Boston Globe: Heather Myers

Now she's calling the shots

By Karen Campbell, Globe Correspondent | March 2, 2008

She's a second soloist, not a star. But Heather Myers has been given the rare chance to choreograph a major piece for her fellow Boston Ballet dancers. "Very nice," says choreographer Heather Myers with a big smile and a delicate little clap of the hands. It's the first day of full run-throughs for Boston Ballet's "Next Generation" program of contemporary ballets, and her piece, despite one leap's botched landing (because of a too-long pair of pants), has gone well.

The dancers seem to know it. As they huddle quietly for notes, you can see satisfaction etched in their faces, along with relief and fatigue - most are dancing in at least two works in the program, which runs Thursday through March 9 at the Citi Wang Theatre.

But unlike other creators of pieces in "Next Generation" - Helen Pickett, Sabrina Matthews, and resident choreographer Jorma Elo - Myers views her performers through a distinctly intimate lens. She happens to be a second soloist in Boston Ballet's company. So the dancers in her new work, "Gone Again," are more than tools for her artistic vision. They're her colleagues, her "family," as she calls them, and the process of creating the piece, which Boston Ballet commissioned for this world premiere, is not just professional. It's personal.

One might expect that process to get awkward at times, especially as "Gone Again" is Myers's first piece for a major ballet company, and she's working with dancers more experienced and senior in company rank.

"I was a little concerned at first working with principal dancers I've looked up to since I joined the company," Myers admits. "But I've tried to be very respectful. Whenever I correct them, I make it more about what I want for the look than suggesting that they need to dance in a different way. I really want to utilize what they have and bring that out. I know them so well, I can draw them out physically and emotionally, and it's more enriching because it's personal."

Compounding Myers's challenges is the fact that in "Next Generation," she's dancing, too - performing in the world premiere of Pickett's "Eventide" and in a short "event" piece by Elo that features all the evening's creators. (Elo's "In on Blue" will also get its world premiere, and Matthews's "Ein von Viel" will have a company premiere.)

Between creating, rehearsing, and performing, it's a lot of juggling for Myers, both mental and physical. On her toughest days, she's had to shift gears with the precision of a Grand Prix driver.

"I'd have a dancing rehearsal, a rehearsal for my piece, another dancing rehearsal, a lunch talk to the set designer, another dancing rehearsal, a meeting with the costumer, then go home and prepare material for the next day," she says. "It's exhausting, really a balancing act to make things work and gauge my energy."

Calm, focused, thoughtful

In rehearsal, the petite 28-year-old doesn't cut a particularly commanding figure, clad in leotard, baggy sweatpants, and enormous puffy slippers that squeak and swish as she demonstrates movements. Myers's style is soft-spoken, understated.

"She's very calm about her work, very focused, very thoughtful," says principal dancer Romi Beppu, who will perform in "Gone Again." "She really got our individual styles of movement. And she comes to rehearsal with a plan, which makes it easier for the dancers. . . . It's like we're kind of a team. She doesn't have any ego issues. But she's not a pushover. She's assertive and very dedicated."

It's those relationships with fellow company members that may just give Myers a home-court advantage. Even a casual visitor can see the respect and affection at play in rehearsal, as the choreographer tweaks movements. There's an easy collaborative give and take. When soloist Rie Ichikawa questions one sequence, another soloist, Kathleen Breen Combes, reminds Myers about a missing step. "Yes, now we can put that back in," Myers says, demonstrating the reinstated chasse.

"They will tell me if they think something doesn't work," Myers explains. "Though they're very good about trying to stick to what I'm going for, they'll say it's easier to do with the left leg or right leg, or maybe it would be better on a diagonal. And I think that's really important, because in the end, whatever is more natural and they look better doing makes the piece look better. Even though I'm the choreographer, the dancers are the ones creating and in control when the work is happening onstage. . . . I think experimenting with the dancers is vital to creating things I didn't expect."

Myers says she often tapes herself improvising to generate raw movement material, and that with "Gone Again," the choreography "shaped itself around the music." An abstract work for three couples, "Gone Again" is set to the luminous, elegiac Andante of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet, a work the composer wrote just after learning his health was seriously declining.

