charlie Rose, Here
You may purchase Susan's Children's Book, Becoming A Ballerina, Here
Don't forget about the Dancing, below. (Swan Lake & Onegin)
Brava to both of you! Loved it!
ReplyDeleteLove how it feels like you two are really conversing, it's not a one sided interview. So interesting!
ReplyDelete