Golnaz Taherian | Arts Editor
Featured Image: Milanovski’s fascination with improvisation is rooted in her spontaneous discovery of new skills. | Jessie Whyte
Nina Milanovski, a York University dance alumnus, is a professional dance artist and choreographer based in Toronto. Although Milanovski started dancing at the age of four, she found her passion for it at 14 when she realized she could improvise. She developed as a competitive dancer by training intensively from age 10 to 18.
Milanovski’s passion for improvising got her into choreography. She notes that her fascination with improvisation is rooted in her spontaneous discovery of new skills. She finds the process of uncovering new techniques deeply gratifying.
She choreographed a piece called ‘Uncoupling’ at Dance Matters. ‘Uncoupling’ included two York Alumnae dancers, Victoria Gubiani and Paige Sayles. The inspiration behind creating this piece came from Milanovski’s contemplation of two people attaining deep intimacy, and then breaking apart. The performance was based on contact work, which is a dance movement where dancers share each other’s weight, and are in contact with each other.
Unlike general choreography, which contains long periods of break in between rehearsals, ‘Uncoupling’ was established through a choreography marathon, with only twenty hours of studio time to create and push through obstacles. This intense process contained three to four hours practice in the studio, with a break to see the dancer’s progress. After the break, they returned to the studio for two hours, and then kept on going.
When asked about the most challenging part about her field, Milanovski replies: “Having to constantly be an advocate for what you do. The entire dance field is paid the least amongst all the arts. It’s unfortunate because dancers are like athletes, we train just as much as them just to get where we are. It’s so frustrating to be undervalued in society, especially through the very concrete symbol of money.”
Milanovski is co-producing a show called ‘What Comes Next’ at Artscape Youngplace that will be performed on March 9th and 10th. She is choreographing a piece, “[I]n sight,” in which a diverse cast of six dancers will be performing. Each producer will articulate their own story and put the dancers under the spotlight.
As a choreographer, Milanovski has a collaborative approach. She gives dancers the rule that they must perform a certain thirty moves in a particular order, but they can interpret everything how they want. She takes these six dancers’ interpretations and makes different phrases out of them. Her aim with this show is to push her dancers to dance as themselves and give them the opportunity to make choices.
Lighting also plays a key factor in this piece. She notes that the production classes in York helped her to understand how light works—knowledge which she incorporate into her show.
“There’s no making it. You are constantly working and applying. You always have to work hard for things you like and it’s never gonna be easy. Also, take care of yourself because burning out is very real and it happens.” She replies on her advice for aspiring dancers.
