Podcast Episode 12: Cheryl Mann

On episode 12 of the Rogue Ballerina podcast, I chat with dancer-turned-photographer (and one of my favorite people) Cheryl Mann. We hear about her career with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, transition to photography, and the importance of never giving up on your dreams. 

Photo by Selena Moshell

Cheryl Mann began her professional career at the age of 17, dancing at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, and received her dance degree from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA. She performed with the Civic Light Opera in South Pacific as “Liat” under the direction of Robby Marshall in Pittsburgh. Upon moving to Chicago, she danced with River North Dance Chicago before joining Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a Hubbard Street dancer in May of 1997, where she remained for over a decade, she has been fortunate in her career to travel to and perform in 17 countries, as well as countless cities in the U.S.

She served as the Artistic Associate of Visceral Dance Chicago until she moved to LA to with Ate9 under the directorship of Danielle Agami. LA credits include NBCUniversal’s Little Big Shots featuring Steve Harvey, Associate Choreographer of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Live at the Hollywood Bowl, and Axis Connect led by the Barton Sisters. She also had the pleasure of casting and choreographing Moby’s latest music video Motherless Child.

She is the owner of Cheryl Mann Productions, where she travels the world setting dance works for world-renowned choreographers, as well as photographing companies such as Ate9, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Thodos Dance Chicago, among many more.

Gustavo & Mr. B

Sansano in rehearsal at the Hubbard Street Dance Center. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

It’s been a while since Chicago has seen Gustavo Ramírez Sansano. In 2013, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, where he had been Artistic Director for three years, suddenly folded leaving an artistic hole in the Chicago dance community. His quick, quirky, dense choreography and innate musicality have been missed – as well as his smile, laugh and spirit, for those close to him. Now, almost two years after his abrupt departure, he’s back creating a world premiere for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), a powerhouse of contemporary dance in the U.S.

Since leaving Chicago, he has kept busy choreographing around the world for the likes of Ballet Met (The Rite of Spring premieres in May), Ballet BC and Ballet Hispanico (who will be performing Carmen.maquia in April at the Joyce Theater in NYC). He’s booked for the next two years with projects including a full-length Giselle, where his Giselle will be a nun. Pieces of Luna Negra still exists as he has enlisted the help of some of his former dancers, or “Lunatics”,  to help him reset favorites from the Luna Negra rep like 18 +1 and Flabbergast. His recent and brief appointment as Artistic Director at National Ballet of Wales made headlines and left just as quickly as it came. (The official story is too many outside scheduling conflicts.)

Sansano had five weeks working with the HSDC dancers to set his new work for 12 dancers, an ode to George Balanchine titled I Am Mr. B. He was inspired by Mr. B’s Theme and Variations, which Sansano first danced at age 19. “I didn’t dance until the end of the piece, so I had many, many times to see it. I couldn’t explain why, but it provoked this feeling of happiness in me,” he said at HSDC’s West Loop studios. “Balanchine took ballet from a story ballet to a more conceptual ballet, which is a more contemporary way of choreographing. I don’t like long ballets – they’re boring. He made it more interesting. He took the important stuff and put it in a shorter piece. Of all the classical choreographers, Balanchine made me see whole pieces.”

Sansano’s long-time collaborator, set designer Luis Crespo creates an on-stage world dressed, as the dancers are, like Mr. B. in a white shirt with a black tie. Former HSDC dancer Mario Zambrano adds text to layer the already intricate choreography. Balanchine’s famous quote – “See the music, hear the dance” – is also an inspiration for the choreographer.  “It’s so simple. Sometimes as a choreographer, we go so far…I like to remind the dancers that at the end of the day, you like to dance. The most important thing is the dance.”

Also on the program: Sarabande and Falling Angels by Jiří Kylián, Cloudless by HSDC resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, and A Picture of You Falling by Crystal Pite.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents their Spring Series at the Harris Theater, Thursday, March 12 – Sunday, March 15.

 

ABT Entertains Chicago

Stella Abrera and Calvin Royal III in "Bach Partiita". Photo by Gene Shiavone.

The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) has one more performance left this weekend at the Auditorium Theatre. Download the Bears app to keep track of the game and head to the theater to see this All-American Celebration featuring Back Partita and Sinatra Suite by Twyla Tharp, Some Assembly Required by Clark Tippet and Fancy Free by Jerome Robbins.

