♪♪ ♪♪ When you're creating a work, it's like making a baby.

♪♪ ♪♪ Art is a form of intelligence and it can be developed, and it's linked to intuition, and it's something that all humans have.

I want to work with geniuses.

♪♪ There came a point in my life where I had to make a decision.

I was fascinated by many things and I thought, what can I commit myself to that I think will fascinate me for years and that I won't cheat on?

And it was dance.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Come here.

There's something deeper.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I saw a performance of the company before I auditioned and was completely blown away and impressed and moved.

And so, at that point, I knew that I wanted to try to work with them.

And a few years -- a few years later, I auditioned, and then I got the job.

♪♪ King: I want a human being who brings their whole life experience to something, all of their brilliance on every level.

I don't want an empty cup that's waiting to be filled with ideas.

You know, I want a partner, so that we can create something together.

I actually saw the company perform when I was younger, still a student, and I remember being completely changed after that performance, just never having seen people move that way.

And I was so kind of fascinated and couldn't figure out how they -- how they were doing it, and that really intrigued me because it was kind of mysterious.

♪♪ ♪♪ There's a place where, Michael, over her back, I need him to put his foot.

[ Indistinct ] Yes.

I also want to...

When Laurel goes over, I want to see more feet on his back.

So it's more foot, foot, foot.

So I see more imprints.

And that when Michael is partnering her, he kind of looks at her and I need it to be, um, softer and not so aimed at -- ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Webster: To come to a place where we're asked to be equal partners in the creation, and sometimes given even more responsibility than that... was very different and scary at first.

He wants your voice just to come in and match with the choreography.

So yeah, we get to explore and we have that freedom to create and play with the music and change things.

And, I mean, as a dancer, that's the greatest gift you can have.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I was really bored with the classical work and I wanted to do something that is more interesting and that allows people to be themselves on the stage or the class or the theater, and that allows myself to express myself how I wanted to do it.

♪♪ ♪♪ It's very important to be able to be... vulnerable and ugly, and still ethereal and elegant at the same time.

Those kind of contrasting ideas really resonate, hopefully, to the audience.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Sparse, discordant sounds ] [ Clanging ] I think what's so unique about Alonzo's work is that on the one hand, each dancer is their own artist and he allows them to be, in my mind, their own artist, and he really pushes them and challenges them to find their... their kind of internal strengths.

I mean, anybody who wants to build something or work with people, what do you want?

You want the best people.

Haas: The piece begins with the delicacy of these thousands and thousands of thin elastic cords, which in the one moment seem like almost like a veil, like a curtain, but then you begin to see it manipulated and transformed by the dancers.

And the second act is a larger piece.

It's very heavy, it's cardboard.

I think both pieces were meant and designed in such a way that they challenge the audience's perception of architecture or materiality between heaviness and lightness.

[ Sparse, discordant sounds ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Whooshing crescendos ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The dancers' reaction to the sets was very enthusiastic.

I think it was very different for them, something very new to them and something that they wanted to be challenged by and explore.

[ Indistinct conversation ] Yes.

Exactly.

Yes.

-All right.

-All right, quiet on the set.

Roll 17, "Squinches," Laurel and Courtney, take three, mark.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Haas: I think that the audience often reacts very differently to his work because it touches everyone in a very different place, but it touches us very deeply and I feel there's very few artists in the world actually who really manage to evoke the kind of deep emotional reaction that Alonzo's work manages to draw out of people.

The work is very inspiring, and I think that's what makes Alonzo such a unique artist.

A work of art is a work of an intuitive knowing that's inside of a human being to whatever degree.

Art is within us.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Never the whole picture is given in a box to us, so there's always some... some extrapolation that happens when we take the movement from him and put it in our own bodies.

It's not really a rule so much as just sort of embodying different shapes and ideas and, sort of, we get to create our own sort of input or our own voice into the movement.

So it's less of a role and more of, like you said, more of ideas, moving ideas.

I think that movement is the principal expression of life.

[ Discordant, percussive music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ King: When you see dancers who have intention about what they're doing and there's meaning in what they're doing, it's an example for us of how life can be lived.

So that kind of being in the moment is really the essence of great dancing.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Dance is my favorite thing to do.

It gives me a feeling of freedom and I can -- I can hide in it, or I can -- in movement, I can -- But just to be able to express myself through my body, it's -- I think it's a gift to have this, and I...

This -- I feel like I haven't had a choice.

I -- I've just been born -- I was born a dancer.

Dance to me means... Life, really -- like, it's sharing something...

It's sharing yourself with others.

It's like a give and take between you and whoever's watching.

In verbal communication, I'm speaking to you.

It's very direct and it's very at you, and you're just taking in what I'm saying.

Whereas if I'm, like, moving my body and trying to tell you something throughout movement, you're interpreting whatever you're getting from this.

In every part of my body, there's no duality.

I'm not smiling at you and then looking at my cell phone; I'm present right in the moment with every cell in my being.

And so it's a heightened sense of awareness.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Filming operas, plays and ballets always meets the same problem.

It's something which is being made for the moment in a certain space, and to take it out of that space and put it on a different space, and television in a way is a -- is a two-dimensional space.

So it's a lot -- it's a lot less interesting than actually being in a three-dimensional space like -- like the theater is.

And, you know, we never -- [ Indistinct chatter ] I -- I would think about moving you, you know, here.

-Yeah.

-You know And maybe you can actually focus on David as well, because we hadn't David on his own.

♪♪ Set up, please, in five.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Of course, it's a lot more exciting to go to a studio and kind of recreate the ballets in a different setting, in a different atmosphere so we can actually use the cameras in a different way.

