photo by William Frederking

On the last weekend in January, The Dance COLEctive (TDC), currently in its 14th season, will present a concert at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts entitled, “Meet Me There“.   The performance is comprised of three works:  two world premieres and a returning work by Shirley Mordine.  The concert title comes from the process of converging the works and bringing them together from different directions.

“Taking Hold” is a work for eight dancers created by Artistic Director, Margi Cole which takes a look at the hobby of collecting. It takies a peek in to what and why we hold on to things and/or people and when/why do we let go.   A wide range of questions confront the dancers:  What do we collect?  Why?  How?  Do you share your interest with others?  How does it make you feel?  How would you feel if you suddenly had to part with your collection?  This last question can evoke very different responses.  Cole cites two examples of things she has collected:  Beanie Babies and Fiestaware.  Both are stored away, but one is a fun hobby from her youth and the other carries familial and generational attachments.  The dancers also looks at the collecting or creating of relationships.  After journaling on some of these prompts, the dancers started creating duets and trios at random, then layered the movement by adding relationships.  This was a new way of working for Cole.  She adds, “this is not a finished work”, but will be continually evolving.

“IMe” is another world premiere and a collaboration between Cole and Jeff Hancock (Associate Director, Same Planet Different World Dance Theater).  A co-collaboration, or a “co-co” as they like to call it. “I’m loving the co-co!” says Cole.  The partnership provides insightful feedback from two very different backgrounds.  “IMe” explores self-possession, self-promotion and personal reflection in today’s all-access, electronic society.  How do you identify yourself in a public forum (Facebook, Twitter, Match.com) or do you allow the forum to identify you?  While revealing yourself, are you being narcissistic and an exhibitionist or a voyeur?  What are the boundaries?  TDC performed an except at The Other Dance Festival last fall.  After working on it, a smaller, more focused piece has emerged.  For a fun and meaningful twist, the dancers will be wearing t-shirts with their avatars printed on them.

TDC will also be performing a reconstruction of Shirley Mordine’s “Three Women“.  Originally set in 1974, Mordine (founder of the Dance Center at Columbia College and Artistic Director of Mordine & Company Dance Theater) explored the different life stages of women, from childhood to maturity.  Cole, who quickly came back from a knee injury in 2008 to perform at Mordine & Co’s 40th anniversary gala, is dancing Ms. Mordine’s original role.  “I think it’s important to still put myself out there,” says Cole, finding herself at a place of humility.  “The group of dancers I have are lovely, serious and smart.  I’m proud and lucky to be working with them.”

“Meet Me There” – January 28-31, 2010 at 8pm

Ruth Page Center for the Arts

1016 N Dearborn, Chicago

General Admission:  $22

Student & Seniors:  $18

For tickets, go to:  www.dancecolective.com

As mentioned in my prologue, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with fouettes for as long as I’ve known what they were.  Intrigue and fascination quickly turned to obsession.  Unfortunately, I turned (ha!) out to be more of a jumper and toe-hoppin’ kind of gal and the tricky tours grew into my arch-nemesis/bane of my existence.  I still get oddly hypnotized by them and I’m in awe of those that can do them correctly and consistently.

So my new obsession is watching You Tube videos of famous ballerinas performing these breathtaking series of turns.  Here are some of my favorites so far:

Nina Ananiashvili, who had her farewell performance after 16 years with ABT last June, is also the Artistic Director of the State Ballet of Georgia.  Don Q coda.  She doesn’t even use her arms for the first eight!!

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

Svetlana Zakarova, principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.  Don Q coda.  Throwin’ in some doubles.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC1mBBscVHg]

Ekaterina Maximova, who passed away last April, danced with the Bolshoi Ballet 1958-1980.  Look Ma – no hands!!  (Maybe it’s something in the water over there?)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3S1BQJLcLc]

Nina again, Black Swan pas coda.  Maybe the trick is to go really fast?

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky_bW3T60J0&feature=related]

Alicia Alonso, former ABT ballerina 1940-60, Black Swan pas coda.  Doing it old school.  Starts at 0:35.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkYaPv-eRDM]

Ok, now I’m dizzy.  Maybe I’ll dream of doing 32 perfect fouettes tonight.

For a fun end-of-the-year post (well, I started it at the end of last year), I thought I would list some of my favorite performances I saw in Chicago in the last 10-12 years. I say “Ten Top” — not “Top Ten”, because they are listed in no particular order (as I would surely have a most difficult time deciding which was my favorite).