At first, I was curious why they chose to bring this program considering Chicago audiences recently saw Robbins’ Fancy Free (Stars of the American Ballet) and Nine Sinatra Songs (The Joffrey Ballet) a few weeks ago at the Chicago Dancing Festival, but witnessing the audience reaction to these works left no doubt they made the right choice. Opening with the piquantly performed Bach Partita set the tone, showing off the talent and breadth of the massive company right out of the gate…or curtain. ABT smartly used the fame juggernaut that is Misty Copeland in promoting the performances, but Gillian Murphy was the star of this piece. Tharp’s brisk and difficult choreography was a breeze for Murphy who never missed a beat and was expertly partnered by the handsome Marcelo Gomes (who just danced the lead in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake in Japan).

Tippet’s breezy duet danced by Sarah Lane (dance double for Natalie Portman in Black Swan) and Sterling Baca was a delightful, if too long interlude before the other Tharp piece stole the show. Sinatra Suite uses five of the nine duets from her Nine Sinatra Songs to blockbuster effect with the famous and formidable coupling of Copeland and Gomes. The audience gasped as the two entered from the wings to Sinatra’s crooning voice. Having seen this work many times over the past decades, I was not expecting anything new, but the charisma and obvious fun they were having was truly infectious and made the overdone piece seem fresh.

By now, the touring troupe had the audience in its grip and closing with Robbins’ Fancy Free, in hindsight, seems perfect. The fun dance theater piece about three young sailors on leave looking for action took the audience on a sweet ride. It was a real treat to see long-time friend of the blog Daniil Simkin (now a principal dancer) as one of the sassy sailors. Special mention goes to the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra – always fantastic – and, in particular, violinist Charles Yang, who played brilliant solos for the first two pieces of the evening.

American Ballet Theatre performs today at 2:00 PM at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Pkwy. Tickets are $34-$129, call 800.982.2787. Use code: JOFFREY for 20% off tickets. 

*Disclosure: I work for The Joffrey Ballet and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra is our resident orchestra. 

PRODUCE Shelves Itself After 4-Year Run

Photo by Julie Ballard.

PRODUCE, your favorite multi-disciplinary, sound/movement, moderated, improvy, avant garde, real-time mash-up is presenting its final season after continued success in its first three. Why? To borrow one cultural reference: Ain’t nobody got time for that! Host and producer Lauren Warnecke, along wither myriad other jobs, is going back to school for her doctorate starting this fall, leaving less time for projects as labor-intensive as PRODUCE.

Warnecke uses different cultural references to explain. “You know how in Saved By The Bell, everybody graduated and went to college and the show got really bad and awkward? The same thing is happening on GLEE and I want to cut it off before the ‘college years’, before I’m forced to,” she said. “I want to have it go out with a bang. I felt like last year people were just starting to know about it. So in some ways, it’s a major publicity stunt to get people to come. Obviously, it’s a one-time publicity stunt. I’m not saying I’ll never do it again, but I’m using this final season to promote the show. If you haven’t seen this yet, you should. It might be your last opportunity. I want to end it while it’s still good and the experiment is still interesting.”

The “experiment” takes artists chosen from an open call and presents them in a non-traditional format, mixing and matching partners, timing, spacing, music, etc. into a new, in-the-moment, live work with real-time feedback from the hosts and audience. While deciding whether or not to even go forward with Season 4, Warnecke says peer pressure made her do it. Everyone she talked to urged her to keep doing it, stating its importance. Co-producer Julie Ballard weighed in on why. “It’s important for the artists to not take themselves so seriously. To allow somebody else to manipulate it, they have the opportunity to see it fresh. I like the idea that other, full-show collaborations have come out of it. That’s really cool.” Warnecke agrees. “The opportunity to meet new people and to relinquish control of your work…I think that’s crucial. The opportunity for the audience to get inside more experimental, fringy work. This starts a conversation between the artist and the audience to build audiences for experimental performance. It’s also an opportunity to cross-pollinate our audience with the Signal Theater Ensemble Project audience. I think it’s a model for an experiment that could go on indefinitely, because each show is so different. I’m not kicking it to the curb because I don’t think it has staying power, but there is so much good dance and there are so many people trying to have opportunities for performance that I don’t need to be eating up those resources.”

Performers this season include Ashley Deran and dancers, Erica Ricketts, Jessie Marsa and Ben Law, Jose A. Luis, The Space/Movement Project, Jason Javar Lawrence, Lucy Wieczorek and Lysha Hamm, and Those People Who Did That One Thing That One Time.

PRODUCE presented by The Ensemble Project’s Julie Ballard and Anthony Ingram, with Lauren Warnecke/Art Intercepts at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave., Friday-Saturday, August 8-9 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12.

After party with DJ Wak, Saturday only from 9 pm – midnight with a $10 suggested donation. Season passes for both shows and the after party are $25.

