'It'll be two women and it'll be enough': Choreographer Emma Porter on breaking gender conventions in ballet

Q22:17Emma Portner: How her latest choreography in 'Islands' is subverting ballet gender norms

In her debut ballet, islands, for the National Ballet of Canada, choreographer Emma Portner dropped the traditional tutus so that the two female leads could dance together as a pair.

"There's no quintessential ballet duet for women," Portner tells Q's Tom Power. She envisioned creating a routine for islands that would demonstrate the complexity of female partners instead of the traditional man and woman duo. 

Portner's choreography encourages dancers to unlearn what institutional ballet has taught them and to embrace the unconventional. In islands, she approaches the composition of dance from a queer perspective. "I wanted to do a queer duet with nuance," says Portner. "Queer relationships can exist with complexity too." 

The choreographer had an unorthodox start to her career, that is she wasn't a very good dancer for "a long time" says Portner. She describes herself as a shy and anxious kid, who wasn't quite up to speed with the other dancers in her classes. "But I have always sort of embraced that," says Portner.

"I have had this unbearably backwards life," says Porter. "And had a really backwards kind of dance career for sure."  

At 11 she attended the National Ballet of Canada summer program and wanted to join the company full time. "My mom said no. It took me forever to forgive her for that," says Porter. "But in hindsight, I think she did what was best." When Porter was 17, her career changed when a Youtube video she made with her friend and fellow choreographer Matt Luck became popular online. "That one chance video that changed the entire trajectory of my life," says Portner. 

Now, Portner is using her individuality and distinctive style to choreograph islands. She approached the ballet from a "different set of rules," she says, as she did not want to use tutus and the leads were both women. In opposition to the classic ballerina costume, Portner opted to bind the dancer's hips by sharing the same pants. "Historically, [tutus] keep women's hips four feet apart... So I was like, what if I just do the opposite costume," says Portner. 

In preparation for the performance the dancers had to deconstruct their typical gender roles in ballet. "Most of these [women] like Heather Ogden, probably had never lifted another woman before," says Portner. "So, that was an interesting process."

Portner worked with the dancers on how to hold the weight of each other and "the physics of partnering a woman." Portner attributes islands success to its out of the ordinary approach to ballet. "[When people] ask me why islands is maybe the success that it is or why people relate to it is because I didn't force anything on people. I just offered this option," says Portner. 

islands made its North America debut this month at The National Ballet of Canada's Winter Triple Bill. 

The full interview with Emma Portner is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Emma Portner produced by Nikky Manfredi

.