• “Love Poems” – Jan Erkert & Dancers, premiere 1998 – a work for 6 dancers incorporating spoken and written word. I normally don’t like the mix of spoken word with dance, but this piece was so beautifully created and executed that I didn’t mind as much. It also ended with the dancers handing out little poems (japanese?) to the audience, so you took home the mood and feel of the dance and a little inspiration. *Full disclosure (FD): two of my favorite people in the world were in this dance.
• “Lil Roy and the Wierd Sisters” – The Seldoms, premiere 2004 – a nerdy 9-year-old imagines three distictly different sisters after a tragic accident at a carnival. The 3 sister solos, all performed by Artistic Director Carrie Hanson (and originally created in 1997), were creative, quirky and cotton candy cool! This epic piece, set in the cavernous space at Architectural Artifacts, was a fun carny romp with some amazing dancing thrown in (not to mention some big wigs!). A departure from the troupe’s normally more somber themes, Lil Roy was pure fun and entertainment.
• “Concerto Six Twenty Two” – choreography by Lar Lubovitch, danced by Tobin Del Coure and Jamy Meek at Dance for Life (2005??) – a love duet for two men. Set to a beautiful Mozart score, the duet shows the strength and softness of the couple’s love. I think the entire audience was crying by the end of this haunting, gorgeous dance.
• “Giselle” – American Ballet Theatre tour (2006-2007 season), Julie Kent and Jose’ Manuel Carrera. My favorite ballet. Julie Kent literally floated across the stage, so ghost-like (and skinny!) and perfect and Jose’ brought down the house with his Act Two death dance. (He even had to “wake up” after his variation to acknowledge the audience before the show could go on.) Goose bumps, tears, all of it. Brava!
• “Are You Satisfied” – Circuit Mom in Concert, Park West Chicago, 2001, choreography by Todd Michael Kiech, dancers: Tony Peyla, Ruedi Arnold, Francisco Avina, Mark Schulze and Matthew Harvat. This fundraiser/circuit party/dance performance, in its 2nd year was so much fun! This final dance was hot, hot, hot! 5 hot guys dressed all in black a la Matrix, a hot song by Deborah Cooper and a great crowd made for the end of a fantastic night of dancing, charity and love. *FD: again, some of my fave peeps!
• “Surrealium” – Lucky Plush Productions, premiere 2005, choreography Julia Rhoades and Krenly Guzman. This multi-media production is based on a child’s fascination with a helium balloon. It was one of the first perfomances that made me think “outside of the box” dance-wise and like it!  Moving set pieces (a dancer slowly climbing up and rolling down a moving staircase), exotic costumes, balloons and a tricycle…oh my!  *FD:  peep.
• Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker – choreography:  Robert Joffrey & Gerald Arpino.  My favorite version of this holiday classic.  The Sugar Plum Pas duo of Maia Wilkins and Willy Shives was a delight to see.  I used to go every year when they were cast to see what they would change or add.
  What a wonderful partnership.  And, of course, the incomparable Calvin Kitten as Frtiz/Snow Prince/Chinese.  His playful, spoiled child antics as Fritz, his quick beats and soaring jumps in Snow(which always got Arpino to yell Bravo!) and his crazy split jumps in Chinese made the show.  This was his final Nutcracker…he will be missed!  And the Waltz of the Flowers – absolutely lovely.
• Hubbard Street Dance Chicago – Oct 2007.  This was company dancer Cheryl Mann’s last performance.  An audience and critic favorite, Ms. Mann was always the epitome of grace, beauty and strength.  Her ten-year career with HSDC ended with a wonderful Sunday afternoon performance followed by a long standing ovation, flowers and tears.  The accolades went on so long that she seemed embarassed, but it was well deserved.  I’m glad I was there to experience it.

The final two performances were so new and amazing to me that I’m not sure I can describe them.  It was my first encounter with both companies and they blew me away.

• Nederlands Dans Theater, June 2009:  The Holland-based company presented three works for their first performance in the States since the ’70s.  Wow!  And double Wow!  Incredible sets (a moving house broken into two stories and three rooms and a huge tree hanging upside down center stage!), beautiful music (one piece to the haunting Phillip Glass), passionate, strong and amazing dancing (NDT’s technique and style is unique and unsurpassed) showed why this troupe is loved world-wide.
• Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company – Sept 2009:  “Fondly We Hope…Fervently Do We Pray” was commissioned by the Ravinia Festival to celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  Combining dance, live music, spoken text, video, a circular gauze curtain, audio from speeches and debates this mutlidimensional artform was at some points too much to take in, but it was poignant, fascinating and brilliantly performed all around.  The Metra train stopping on the nearby tracks added a live element that perfectly matched the tone and spirit of what the Trib’s Sid Smith called a “monumentally ambitious” work that meditated on teh perks and flaws of our democracy throughout Lincoln’s era to today (there were a few shout outs to our newly elected Pres).  I hope they tour with it.  It was amazing and thought-provoking.  Here is a link to an interview Mr. Jones did with Bill Moyers:  Interview with Bill Moyers