2014 Chicago Dancing Festival Ticket Release

Chicago Dancing Festival at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Hey y’all! It’s that time of year again. Tickets for the 8th annual Chicago Dancing Festival (CDF) will be released this week. Tickets are FREE, but must be reserved.

This year boasts a stellar line-up (as usual) featuring Chicago’s own Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and The Joffrey Ballet, plus Stars of American Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Adam Barruch, The Juilliard School, Pam Tanowitz Dance, Rennie Harris Puremovement and stars of the Washington Ballet.

Tickets for the Wednesday, August 20th program (7 pm) at the Harris Theater will be released tomorrow, July 8th at noon. You can pick them up in person at 205 E. Randolph or reserve over the phone at 312.334.7777. Limit two (2). If you can’t get in-house seats, this performance will also be simulcast live on the outdoor screen at Pritzker Pavilion. Wine + cheese + dance = done.

Tickets for the two Friday, August 22nd performances – 6 and 8 pm – at the MCA Stage will be released Wednesday, July 9th at noon. You can pick them up in person at 220 E. Chicago or via phone at 312.397.4010. Limit two (2).

For the Saturday, August 23rd performance at Pritzker Pavilion (7:30 pm) , you do not need tickets. More wine + cheese + dance = date night! Do it.

 

David Herro & Jay Franke to be Honored

Philanthropists Jay Franke and David Herro.

Next Tuesday, May 20th, the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) hosts its annual benefit luncheon at the Palmer House Hilton. This year’s Public Humanities Award will be presented to David Herro and Jay Franke for their commitment to the arts and humanities in Chicago. If you are at all familiar with dance in Chicago, their names – and this honor – should come as no surprise.

Franke is Co-Artistic Director and Co-Founder, with Lar Lubovitch, of the Chicago Dancing Festival (CDF), the biggest free dance fest in the U.S. Herro, works behind the scenes as Treasurer for CDF and both work tirelessly for numerous charitable foundations and serve on an impressive list of boards. Basically, the do-gooder couple of the year has earned this award!

If congratulating and thanking them for their efforts isn’t enough, the luncheon also features guest chefs Michael Kornick (MK Restaurant), Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp (Sunday Dinner Club, Honey Butter Fried Chicken) and Vosges Haut-Chocolate.

RB will be tweeting from the luncheon and providing a post-event wrap-up.

Here are a few words on Franke and Herro’s contributions to Chicago’s arts and culture scene from IHC Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLNKKjSOmao]

The Public Humanities Award Luncheon, Tuesday, My 20 at 11:30 am at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe. Single tickets are $175; call 312.422.5584 or visit www.prairie.org/pha.

CRB Takes On the Seasons

Schaaf in rehearsal with dancer Lizzie MacKenzie.

“I feel like I’ve been painting with all the colors in my palette,” said Wade Schaaf, founder and artistic director of Chicago Repertory Ballet (CRB). “As I’ve been creating more and more, I feel like my movement vocabulary is pretty expansive, so I felt really free with this piece to use everything I know.” Schaaf presents the premiere of his one-act, 30-minute The Four Seasons this weekend alongside CRB favorites including his Peoplescape: Juxtaposition; Manuel Vignoulle’s duet In a Box; Jacqueline Stewart’s cheeky One Way; and a tender, personal trio, Of Alice, by Autumn Eckman. “The audience is really going to get a ride.”

For The Four Seasons, Schaaf found his inspiration in the music, using composer Max Richter‘s modern take on Vivaldi. “The Richter version is a little more contemporary and a little more streamlined, applicable to now,” said Schaaf on a quick break before teaching class at Joffrey Tower (#convenient). “I wanted to hone in on the humanity of the piece. To me, the whole thing is about people, which always intrigues me as a choreographer.” He also cites the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute as an abstract inspiration. “I feel like we’re watching these little vignettes. The music is set up with three sections per season. I treated each of those sections like the miniatures. It didn’t make sense to look at the picture as a whole, but to look at each individual part.”

CRB’s motto may be “Everyone has a story to tell”, but this new The Four Seasons let’s the audience fill in the blanks. “We’re just watching these scenes from life and together they make the four seasons or life, the four seasons of a person’s life, or even the seasons of a relationship,” Schaaf said. “There’s no set plot. I’m not translating a particular feeling, but you get little elements of a story. I wanted it to look like little moments in people’s lives.”

Chicago Repertory Ballet presents THE FOUR SEASONS: and contemporary works Friday-Sunday, May 9 – 11 at The Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets are $25 ($20 for Saturday matinee); visit: victorygardens.org or call 773.871.3000.

