Giving Thanks

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Vicki

It’s that time of year again (already!), time for turkey and PIE!!! Oh, and also giving thanks. Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) taps into the spirit of giving this weekend (November 26 & 27) presenting Global Rhythms at the Harris Theater. Global Rhythms is a shared-revenue performance and this year features Ensemble Español, Step Afrika! and The Mexican Folkloric Dance Company along with CHRP dancers. CHRP’s Thanks 4 Giving program let’s audience members feel good while entertaining them. You can receive a 10% discount on your performance ticket by choosing one of the participating local non-profits affiliated with this year’s show (listed here). The organization of your choice will receive 50% of the ticket price in return.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Global Rhythms, Nov 26 at 8pm, Nov 27 at 7pm, $15-$55

Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312.334.7777

The Legacy Tour

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Vicki

MCDC dancers Rashaun Mitchell & Andrea Webber in "Antic Meet". Photo by Yi-Chun Wu.

This weekend, Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) comes to Chicago. The two shows, co-presented by the Dance Center at Columbia College and the Harris Theater, mark the second to last stop on the company’s two-year Legacy Tour performing works from Cunningham’s 70-year career. Bonnie Brooks, former chair and current faculty member (on sabbatical) at Columbia College’s Dance Department, has been traveling with the company and will be documenting the company’s experience for the Legacy Plan. Her background and extensive knowledge of his work make her the perfect person for the job. I spoke with Brooks via phone last week about the tour, his legacy and the upcoming performances.

How did you get involved with the Legacy Tour?

I have a long history with Merce and the company. I first met Merce in the 1980s when I was working with the National Endowment for the Arts. I’ve kept up with the company in various ways over the years. When I came to Chicago and we began to present them, that sort of furthered the relationship and I started writing and lecturing on Merce’s work and they started inviting me to go to different engagements with them and do pre-performance talks, interview Merce, help out with various things. After Merce died (2009) and they determined they were going to go on the Legacy Tour, they realized part of what they needed to do was document it, document the whole story of the Legacy Plan. They felt that because of my history with the company, my friendship with Merce and something of the distance that I had because I wasn’t immediately employed by the company, that I would be a good choice to do that. So they invited me to join.

Is this directly related to why you took a sabbatical? Did you take time off so you could be on the tour?

No. Actually, that was another piece of the story that was one of those marvelous coincidences in life. I made the decision in 2008 when I renewed my contract to chair the dept at the Dance Center, that was going to be my final three years as chair. At that time Merce was still living and there was no influence at all between my decision and what has happened. Since then, the college decided to give me a year-long sabbatical when I stepped down and that very neatly coincided with when the company wanted me to start traveling with them on a regular basis. It’s one of those wonderful accidents.

What exactly are you doing on the tour?

It varies from engagement to engagement. Sometimes they ask me to pre or post-performance talks or introduce open rehearsals, things like that. Sometimes I’m just there to observe what’s happening. I’ve taken pictures. It really depends on what the presenter has asked, what residency activities have been put together. One of the things that has happened as a result of me traveling with them, which I think was an intention on their part, it has given me a chance to get the perspective of many, many people on the Legacy Tour, the Legacy Plan, the kind of radical decision the company has made to close its doors…that’s given me a lot to work with in terms of what I’ll be writing after the tour.

Were you instrumental in getting them here?

Yes. When I was chair of the department, I was very actively involved with the program. We had negotiated that they would come two years ago. We negotiated it before Merce died that they would come and do events at our theater, previous to that we’d always presented them at the Harris Theater…and then Merce died. They began to book the Legacy Tour and I said we have to bring them back one more time. We were going to have them in November, but decided to have them in the second part of the tour, which is wonderful because they’re very near the end of the almost 40-city, two-year tour.

Now that it’s so close the end of the tour, are people getting more emotional?

Yes. It’s becoming much more real to everyone now that we’re close to the end. I think the place that hit us the most vividly was in London. We were in London about a month ago and the final night, I think everybody in the entire theater – in the audience and on stage – was in tears. We realized this was the last appearance in a city that historically has been very hospitable to Merce’s work. The audience was on its feet shouting “thank you!” It just really hit us that we wouldn’t be back again, at least not as the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The thing that’s been so profound about this is realizing that this is the final generation of dancers that Merce trained and chose himself. These are the people, in my opinion, that are finishing his long, artistic project. There’s such a poignancy and a beauty to that and I think in London we realized, we’re beyond seeing the work, this is now really the goodbyes.

