Elizabeth Flynn of Verb Ballets

A dancer and board of trustees member of Verb Ballets, Elizabeth Flynn began her career in her home state of Massachusetts, dancing with Barbara Siebert and graduating from UMass Amherst with a BFA in Dance. She then moved to New York and trained at the Alvin American Dance Center and the Paul Taylor School. Flynn then became a founding member of Cortez & Company, a company founded by Verb Ballets’ Artistic Director Hernando Cortez in 1996.

After relocating to Cleveland in 2002, Flynn began performing with the Cleveland Repertory Project (CRT) which later became Verb Ballets when Cortez took it over. Dance Magazine recently called Verb one of “25 To Watch” on the national stage, and it isn’t any wonder. The company has gained momentum and is garnering some great local, regional and national recognition; to that end, Verb proudly sold out their Playhouse Square debut at the Ohio Theater recently.

It’s been said ballet dancers share a reputation with models: beautiful to look at, graceful to watch... but often without meaningful things to say. Not so with the incisive Flynn – her wisdom and tête-à-tête surpassed only by her remarkable dance talent and skill. Cool Cleveland recently spoke to her about Verb, the Big Apple, discipline, choreography and what forges that competitive edge.

Cool Cleveland: Outside of New York, only a few major modern ballet companies combine original choreography and the caliber of repertory work that Verb does. That’s quite an accomplishment, when you consider the condition CRT was in before you and Hernando arrived here.
Elizabeth Flynn: Very proud of that. It was always Hernando’s dream and vision to have a repertory company. He always created his own work in New York, but wanted to be able to do other choreographers’ work and some of the classic American work that was historical in nature. Turning the [CRT] around and shaking things up was really very exciting… hopefully, the growing support that’s out there for Verb will cause people to want to come here to study and train.

Any inherent pressure in being the only ballet company in Cleveland?
Yes, there’s always that pressure to make it survive and get people back to being interested in what was once a thriving ballet scene – with a world-class company – for a very long time. There were a lot of hurt feelings and burned bridges when the [Cleveland] Ballet left that we wanted to mend. But we’re also not your standard ballet company, either, so there’s definitely a coaxing process. We’re not going to replace the Ballet, but we’re a strong draw as people continue to embrace something new and completely different. You’re never going to see Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, or some overly large cast with us. We’re going to be eight… twelve… sixteen at the largest.

You’ve said that living and working in New York, the world capital of dance, gives people a “different edge" from which to operate. How so?
Talk about pressure. It’s so much higher in New York, there are so many dancers out there that 400 girls show up to audition for one position... there are classmates competing and rivalries and everyone’s out there giving their personal best all the time. The pace is quicker. That’s how it is. Everyone’s hustling, 24/7 and 24 hours later you could be on stage. It can happen that fast.

Sounds intense. What advantage does working in Cleveland provide?
Opportunity. Being able to accomplish those “personal bests.” A lot of that probably wouldn’t happen in New York. Getting to work with Hernando, a wonderful choreographer who gets to create more here… that’s a huge benefit. I love being here for the work I have been able to do, and the parts that I’ve been able to dance. I get to do what I want to do – roles of a lifetime, basically – in the context of the company’s mission, which also helps the longevity of my career.

What were your first impressions of Cleveland when you arrived here?
The sparseness of downtown. Nobody lives there. No urban culture. And driving everywhere, getting in and out of the city. Living in New York for 14 years, I was used to the flexibility and community of my neighbors – you run into people much more often. It was an adjustment to the culture; it’s not as rapid-fire. You’d meet people who were cool and funky and at the end of the night, everyone would scatter to the suburbs. It just struck me as strange. Eye-opening.

At that moment, did Cleveland feel more like a layover than a hub?
(laughs)

Is there one key thing that could be implemented to improve Cleveland’s dance community and perhaps make it a hub, so to speak?
The existence of a dance school or center that would help dancers improve their work – something with strong ballet and contemporary arms. Cleveland is actually a pretty intellectual town and there’s a wealth of knowledge here as it relates to arts education and dance. Attracting people to come here and train is the best way to perpetuate that culture – you’d have a great younger community starting up and getting connected by taking advantage of that knowledge. And it would make the other companies in town strive as well.

What’s it like being on the inside of a vibrant, respected dance troupe, and can Robert Altman’s “The Company” even begin to sum up the intimacy of it?
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. It’s tenuous. Artists are emotional. You’re out there, you’re exposed and pushing your body to its limit. Then there’s the recovery… It’s a hard process. Only [Joffrey] are on the road thirty weeks out of the year and make most of their money touring.

It’s like being a rock star! There’s a quote attributed to Twyla Tharp that dance “is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider” and “you have to be either hopelessly passionate, or very stupid” to pursue it. Is it really that cut and dried?
Twyla’s kind of harsh, but you have to be extremely passionate and love what you do or there’s no point in doing it. It’s painful, strenuous, exhausting and emotionally torturous. If you like it a lot, you might be able to get away with doing more commercial stuff for a while. But to really follow dance all the way to the end, you have to be in love with it or forget it.

What sparked your interest in dance, and how early did you begin to study?
Arts always played an important role in our family; my brother is a musician. There was definitely an air of creativity and artistry in all of us. I always knew I wanted to dance. I didn’t get into serious training until I was 16 or 17 years old, so I had a lot of catching up to do to the other kids who had started much younger. But I was always dancing and creating and making up my own dances, so it was a natural extension to me. It was like, “Oh, this makes sense!”

How did you feel about the discipline and regimen at the time, and how did you maintain your drive for the years that achievement in ballet takes?
I love that. The function, the form. Technique. It’s building a machine, really...I just love the structure of it. It’s all really sophisticated. I always enjoyed reaching and aspiring to such a high level and pushing my body to always do a little more. I love a good math problem. The physics, anatomy, physiology and the science related to the movement of the human body was like candy to me.

You began choreographing through “Fresh Inventions” and your first work premiered in Las Vegas this past June, created for the amazing Dancing Wheels troupe. Were you pleased with the results?
It was good, like visiting an old friend. I had done a lot of choreographing everything from short numbers, to performances in high school theater department. In college, I concentrated on science and technique but I did a couple pieces a year that were based on concepts. The work with Dancing Wheels was a lot harder to do, because of the vocabulary. The translation of movements from a stand-up to sit-down dancer was challenging. But it gave me so many more tools to work with.

Dance takes its toll on the body. I hear a lot about snapping hip syndrome, arthritis, and tendonitis. That’s quite a hit parade. When dance becomes too physically demanding, will you move more toward choreography, or instruction?
I think about that all the time...I am trying to be very conscious of things that interest me for when I decide to walk away from dance. It would likely be something that is still very much around dance. Choreography, more musical theater work – I really enjoy that. But at the same time, I really love being on the [Verb] Board of Trustees, knowing the arts community side of it and how people come together and make things happen. Maybe as an Executive Director somewhere, but I’ll find a way to keep dance in my life in the least painful way.

Interview by Cool Cleveland Copy Editor Peter Chakerian peter_chakerian@yahoo.com

Image by David Wolber (:divend:)