Wonderbound dancer Sarah Tallman is from Greeley, trained in Fort Collins and statewide in addition to her national training, and established her home as one of the founding dancers of Denver-based contemporary ballet company Wonderbound. Now in her tenth season with the company, Sarah has performed leading roles in many of Artistic Director Garrett Ammon’s ballets, and, in recent years, has been choreographing for the company as well. This February, Tallman will debut new choreography for Wonderbound’s “Love.” She has produced 7 ballets thus far. In addition to her full time work as a professional dancer, Tallman is also a teacher at the Colorado Conservatory of Dance in Broomfield. Her ability to teach, choreograph, and dance speaks to a disciplined, versatile mind. I asked Tallman a few questions about her piece for the ballet, Intimate Letters.
Tell me about the choreographic process. Where do you draw inspiration? Do you have a general idea as you go into the studio to work?
The choreographic process for this particular ballet has been very different for me. The Confluence String Quartet gathered several post modern string quartets that I had the opportunity to choose from. All of them were beautiful, but I was drawn to and slightly familiar with Leos Janacek’s “Intimate Letters”, and was delighted that this piece was in their repertoire. The composition is deliciously scattered, intense, and in some cases a bit cacophonous, all of which I find exhilarating and challenging. I immediately began researching as much as I could find about Janacek, the time in which he wrote the music and, and the sociological climate of Czechoslovakia (Janacek is Czech). String Quartet No. 2 is named Intimate Letters for the 722 letters he wrote to his “mistress” over the course of 10 years. In the last 16 months of his life he wrote to her every day. Janacek was also married, as his wife was well aware of the love affair ( predominantly in his own mind) between the two. The letters were recovered in 1939 by a Czech professor, who later died after the release from his internment at Theresienstadt. The letters were eventually re-released after the fall of Communist Czechoslovakia in 1990 and translated by John Tyrell. The initial letters appear innocent, but the last 16 months worth of letters I found to be obsessive, claustrophobic, and nearly upsetting.
Friday, February 14; 7:30pm
Saturday, February 15; 7:30pm
Sunday, February 16; 2:00pm
Performing Arts Complex
at Pinnacle Charter School
1001 W. 84th Avenue
Denver, CO 80260