The dance takes its tone from the music, but its long, elegant lines, sweeping turns, and soaring lifts seem less about grim finality than the freedom of letting go. Myers complements graceful pointe work and intricate, intimate partnering with sweet, subtle gestures. The most poignant ends the piece: As Combes walks off stage with dancer Raul Salamanca, she reaches out with a gentle grasp of the hand, as if trying to catch a butterfly before it flits away.

Privilege and responsibility

Myers began choreographing as a student. "I can actually remember trying to set dances on my friends when we were only 10 or so and then in a more structured setting at professional ballet schools," she says. Born in Calgary, Alberta, she trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and National Ballet School, then danced for four years with Alberta Ballet. That's where she met future Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen, who was leading the Canadian company.

Nissinen brought Myers to Boston Ballet as a corps member in 2002, and she was promoted to second soloist in 2004. Her first big choreographic opportunity came in 2006 during a Boston Ballet-associated workshop, "Raw Dance."

"That got me over that first hump of fear, and I really loved it," she recalls. "The process is really scary, but there's something driving me to be creative." She soon choreographed a piece for Boston Ballet II, "Found," which was performed in "Dance on the Top Floor," an independently produced local showcase of contemporary ballet, and then in Boston Ballet's "Night of Stars" gala last fall.

The opportunity to be a commissioned choreographer in a major company's subscription program is a huge step up for Myers. And the chance to choreograph a substantial piece for top-notch performers while the challenges of scheduling, finding rehearsal space, costuming, and lighting are largely taken care of is rare.

"It's like a wonderland," Myers says. "It's such a privilege to have these beautiful, talented dancers. I get to do whatever I want and not have to worry about all the practical stuff."

The flip side is the pressure. "It's a lot of responsibility and nerves," she says. "I don't want to let anyone down."

Nissinen isn't concerned about how Myers is handling it. "She's a tough cookie," he says. "I haven't seen any cracks." He describes Myers as smart, ambitious, and "just about the most professional dancer I've ever seen. She's a dream to choreograph on. She knows every detail. Whenever I work with her she gets it quick and implements it. . . . When I came here, it was an obvious choice to bring such an example into the company."

He remembers the first Boston Ballet program under his direction, which featured William Forsythe's fiendishly difficult "In the middle, somewhat elevated." When someone had to drop out because of injury, Myers stepped in. "She went in and knew everything, didn't make any mistakes, and she was fantastic, totally focused. A friend of mine compared her to Violette Verdy" - the legendary New York City Ballet prima donna and former Boston Ballet co-artistic director. "She has fantastic intensity and ability."

But hiring Myers as a dancer and commissioning her as a fledgling choreographer are two very different leaps of faith. "I looked at all her workshop pieces, and she understands structure, she picks good music, and she brings classical ballet and contemporary ballet into one," Nissinen says. "She's done very mature works for the workshops and Boston Ballet II. I wanted to give her the opportunity. . . . We need new choreographic voices."

Nissinen praises Myers's choreography for its craftsmanship and musicality. "She knows how to move groups and how to link movements," he says. "There's a liquid, quicksilver quality that really flows well. There's a lot going on between the characters, and a really clear hum with the score."

Myers says she tries to not emulate anyone as a choreographer, but stylistically she is drawn to the works of some of the European contemporary masters - Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Mats Ek. "I think that I am still developing my own style, but I feel that a voice comes easily when you are genuinely trying to convey a feeling or message," she says. "I would like to go further, in the future, with challenging my creativity."

She's not looking to trade in her toe shoes for a director's chair any time soon, though. For Myers, choreography and dancing are part of the same impulse, one that is both artistic and humanistic.

"Nothing can replace performing, but nothing can replace creating an expression of your ideas," she says. "Part of the reason I like dancing is that I want to affect people. Being a choreographer, you really get to sink your teeth into that aspect of it. It's wonderful to make something out of nothing, to create something beautiful." © Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

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