Since you’re so familiar with his work, can you tell me about the pieces that are going to be presented here in Chicago?

Friday night, we’re doing a repertory evening…a piece called “Squaregame”, “Quartet”, which has five people in it, and then “Antic Meet”, which is a piece from 1958 that Merce made. “Squaregame” is a very playful piece. There are beautiful sections, but it’s almost like you’re on a playground with mischievous children in terms of the fun that occurs and there are big duffel bags on the stage that they throw around and hide behind. It’s really a delightful piece. Then you go to a completely different end of the spectrum with “Quartet”, which is kind of dark and moody. There’s a male part in it that Merce danced originally and two other males and two females. You’re watching the interaction between this group of dancers and this individual character. It’s very lyrical, but in a very dark way, but it’s beautiful. It’s easy, because of the complexities of Merce’s work, its easy to lose the fact that there is enormous beauty in it. And this is one of his more beautiful pieces, in my opinion. The last piece on the rep is “Antic Meet”, sort of a spoof. In it’s eight different sections. There’s a central character. It’s an anomaly in Merce’s body of work in some ways because there is some acting involved. There are references to Vaudeville, to every day life, to tap, to ballet…there are fairly clear references to his period with Martha Graham.

The second evening is one of my very favorites of Merce’s piece. It’s called Roaratorio. It’s an hour-long work that was originally envisioned by John Cage. Cage created a soundscape that was an homage to James Joyce and his final works…Finnigan’s Wake. One of the things Cage did was go to Ireland and sample sounds from places that were referenced in Finnigan’s Wake. So this was a rare occasion where the sound information pre-dated everything else. John had hoped Merce would eventually make some kind of dance using the score. For several years, Merce didn’t think that was possible. He has built in a number of what appear to be Irish jigs. There are a lot of relational information in it, couples and groups relating to one another. He described one as a group or family traveling from one place to another, which is what they do if you watch the full arc of the piece. I think it’s the best example of Merce’s sheer love for dancing. It ‘s a joy to watch from start to finish.

In your mind, what is it or was it about Merce and his work that made him such an icon?

I think that Merce represents and, in fact, literally is the single most turning point in 20^th century modern dance. Merce took a lot of the existing conventions that were handed to him in both the modern and ballet world…and because of the combination of existing things that he did, he stayed in modern dance, he stayed in a concert dance format, he put together an ensemble of dancers, he trained them and he worked with them consistently for many decades…those are all sort of conventions. In terms of the content of the work itself, he just broke so many rules. He advanced narratives, he separated the dance from the music, he choreographed in silence, he and John (Cage) created this whole new approach to put dance, music and visual information together in a performance context. He just did so much that was inconoclastic. He turned the use of space on its head. He created an egalitarian circumstance for dancers instead of a hierarchy of some kind where there were special people and less special people and the back up people. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is that Merce set a whole new direction of what was possible. It was through him and the gateway of his work that the whole postmodern movement came through. If there hadn’t been a Merce, I don’t know what postmoderism in dance would’ve been. He opened a whole new direction for dance.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company – The Legacy Tour

November 18 & 19, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312.334.7777

Tickets start at $25

Mayoral Proclamation #2

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Vicki

It’s seems our beloved Mayor Emanuel has been busy showing his love for dance. On the heels of declaring this past Monday Bill Kurtis & Donna La Pietra Day for their contributions to the city’s arts and non-profit scene, he comes out with another proclamation making Friday, November 18, 2011 MERCE CUNNINGHAM DAY in Chicago!

This is to coincide with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company who will be in town November 18 and 19 performing at the Harris Theater (co-presented by the Dance Center at Columbia College) on the second to last stop on their Legacy Tour which kicked off two years ago.

Review: River North Revamps

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Vicki

River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) performed their fall engagement at the Harris Theater over the weekend with a rep of seven diverse dances. The company opened with what has become its signature piece, Sherry Zunker’s Evolution of a Dream. Strong and consistent, it was the perfect opener for the show. If you’re familiar with RNDC, you noticed quite a few unfamiliar faces. Four new company dancers took the stage on Friday night with another one out due to a broken foot. Dream and the ball piece (Charles Moulton’s Nine Person Precision Ball Passing), which since they don’t move from the waste down borderlines on dance for me, were the cleanest pieces in the show. A lovely trio in Al Sur Del Sur featuring Jessica Wolfrum, Tucker Knox and Ahmad Simmons and the ever-stunning Train solo by Hanna Brictson were other stand outs. Spotty unison, stumbles, wobbles and a handful of missed lifts had me witnessing an extreme rarity: RNDC had an off night.