We can actually sort of do it in a more filmic way.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I don't like it so much.

I don't mind the angle.

Or if it comes from up or down or it looks pretty or no, I want to see the dancers living in that moment and I can see a flood, I don't need to see close ups or anything because at the end it's just a whole picture.

There's the balancing act of wanting to get great visuals, but also keep the melody of the narrative and the choreography present.

I can catch that for them with the camera, on that kind of mystery that exists there.

That's something I would -- I really find interesting.

And that's, for me, the biggest task in this -- in this work.

Woman: I mean, what was hard was to wait and then, you know, to kick it.

♪♪ It's always enriching to -- to see a different view of -- of, you know, different way of working in front of the camera.

And I have to say, I kind of like live theater better.

But, hey, you know, I'm glad I, you know, now I can say I've experienced that.

So I'm happy.

When you see an artist on stage, their presence alone is speaking to you because it's larger than life.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Music fades, indistinct stage directions ] Man: All right.

Not too crazy on the smoke.

If you ask a dancer, "When was your greatest dancing?"

And almost 99% will say it was when I felt I was being danced.

Most of us have this constant chatter in our brain, like a neurotic roommate who you want to shut up.

It goes on and on.

But in art-making and stillness, it quiets down and you step into a larger place.

That's part of why primordial groups, they get in circles and dance to go into trance.

Why?

Because you step into your larger self.

It's a great feeling.

We're here to change ourselves, not to change others, to change ourselves.

But by changing yourself, you can change others.

And that's what dancers do.

From an early age, they have an image and a vision of how they want to be and what they want to become and how they want to move.

And they work for that, minute by minute, meticulously, for years, until they become what they saw in their head.

Man: In this shot with the sidelights, the balloons are not in.

So we shouldn't worry about the contrast of the balloons.

In the shots we're looking at now, these balloons are up.

So I'll give you a different look for when the balloons are in.

So let's switch to the balloon look with the spots.

-Man: I mean, thoughts.

-I like it.

I like it, too.

Let's move on.

Okay.

So we'll buy this as cue one.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ King: When I was a kid, I was always moving and interested in a lot of things.

When I would watch adults, it would seem to me that what was coming out of their mouth and the way that their body was moving or being held were two different things.

The body seemed to hold a truth in it that the words did not.

♪♪ [ Intermittent child's laughter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ King; Watching people move, the way that they held themselves, the energy that came out of them became a way for me to see what's really behind appearances.

And I had a pretty good accuracy as a kid.

It's not as sharp as it was, actually.

And later on, when I began formal training, because I loved the idea of movement, it began to be a way for me to also communicate ideas to others.

He speaks about the movement language and how it always has to have intention and meaning.

And if you're moving your body and it doesn't mean anything, then why are you trying to speak to them?

He wants you to come out of your shell and to show yourself.

And it's -- it takes a lot of bravery to do that.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ His style is... earthy, um, like, you are seeing -- it's natural, you're seeing something that you -- anyone will recognize in a relationship between two people or something one person does in a solo.

They -- that they -- "Oh, I -- that's something I understand and is moving, or makes me laugh or makes me uncomfortable."

It's very much...

It's human.

It's human -- with a classical line.

And you see that these dancers are -- are trained, but there's something very recognizable and human about the the style.

Everything has intention and everything means something.

And he has -- he has his own way with words.

And I find them to be very striking and very heartfelt.

And I really appreciate his vulnerability and honesty with his words.

So, what happens in that relationship is the dancer has choreography, and like a singer, they sing the song.

So in a sense, I'm a lyricist, that I'm writing lyrics and I need a really good singer to sing this song.

And they want to sing the song so that it becomes the definitive; so that no one else could approach the song because they'll say, "She got it!"

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ He -- he definitely asks a lot of us, more so than I think most other directors or choreographers would.

He gives us an idea to work with and he'll ask you to repeat whatever he does, and then he'll step away and you'll do it by yourself and he'll say, "Do it again, and then add your own flavor."

You want them to make choices.

That is the brilliance of being a human being.

They have choices, they don't want to be an automaton.

Usually as a dancer, we're told what to do quite a bit of the time -- what steps and how to do the steps, even in my experience as a dancer.

But I've joined this company and I'm being asked to be more creative and be creative all the time with the steps.

And so that's really a challenge.

You can really see how passionate he is about the way he works.

Like, it's a -- it's a lifestyle, it's a philosophy.

Like, it's not just the steps or just dance, like, it's something so much bigger.

So, he works very...

I don't know -- very, like, detail oriented and also very personally.

[ Indistinct chatter ] [ Indistinct chatter ] [ Choral music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ King: It's the most difficult time for most artists, is that -- that transition from the studio to the stage, it's just not fun.

I would say that it's a mistake for people who rush to premieres.

They should wait!

[ Laughs ] You know, wait till after it's open for a while so that it can really live and you can see what it is.

With each successive performance, their understanding becomes deeper because something is penetrating more, or they're -- they're feeling larger in the role -- so it changes.

And that's a wonderful and interesting thing to see.

[ Light electronic music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Music ends ] [ Light electronic music ] ♪♪ We can't...

They're being trained to open their heart, turn out, open, to open the heart and to expand the mind.

That's the real training.

You know, legs and feet and jumping, you know, give somebody of average intelligence and a good body, you can get them to do that.

But for the big growth, it's expansion in the heart, expansion in the brain.

So, the heart, when it's big, includes others.

You feel what other people are feeling.

You feel a connection to them.

[ Rattling, music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ King: The goal of art is higher than art.

Isn't that beautiful?

The goal of this discipline is to find out who you are so that you become... a human masterpiece.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Music ends ] [ Rattling, music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