How To Build A Universe is the latest production from choreographer Jamaal Burkmar. Formed of two parts, How To Build A Universe showcases Extended Play’s creative process: visually striking, mesmerising dance to intoxicating music, and improvisation with guest participants. Through a collision of music and movement, audiences are invited to uncover the elemental joy at the heart of Extended Play’s practice. Book tickets to see How To Build A Universe at The Place here.
A resident of Leeds, Jamaal Burkmar’s first creation was as a second year student at the Northern School for Contemporary Dance (NSCD) where he created a piece entitled Ocean. The work gained critical acclaim, was performed around the North until it became the first and only undergraduate commissioned to rework the piece for VERVE the postgraduate company at NSCD.
His work is about music, it’s about the world that music creates and the world that our performers inhabit because of that. In 2021 Jamaal became one of 10 new Workplace artists at The Place and has since created and toured Donuts, co-produced by The Place. Jamaal is a Work Place Artist at The Place.
The inclusion of local dancers who join the performance without rehearsal adds an exciting element of spontaneity. How did this concept come about, and what challenges and rewards does it bring to the creative process?
I was working with Phoenix Dance Theatre towards the end of 2020 in the odd little period where we were moving out of lockdown and in and out of tiers. I initially was tasked with helping the company create new work and help with the reworking of some previous pieces before lockdown. It was pretty apparent as soon as we all got in the studio though, that they and I all needed a chance to refind ourselves in the studio. Very slowly and without much notice, this improvisation process started to form in front of my eyes. During one of the weeks that we were exploring this process, the Rehearsal Director at the time Joanne Bernard, had to bring her son into rehearsals as he couldn’t be at school. From Monday to Friday, her son moved from completely uninterested to completely invested and ended up dancing around the studio with the dancers. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLgwtJLnLjN/
As soon as I decided I wanted to turn this process into a piece of work, I knew it had to have this element of participation as part of it.
Your work is described as a celebration of creation and spontaneity. How do you balance the structured choreography with the spontaneous elements to create a cohesive and engaging performance?
I describe the show as a “show about making shows” and ultimately that thread links through the structured choreography and the improvisation. It’s all about serving the greater good. All about paying service to the “thing” that we’re building together. I think that thread helps to tie all the different elements together… at least for me anyway.
The show involves dancers creating a new universe. Can you elaborate on how movement and choreography contribute to conveying the narrative?
I think the beginning of the show feels like a writer opening an empty notepad or staring at a blank white page on a laptop. Every cut and thrust on stage feels like an attempt at putting words together to create a story but not necessarily in any way that makes sense just yet. I think the movement and choreography are sequences of attempts, but not yet the complete narrative.
What do you want the audience to leave thinking or feeling?
No idea… I don’t feel like that’s up to me. I know what it means to me. I think I just wanted to make something I thought was good. I’m happy if other people want to tell me what it means.
As a Work Place Artist at The Place, how has being part of the unique associate artist program influenced your growth as a choreographer, and how does it contribute to the innovative aspects of your work with Extended Play?
I love any moment I get to sit into the back of my brain rather than at the front of it and see what’s bouncing around in that space. Being able to just listen to others and offer back is a kind of unquantifiable resource I know I’ll always need.