I’ve been watching RNDC deliver strong, solid seemingly perfect performances for almost 15 years, so the small flubs took me by surprise. This is no condemnation of their talents – they are multitude – but this wasn’t their best showing. The much-anticipated company premiere of Daniel Ezralow’s SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down opened the second half of the show (the perfect spot for it). For those of us in the audience that had seen the original, and there were many, just hearing the opening note and seeing the hanging bags with the dancers inside brought back a flood of memories. Fair or not, the RNDC dancers were dancing with the ghosts of the original cast with them on the stage. A dapper Michael Gross in his suit brought Ron De Jesús (who was in the audience) rolling across the stage. Wolfrum in her black dress had Sandi Cooksey defying gravity, hovering inches above the floor. Twenty two years after the premiere, these five dancers were bringing back a beloved (by many, especially me) piece and I wanted them to BRING IT! On Friday, it seemed they brought a little and saved some for later. Perhaps the excitement of seeing it for the very first time back in ’89 helped to create the illusion that vaulted the original cast to rock star status in the dance scene? Maybe it was the difference between learning it fresh and resetting it? It could any number of reasons that it didn’t hold the same sway with me this time. I have no doubt that RNDC will continue to grow and evolve with this work, but this time out, it didn’t live up to the hype. Especially my own.

Preview: River North Opens Fall Season

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Vicki

Jessica Wolfrum & Michael Gross in "Al Sur del Sur". Photo by Sandro.

This weekend at the Harris Theater, River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) opens it’s fall season. Just off a successful international tour (US, Korea, Germany, Switzerland), RNDC is warmed up, employing five new dancers and ready to take the stage with a mixed rep that is sure to dazzle. Signature group piece by Sherry Zunker, Evolution of a Dream (2009), is joined by last season hits Al Sur Del Sur choreographed by Sabrina and Rubin Veliz and Artistic Director Frank Chavez’s jazz tribute Simply Miles, Simply Us. Charles Moulton’s postmodern Nine Person Precision Ball Passing (1980), which the company performed over the summer during the Chicago Dancing Festival (and shall heretofore be known as “the ball piece”), makes it’s Harris stage debut. Add in an intense solo by Robert Battle from his work Train (2008) and the first duet Chavez every choreographed in 1994, Fixé, and you have the makings for a fantastic and entertaining evening of dance. But it is the company premiere of Daniel Ezralow’s SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down that is getting all the buzz – and rightly so.

Originally commissioned by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) founder Lou Conte in 1989, SUPER STRAIGHT was a cutting-edge, athletic, dynamic piece that helped change the trajectory of the company from a strong, stellar troupe with a jazz/Broadway-based rep to one of the pioneers of contemporary dance. Ezralow, an emerging choreographer at the time, took inspiration from a book of black and white photographs by Robert Longo titled Men in the Cities and set it to an original score by Dutch composer Thom Willems. What came out was a quirky, desperate, intriguing, hyper-physical, 15-minute dance that was like nothing the audience had seen before. Revolutionary seems trite, but it was. Five dancers dressed in black and white appear in what look like plastic garment bags hanging from the ceiling. That image, along with the darkly eerie, industrial score, set the mood for a wonderful and strange adventure. The original cast of Chavez, Sandi Cooksey, Ron De Jesús, Alberto Arias and Lynn Shepard brought a fierce energy to their talented technical skills and took the stage by storm. I saw it on tour that season and it blew me away! (It was one of the reasons I wanted to move to Chicago and why I’m a huge HSDC fan.) I am so completely STOKED that RNDC is reviving it this weekend. I spoke with Chavez by phone earlier this week about their upcoming program.

You’ve set quite an eclectic program…Miles, Balls, Tango…

This is our “Tour de Force” program (also the title of the Thursday night gala). To be able to go from an authentic Argentinian tango to “SUPER STRAIGHT” with a contemporary edge and then go to Miles Davis, as jazzy as you can get…it shows so many different facets of the company and that we can do all of those things really well.

Jessica Wolfrum in Ezralow's "SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down". Photo by Jenifer Girard.

