By Rachel F. Elson
Published in the December 2011/January 2012 issue.
This may come as a bit of a surprise: The woman who choreographed Madonna’s music video for “Vogue” says she doesn’t care about poses.
For choreographer Karole Armitage, single silhouettes are just points on a line. “I’m not interested in positions, I’m interested in the path between them,” explains Armitage, who is known as much for her eclectic movement style as for her collaborations with artists ranging from Jeff Koons to Jean-Paul Gaultier.
The onetime “punk ballerina” has spent the last seven years developing her own contemporary ballet company, Armitage Gone! Dance, in New York City. Her 10 highly distinctive dancers represent six nationalities and eight languages, and range from just over five feet to close to seven. But as diverse as they are, ballet is both their common vocabulary and point of departure.