Chanel DaSilva and Cristina Spinei: Behind the Scenes
In anticipation of our November 30 opening at The Joyce, we connected with Chanel DaSilva and Cristina Spinei, the choreographer and composer of On The Other Side, one of five premieres on this season’s roster. Throughout the conversation, their joy in working together came through so well. Here’s some of what they said.
DaSilva and Spinei met in 2006 when they were students at The Juilliard School and were part of the Choreographers and Composers Plus (ChoreoComp) program that encouraged students to reach beyond their disciplines to collaborate with those in other fields. For Cristina, it was the first time she had worked with a choreographer, and she was so energized by the interaction, that after Juilliard, she went on to receive commissions from such companies as Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Nashville Ballet. “I grew up with dreams of becoming a ballerina,” Cristina said, “and ended up devoted to musical movement.”
Since graduating from Juilliard, Chanel, too, has had an amazing career. She first caught the attention of David Parsons in 2014 when she staged a Trey McIntyre piece on our company. David was so impressed with her talent that he has followed her work ever since. “I believe in your voice,” he once told her. That belief ultimately led her to become the Parsons Dance 2021 GenerationNow fellow, which gave her the chance to create On The Other Side.
For the music, she turned to Cristina, whose piano and marimba score, performed live, provides the perfect backdrop for her choreography. Their process was purely collaborative—they built the work together, with Chanel first providing movement samples and Cristina creating instrumentation for them. Throughout the process, Cristina watched rehearsals and both tweaked their work to create the final piece, which displays the combined talents of these remarkable artists.
Join us to experience On The Other Side. Please note that those attending the 8pm performance on Saturday, December 4 will have the chance to see Cristina Spinei play piano live!