I’m going to cut to the chase. I really want to focus on SUPER STRAIGHT because it is my favorite piece ever! I love it, I love it, I love it! I always wondered when/if Hubbard would bring it back.

(Laughing) We feel the same way. It’s my favorite Daniel Ezralow piece. Not just because I had the great opportunity to perform it, but I’ve been thinking about it for quite a while. I’m always concerned with something that was related to HSDC, that enough time has gone by…we’re careful with all that. We thought it was such a good fit and it’s such a good piece that it just made sense. As you say, it’s my favorite piece of Danny’s and it’s been sitting on a shelf for a long time. It’s so perfect for us. I honestly didn’t think I’d see HSDC do it again. It just isn’t them any more. I felt truly it was more appropriate for us these days, so I went for it.

Are there things he told you, that maybe the audience doesn’t know, that you get to pass down now that you’re resetting it?

As I did it, I brought Sandi and Berto in to help with rehearsal and some tidbits here and there. It was really based on a book of photographs by Robert Longo. The costumes, the look of the piece…everything came from this book. It was very interesting. He took a bunch of pictures of men and women in cityscapes. The idea behind it was that they were having things thrown at them and they were dodging. They were all sort of action/motion shots, but very quirky. They were pedestrians. There were a lot of images that ended up being translated off the page and into the piece. That was the initial jist of it. I’ve described it as sort of an urban meltdown. It’s like these people have been dropped down from some other space. The bags…do you remember? These big huge ice cubes that they melt out of. I remember Danny saying things like, “Your first step out of that bag is like you’re stepping on to black ice.” You can’t see it. You don’t know if it’s going to hold you. There’s so much uncertainty in the piece, which created a great deal of tension. There was a lot of tension in the creative process too. Danny likes to stir the pit a little bit. He does a lot of improv and then puts the piece together. That’s his process. He feeds off of whatever is happening. If somebody is pissed off and walking around a corner, he’ll use that in the piece. He really wanted to shock the audience. I remember this original composition, he wanted that first note to come in really strong and jolt the audience. You’d hear a collective “ah” – it scared them. It transcends you to another place and you’re not sure what’s going on. He said that it was very abstract for him. There was no real meaning behind it for him. There was no story behind it. He wanted to create this tense atmosphere that kept people on the edge of their seats and uncertain. It does that well. So many people wrote it was about AIDS, disease, a takeover, aliens…it had a million different interpretations of what it was. Danny likes to do that. He likes to leave it up to the audience, however they see it, whatever they’re feeling…that was a big part of it.

I definitely got an alien vibe and just kept wonder what was up with the bags?

He likes to make people question a lot. Are they aliens? Are they just arriving here? Were they quarantined? All these speculations came about where these bags came from and then they just float off the stage. These five people are just dropped off somewhere. They have no idea where they are. You can say they’re from a different planet. They don’t even know why they’re there, but they need to go explore. If they are to go on in any way, they need to get out of those bags and find out where they are. It’s a bit of a discovery. The silent section in the middle was very interesting. There are two musical cues in the musical section and other than that it was timing and breath and feeling each other, commanding and finding the silence and doing something with it and translating that into a very tense atmosphere. Again, the uncertainty is what creates this tension. Initially the piece wasn’t counted at all. We just followed each other. For dancers…everybody wants to know what they’re doing at every moment. That was a really interesting part about the piece. I think it keeps it really interesting and relevant. There’s nothing to me that’s dated to me about the piece. It’s still so relevant in so many ways.

The silent section, the improv and keeping it real on stage…was that a new way of working for you guys back then? Or had you already been through that type of process before?

No. I think it was new for a lot of us. Danny was just starting out as a choreographer at that time, aside from what he did for his own company. I think for us, and for that time at HSDC, it was pretty new. It was fantastic. What came out of that process was pretty special. Sometimes it all just works. I think “SUPER STRAIGHT” is a great example of when everything really comes together.

River North Dance Chicago, Nov 4&5 at 8pm

Tickets: $30-$75, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312.334.7777

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Vicki

RB as the Evil Queen in "Snow White".

Dance this weekend: Check out Lucky Plush Productions at the MCA tonight or Saturday, Could Gate Dance Theatre at the Harris this weekend, Synapse Arts tonight at Holstein Park or Ailey II tonight at Governors State University. I’m going to Cloud Gate tonight and the Zombie Revolution at House of Blues tomorrow. Merde to my zombie dancers! Have a fun and safe weekend!