On Philip Elson’s Terms

“Technology is challenging the way we experience life,” he said. “As a society, we are fascinated by its nonhuman capabilities while abusing it to learn more about how people live their lives.” In his first evening-length work, emerging choreographer Philip Elson explores life in the digital age using multiple disciplines to create a new dance-theater work. You may have seen him on stage performing with The Seldoms, Same Planet Different World, and Khecari, among others, but this weekend, he’s in charge and he’s taking the stage on his own terms.

One of his many jobs aside from dancer, choreographer, sound designer, Technology and Media Coordinator is Apple Genius, so aside from perhaps taking inspiration from his Seldoms’ director Carrie Hanson by creating an issue-based work, he’s an expert in tech and diving into how our digital lives have changed us seems like an inevitable subject for him. “We have become so accustomed to a certain type of living and relating to others,” Elson said. “These ways of life are being disrupted by concerns of privacy and it changes how we interact with each other.” (In fact, we even conducted this interview via email.)

For all the upsides of being “connected”, Elson is well aware of the down including identity theft, annoying pop-up ads or “blindly agreeing to something without understanding the consequences”. He uses spoken text, video projection and, of course, dance to investigate the balance of digital consumption. Are we consuming it or is it consuming us? The forward-thinking Elson is already toying with idea of taking this show viral. “I’m thinking about reworking it to fit on a digital platform, meaning the entire work would be consumed either through a computer, tablet, or smartphone and somehow be interactive.” That sounds super cool, but first go see it live.

Philip Elson presents Terms and Conditions, Friday-Sunday, March 14-16 at 7 pm at Links Hall at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here

Hubbard Street Does Kylian (x 4)

Jiří Kylián repetiteur Roslyn Anderson, former dancer and rehearsal director at Nederlands Dans Theater, rehearses Petite Mort with Hubbard Street Dancers Andrew Murdock, foreground, and Jason Hortin. Photo by Quinn B Wharton.

This weekend my favorite contemporary company takes on the Czech master choreographer Jiří Kylián. In their first-ever program dedicated to one artist’s work, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents four of Kylián’s works in their Spring Series at the Harris Theater.  Two of the works – 27″52′ and Petite Mort – will be familiar to local audiences and two are Hubbard Street premieres.

Répétiteur Roslyn Anderson, former dancer and rehearsal director at Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), is no stranger to Chicago. She’s been coming here to set Kylián’s work on Hubbard St. – his work has been in their rep since 1998 – and The Joffrey Ballet for many years. In all, she sets about 16 of his works around the world and has worked with him, in one capacity or another, since the mid 70’s. “I told him I was interested to rehearse,” Anderson said from Hubbard Street’s West Loop studios. “I knew that from a young age that I wanted to rehearse.” Her first staging was Forgotten Land for San Francisco Ballet in the mid 80’s.

Joining Anderson to recreate these contemporary masterpieces are fellow “Kylián authorities” Urtzi Aranburu (staging), Dick Schuttel (sound design and effects), Joost Biegelaar (lighting) and Hubbard Street artistic director Glenn Edgerton, a former director of NDT. Stopping by the studios to catch Edgerton rehearsing the company’s men in Sarabande proved enlightening. As the artistic head of the company, you know he’s the brain behind the rep, but you don’t normally see him in action in the studio. He danced two roles in the work and gave insights to the dancers from a performer’s perspective.

Sarabande, a piece for 6 men, is about “exploring all aspects of masculinity”, said dancer Jesse Bechard. Grunting, shouting and crawling take a beautiful, human edge when set to Bach music. The all-female piece, Falling Angels, a throbbing, tight ensemble piece performed to live music by Third Coast Percussion, immediately follows providing the perfect compliment. The beautiful Petite Mort, set to Mozart, and the abstract, improv-driven 27’52” round out the program although the works are presented chronologically backwards, a choreographic timeline in retrograde. “His work is so unique,” said Anderson. “The structure of this program, starting with the more recent and going backwards in time is just such a beautiful arc that people are going to see.”

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents their Spring Series, an All-Kylián program, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Thursday, March 13 through Sunday, March16. Tickets are $25-$99; call 312.850.9744 or visit hubbardstreetdance.com/spring.

 

Vision, Faith & Desire II at Pritzker Pavilion

Winifred Haun and Lizzie Leopold come together again to present Vision, Faith & Desire II: Dancemakers Inspired by Martha Graham inside on the stage at the Pritzker Pavilon this weekend.

Starting tonight, Haun and Leopold revisit works from the original Vision program that had enormous success in September 2013 (preview here). This time around, they are joined by Randy Duncan, who will present his award-winning solo Love Not Me and Jeff Hancock, who will dance a solo he choreographed titled Quilting Martha.

Vision, Faith & Desire II, Thursday – Sunday, Feb. 6 – 8 at 7:00 pm. at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Tickets are $15, purchase here.