"The work is called 'Screen Play,'" Bokaer said. "I chose that title because of a number of reasons. I work a lot with media to re-frame choreography and different strategies of choreography and it struck me that a screenplay is a form of a text, it's also normally narrative. And the dances that I make are normally not narrative, so this is the sort of dance where the choreography flirts with narration but never quite becomes a story."
Bokaer said he hopes the ensemble members will enjoy performing the commissioned work.
"I just hope they have fun with the piece," he said. "It makes unusual use of props and structure and they've been very smart in tackling it."
In addition to choreographing, Bokaer taught the ensemble's rehearsals five nights a week during his residency, which began Feb. 16 and ended March 7.
Bokaer praised the ensemble members for their commitment, describing them as "highly motivated."
"My impression is that it is a very strong dance ensemble," he said. "I think that there is real talent in the room. I work in an unusual way, and they've definitely been willing to meet me there, so I'm glad for that. I think that some of them -- if they're interested in pursuing professional work -- they should be encouraged to do so."
Bokaer was previously in residence at the College in October 2007 as a member of the Cunningham company when Cunningham was a Montgomery Fellow.
Bokaer also worked with the ensemble in fall 2008 during its trip to New York City, which aimed to let the ensemble members experience the world of professional dance -- a world often lacking in resources, Boaker said. The students slept in the Chez Bushwick studio in Brooklyn, a studio created by Bokaer that provides inexpensive practice space for artists. The studio was converted from an industrial building and stands on a street with factories and abandoned lots. Since its inception in 2002, the fee to use the studio has been $5 per hour, according to Bokaer.
"I feel that dance in the United States is faced with a series of economic challenges, but it's not the first time that's happened," he said. "Artists, producers and professionals in the field are having to think about things differently and find other strategies for existing."
Chez Bushwick was one of 16 recipients of the 2008 NYC Cultural Innovation Fund award from the Rockefeller Foundation. The grants, usually between $50,000 and $250,000, are awarded over a two-year period for cultural groups to develop community art projects.
Part of Chez Bushwick's mission is also to foster communication between different artistic fields, Bokaer said, explaining that dance is becoming more interdisciplinary. Bokaer often works with computer technology, generating videos with virtual dancers. He also choreographs more collaborative pieces that include other art forms.
"So I think we're seeing less of a pure dance aesthetic and more of a collaborative impulse," he said. "Movement for actors and acting for dancers are things that are very important, so those things go hand-in-hand."
Bokaer said that he has always been motivated to dance. Born in Ithaca, N.Y., he performed initially with Ithaca Ballet. He said he received a great deal of encouragement from his father, a filmmaker, and his mother, a theater director who cast her son in several of her productions. His maternal grandfather was the stage actor Arthur Lithgow, who also founded several arts festivals and directed many plays.
Bokaer studied contemporary dance performance at the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2000. During his eight years with the Cunningham company, Bokaer took classes in media and visual studies at The New School.