Autumn in the City

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Vicki

Autumn Eckman in the studio. Photo by Mike Canale.

I’m not talking about the turning leaves, chilly weather and shorter days, but dancer/choreographer Autumn Eckman. An artist that has danced with Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago (GJDC), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Lucky Plush Productions, Ron De Jesús Dance, as well as choreographed for Instruments of Movement, Inaside Chicago Dance, Northwest Ballet Ensemble, Indiana Ballet Theatre, just to name a few. She’s also on faculty at Northern Illinois University, teaches at a number of area studios and serves as Artistic Associate and Rehearsal Director for GJDC and Director of Giordano II. To put it mildly – Autumn, 34, is everywhere these days.

This weekend at the Harris Theater, Eckman will premiere a new work, Alloy, as GJDC takes the stage for its fall engagement. The first performance of the 2011-2012 season titled Passion and Fire will showcase seven numbers including two premiere, one of which is Eckman’s. Other pieces include Gus Giordano’s signature work Sing, Sing, Sing (1983), last season’s ballroom hit Sabroso (2010), former GJDC dancer Jon Lehrer’s Like 100 Men (2002), a restaging of Davis Robertson’s 2005 work Being One, a world premiere by Kiesha Lalama and Eckman’s Yes, and…! from 2010.

I talked with Eckman over the phone last week as she was walking to rehearsal about her process and her inspiration.

You’re a busy lady. What is a typical day for you?

A regular Giordano day? They start class at 9:30 and we rehearse until 4:00pm. Usually I’m off teaching class somewhere in the evenings. In addition to choreographing, rehearsal directing, mentoring and guiding the second company, I’ve also been rehearsal directing the first company in preparation for the upcoming shows and tours. For this concert, I’m helping get six pieces up and running, cleaned and polished and rehearsed. It’s a big task, but fun.

Who are your choreographic influences?

I take a lot of inspiration from books. I draw my influence off of the vocabulary of the dances that I’ve done with each different company. It’s so ingrained in my body that I try to make it my own and formulate my own style. I love all the choreographers from my time at Hubbard Street – Nacho (Duato), Ohad (Naharin), (William) Forsythe, but I also love jazz choreographers. Randy Duncan has been a big influence. I love Harrison McEldowney. I have been inspired by the work and working with Robert Battle. Other dancers include the great entertainers of our time: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire. I grew up watching their films along with the works of Busby Berkley. I was obsessed with his pattern making for film and dance. In terms of the dance itself, I am often inspired by the way a writer would write or compose a song for start to finish: the verse, the chorus, the bridge, etc. I aspire to make dance the way a good song takes you on a journey.

When you choreograph something, what is your process or does it change?

I write everything down. I could own stock in Post-It notes. Everything is kind of disorganized, but if I have an idea, I grab a pen and write it down or if I see something, I’ll write down something…like a couple walking in the park. Then I’ll hear a piece of music that will, in my mind, fit the idea. It’s kind of like playing match up. I have these really diverse ranges of music that I know I want to eventually use and finding what matches it and trying to build a story to it. Sometimes it’s about the movement. I like moving for movement’s sake as well.

For your premiere, Alloy, what was the impetus for it?

KRESA (Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency) had asked me to choreograph a piece. They asked for a duet. I was really excited. I hadn’t pushed myself to see how strong my work was in that aspect. It’s a mixture. I researched the word alloy and then it took on this metallicy, liquid kind of tone. Two people that will do anything to be with each other, be one…a blend.

So the idea, the word and the concept came first and then you added music?

Yeah. I wanted to try classical piano…listened to a simple score and see how that worked. I knew I wanted to use soft, simple music. Sometimes I think less is more.

You reworked it for GJDC. How has it changed – or has it?

Nan (Giordano) had seen the dancers rehearsing. She approached me and said she wanted it for the fall concert. Can we add this to it? Can we have these two dancers (Devin Buchanan and Ashley Lauren Smith)? She loved the look of their body types together and thought they’d be a great partnering. Turns out, they are great together. They have great chemistry and it took on a sexier, really stripped down tone. It really came all about their sensuality, their body and their movement and how they…even one touch, how that reacts to each other. It took on a deeper, more personal tone when I worked on it the second time. I’m extremely happy with the results. It’s always my goal to see where jazz dance is going and how to push boundaries of what jazz dance is. I think this is just another direction – for the company as well. Another boundary being pushed.

Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, Oct 21 & 22 at 8pm

Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312.334.7777

Thoughts on HSDC 2011 Fall Series

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Vicki

Dancers Jesse Bechard & Penny Saunders in "Arcangelo". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Last night was the big night! Hubbard Street Dance Chicago‘s (HSDC) season opener at the Harris Theater with the world premiere of SCARLATTI by Twyla Tharp. A packed house (they even had to open up the balcony) full of Chicago dance enthusiasts, including our favorite fan-in-chief Mayor Emanuel and his family, was virtually vibrating with anticipation for a great show. As usual, HSDC did not disappoint.

Tharp’s SCARLATTI, set to the music of Domenico Scarlatti, opened the show. Extremely musical; lightening fast, vivid footwork; carefree, fun attitude and work-your-tail-to-the-bone difficult. In other words, quintessential Tharp. The dancers made it look easy. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. To say it is simply about the music and the dancing (although it is) is misleading. There is nothing simple about it. Using her evil genius mind and savant-like musical knowledge, Tharp creates a dizzying whirlwind of dancers entering and exiting the stage in a nanosecond. Part of the dizzying effect was due to the costumes, designed by Norma Kamali. White, black, neon yellow, stripes, leopard spot, headbands, arm bands…too much. Quite frankly, the costumes were distracting. The thirty-minute piece was non-stop, balls-to-the-walls dance finishing with a cute wave from new company member David Schultz as if to say, “hi, I’m here!” Standing ovation. The audience ate it up and Tharp postponed her bow to hug each of the dancers.

Nacho Duato’s Arcangelo, the next work on the program, is one of my favorite pieces in HSDC’s rep. A reflection on heaven and hell danced by four couples is set to the music of Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti, who was the father of Tharp’s composer. HSDC brought the work into it’s rep last fall and is the only US company to perform it. (You can read my interview with Duato from last fall here.) It is gorgeous and the dancers performed it seamlessly. One audience member stood up to applaud at the curtain before everyone else. Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Too cool.

Dancers Kellie Epperheimer & Kevin Shannon in "Walking Mad". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Walking Mad by Swedish choreographer Johan Inger closed the show. Quite a few people had been talking about this piece, trying to convince me I had seen it before. I hadn’t. This is something you have to see to believe and you won’t soon forget it. (Note to Alejandro: party hats, wall, Bolero…now I know!) An ingenious mix of silliness, heartbreak, passion, despondency, acrobatics, strength and talent, set to the driving force of Ravel’s Bolero. Originally created ten years ago for the Nederlands Dans Theater, the work utilizes a wall set piece that has the dancers moving through four doorways, around, over and on the wall which also lowers to the floor, raises and folds to create a shadowy corner. I loved it.

Once again, to name stand outs would be to list every single performer. New company members Schultz and Garrett Anderson (Alice Klock was not in this cast, but I’m hoping to see her on Sunday) fit in like they’ve been here forever and are definitely where they belong. The show runs through Sunday and it is a must see. HSDC just gets better and better.

Moving Up

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Vicki

Dancers David Schultz & Alice Klock in "I Can See Myself in Your Pupil". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

For two of the three new dancers added to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago‘s (HSDC) roster this season, it was a new road traveled. Alice Klock and David Schultz – 23 and 24 respectively – are the first two dancers to move up the HSDC chain from summer intensive students to members of HS2 to being promoted to the main company. All in two years.

Both dancers hail from Michigan, but the similarities in dance beginnings end there. Schultz stated dancing at five taking tap (he wanted to be Donald O’Connor), then began taking ballet classes with his older brother Nick. Once hooked, he took numerous summer workshops that eventually led to an apprenticeship (while still in high school) and then a full-time position with the Grand Rapids Ballet, where he danced for over four years. Klock didn’t start dancing until age 11 with ballet classes. She quickly took to the form and three years later attended a summer program at San Francisco Ballet, where she decided she wanted to be a professional dancer. She went to Interlochen Center for the Arts for high school and after two years at Dominican University, figured it was time to start her professional career.

Here’s where there stories come together. Both attended the HSDC summer intensive in 2009 and were asked to join the second company HS2. Landing here happen almost by accident, but now they couldn’t be happier. “I’d known a little bit about the company, but once I got here, I realized how much I really loved the whole philosophy and the rep,” says Klock. Schultz agrees. “Just learning the rep I thought ‘this is it’! This is what I want to do.” Their success ties into the larger HSDC mission of nurturing the next generation of artists. “David and Alice are great examples to a bigger mission of mine, which is to mentor young dancers and prepare them for a profession in dance rather or not they continue with Hubbard Street or not,” says Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton. “They’ve matured so quickly in all ways, both in their dancing and also in their understanding of how to approach their work creatively and practically. I feel we have been able to tap into their talents and start to challenge them toward their potential.” That potential will be challenged this season with having to learn the previous repertoire that includes masters like Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato and Jirí Kylián, as well as new company works by a range of choreographers from Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo to the legendary Twyla Tharp (her world premiere hits the stage this Thursday, Oct 13th).

Alice Klock & David Schultz in "Harold and the Purple Crayon". Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

No one is more proud of these two dancers than HS2 Director Taryn Kaschock Russell, “I’m so proud of them!” After thriving under her guidance in the second company, Klock attributes much of their success to her. “Taryn is amazing,” she says before class last Tuesday morning. “She’s such a caring and passionate leader. Taryn really looks at each dancer in the second company and finds what exactly it is that will take them to the next step. Because of that, we progressed really quickly.” With this close bond, Kaschock Russell was the perfect person to ask what it is about these two that impressed her. On Schultz: “He is a never-ending ball of energy and curiosity. He is willing, always. He has grown exponentially over the course of two years and added texture and versatility to his already dynamic stage presence. He soaked up every bit of information that he could get his hands on from me and all of the choreographers and colleagues he worked with. Don’t get me wrong, he’s also a handful – in a wonderful way. You have to keep your eye on that one.” On Klock: “Alice has an intelligence that often stops me in my tracks. When I first began working with her, I was taken by her physical beauty and long lines. When she attended the summer program, she was very timid and a bit like a young fawn on those beautiful legs of hers. During her two years with HS2, she went from that understated shy presence, unsure of her place in the room, to eating up the stage with her every movement. She commands attention, her stance is strong and her gaze unyielding. ”

Come see Klock, Schultz, along with new HSDC company member Garrett Anderson this week (Oct 13 – 16) at the Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph)as Hubbard Street presents their Fall Series. On the program, a world premiere SCARLATTI by Twyla Tharp, Nacho Duato’s Archangelo and Walking Mad by Johan Inger. Tickets can be purchased by calling 312.850.9744, 312.334.7777 or by visiting the Harris Theater box office.

The Interview

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Vicki

On a sunny morning in early June, I was in a cab heading to the West Loop studios of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. It’s standard procedure at this point for me to watch rehearsals or steal a few minutes with a dancer or someone on the artistic staff to chat about an upcoming show, but this morning was different. I was going to interview Twyla Tharp. I was getting twenty minutes face-to-face with a legend. To say I was nervous is a serious understatement, but I was determined to rally all of my confidence and go for it. In my research for this meeting (which included reading her two newest books The Creative Habit and The Collaborative Habit), I found Tharp often quoted saying, “If you’re not early, you’re late.” Leaving nothing to chance, I was in the lobby of the studio 45 minutes ahead of our scheduled interview time going over the questions in my head and trying semi-successfully to not freak out. (In fact, Communications Manager Farrah Williams later told me I looked like I was going to throw up. Great.)

Truth be told, I’d been obsessing about this interview ever since I got the “ok” from my editor weeks prior. I had pitched it hard, eventually annoying her into agreement. My inner mantra was: Don’t f*#^ this up! Advice from a dancer that worked with Tharp frequently (who shall remain nameless): Be prepared. Don’t waste her time. Roger that! I was definitely prepared, but the problem with the twenty minute time frame is I knew I wouldn’t be able to ask her all of the questions I wanted. Let me set the record straight. I gained press access to Ms. Tharp because I was writing a story for CS Magazine*, not because of Rogue Ballerina. I’m sure my little dog-and-pony show would not register on the press map to someone of her caliber, plus I heard she does NOT like bloggers. However, I was hoping for the chance to include a couple of questions beyond the scope of the CS readership.

I was escorted upstairs and down a long hallway behind the studios. No turning back now, it was time. First impression: she’s tiny! She’s smaller than I thought she’d be, but otherwise looked just like…well, Twyla Tharp. Petite, but with an enormous presence. Smart, dry, direct, intense. Intimidating. Completely daunted, I forged ahead with my questions punctuated by my trademark idiotic nervous laughter. The next twenty minutes quite frankly is a blur. It went by way too quickly and I came out thinking I was somewhere between having been eaten alive and having held my own. I had survived. Luckily, I have the entire conversation on tape! Upon listening, I found Ms. Tharp to be quite generous and genuine. She has a biting sense of humor that I think, because of her extremely analytical mind, doesn’t come always across. For instance, when I asked my final question – if you went back to your parents’ drive-in movie theater and saw the story of your life on the screen, what would it be titled? – after commenting on what a bizarre question that was (which I took as a complement), she went on to analyze if it would work, how it would work, why it would work, what would be in it, plotting scenes, wondering who would be changing the marquee and then deadpans, “Shirley MacLaine could play me now.” We discussed her process, her habits, her books, what she’s reading and the dreaded subject of getting older. We did not discuss her upcoming work for HSDC. It was still in the planning stages. I would’ve liked to talk to her more about her writing process and asked about her collaboration with musician/composer Danny Elfman, but time ran out.

Here are some excerpts of our conversation that didn’t make it into the article for CS (reprinted in Front Desk Chicago – images below)*.

Congratulations on the Spotlight Award.

Thank you. You’re very kind. As far as I’m concerned, I’m handing it right back to Lou (Conte).

Because you do have quite a few awards already…what makes this one special? Is it the fact that Lou is coming back to give it to you or is it the relationship that you have with Hubbard Street?

It’s not about awards; it’s about work. Lou is a phenomenal legend – a Chicago legend. I’m always, always happy to see him. He’s an honest guy. I really value that. He’s built around his abilities and talents and able to grow it into what is essentially one of the very few repertory companies in America for modern dance. There are numbers of repertory companies for ballet, but very few for modern dance. This is going to become more and more of an issue in the future because will single company founders passing away…Graham, Cunningham, Paul’s in his 80s, I’ve already disbanded the company because I was curious about investigating what happens after you die? Which was my experiment. It’s still my experiment. I kind of look at it as I’m visiting into the world after I’m gone to see both what I can still do in terms of working with the talent and with the – and I really don’t like this word – legacy. The work that’s been done previously, how has it taken hold? How has it imbedded itself, so when I come back 15 years later, what’s there that I can pick up on? What’s made a difference? What has mattered to these dancers? What has been useful to them? That’s sort of a privilege that I have to go back and try to explore…excavate in a way. It’s like archeology.

After 15 years, how did this new collaboration come about? Why did you decide this is the right time to come back?

Well, Glenn (Edgerton) asked if I might do a piece and I was able to put the time in place to do it. Also, it’s always a good time to go back and regroup. 2015 is my 50^th anniversary of work and we’re already starting to develop the platform that we’ll present that year. We’re putting up a new website that is going to give a much more comprehensive overview of things. I’m working on a full-length ballet, a narrative ballet…of a lot of lessons learned and questions asked. I think this is something of the same thing. It’s a revisitation to roots to see where…roots is a bad analogy, because plants don’t grow fast enough. We only have 3.5 weeks to grow this plant, to see where we can get it to. In particular, it’s about the women here. My first group from 1965 – 1970 was all women. We worked in a very different way, different than anybody was working at the time. In being only, not only, but having no men in the group, we pushed ourselves physically as hard as possible. There was no, “ok the guys can do this”. If we wanted jumping, we jumped. If we wanted partnering, we partnered. We developed physically in different ways and we also developed emotionally in very different ways. The women in this company are closer to that ethos than most women in dancing are. It’s about using their courage.

Are you comfortable being labeled a genius?

It’s a ridiculous word. Everyone has a genius. Everyone has a spirit, a spark inside that’s very, very special. There are those who are both fortunate and who have been corralled enough by resourceful human beings to develop discipline. It’s the ones who manage to discipline that spark, to harness that spark that get labeled with this nomenclature. The romance of the genius is ridiculous. Part of genius is the guidance system that one grows up within.

"The Tao of Twyla" - CS Magazine

"Dance Diva" - Front Desk Chicago

See Twyla Tharp’s World Premiere SCARLATTI for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago next week at the Harris Theater! Tickets: 312.850.9744, at HSDC (1147 W Jackson) or in person at the Harris box office (205 E. Randolph).

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