As an honorable mention, I’d like to include what is probably my favorite piece.  “SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down” by Daniel Ezralow, performed by Hubbard StreetDance Chicago.  When I first saw it, the all-star (now alumni) cast included Alberto Arias, Sandi Cooksey, Ron de Jesus and Shan Bai.  The cast was stellar!  They did this crazy horizontal flip-turn thing off the floor and a sort of sideways, flat leap frog sequence…the women too!  I saw it while they were on tour down state and had never seen anything like it and it made me want to be in Chicago to see what else was going on in the dance world here.

*Amendment!  I can’t believe I forgot this one…so make it 12.  Last September, I had the privilege of seeing Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance:  “Three Solos and a Duet“.  Misha!  He could stand on stand and do nothing (which isn’t far from what he did in the first piece – heavy on the pantomime and charm) and I would swoon.  They nailed his first entrance.  No music, just him…HIM, walking out to center stage.  It let the audience get that initial explosion of nerves, excitement and awe out, so he could go on to perform.  The second piece was a mix of him live juxtaposed with video of him dancing in his youth.  Just watching the video of him was worth the price of admission.  On a note of humor they had him prepping for a turn — live — and showed the video of him doing multiple pirouettes.  The real Misha, just shook his head and walked away, while the video sped up and had him turning and turning and turning.  The woman he performed with, Ana Laguna, was a beautiful and unique mover.

‘Tis the season. Now that the weather has decided it’s offically winter, what’s the best way to celebrate the season? Going to see The Nutcracker, of course.  Along with an annual viewing of the Baryshnikov/Kirkland version via dvd (classic!), The Joffrey’s Nutcracker hits the classical tradition spot. From the live children’s choir to the giant Mother Ginger puppet, the sweet innocence of Clara to the technically brillant pas de deux, Robert Joffrey’s adaptation will take your breath away.

Highlights:

• the magical transition (aided by Drosselmeyer) of the Nutcracker from toy to live soldier
• the hilarious Mouse King
• the moment when the Nutcracker turns into the prince at the beginning of the Snow Scene (goose bumps!)
• Arabian variation (ridiculous flexibility – a Joffrey trademark)
• Chinese variation (pay attention!  there’s only two of them, but wow!)
• the adorable gingerbread doll in Mother Ginger (“Gingey”?)
• Waltz of the Flowers  (best version ever)

Preview Pics! Here are some fabulous photos taken by Herbert Migdoll.

Michael Smith as Herr Drosselmeyer

John Gluckman in Chinese variation

Megan Quiroz & Thomas Nicholas in Arabian

Victoria Jaiani in Waltz of the Flowers

Victoria Jaiani & Fabrice Calmels in Sugar Plum pas de deux

Ticket information:

December 11 – 27

www.ticketmaster.com, 1.800.982.ARTS (2787)

Joffrey Tower Box Office, 10 E Randolph, open 12-6pm: M-F

Auditorium Theatre Box Office, 50 E Congress, open 12-6pm: M-F

This Thursday (November 19th) starts the previews of the world premiere of Banana Shpeel, Cirque du Soleil’s newest creative endeavor, at the Chicago Theatre. A blend of tap, hip-hop, slapstick comedy and a zany story, this “new take on vaudeville” is only in Chicago for seven weeks before it heads to NYC.

After watching a short rehearsal, I sat down with brother/sister tap team, Joseph and Josette Wiggins (known as The Double J’s), who are featured in the show. They’ve been tapping since ages 9 and 12 (respectively) and have danced nationally and internationally (42nd Street, LA Tap Festival, ACGI Tap Company) in the 13 years since.

Where did the nickname “The Double J’s”come from?

Our father. He was basically our manager. We were in a competition and we won and he came up with the name The Double J’s…and it stuck.

Where are you based now? LA – NYC?

For the most part we’re both in Los Angeles. She’s been there…

I never left.

I spent about 4 years of my life in New York. For school for one year and then working, but the past year I’ve been back in Los Angeles. So…I’m home.

I’ve always been there. I just travel out.

Was it difficult being separated? Are you used to dancing together?

We would come together for shows…whenever something would happen.

The Los Angeles Tap Festival is one we would always come back and do.

When did you know this was something you wanted to do for a living — or that you could do this for a living?

You can go first.

I was actually about 12. I was riding around in the back seat of our first teacher’s (Paul Kennedy) car. I used to assist him with after school programs…actually both of us (did). I just remember riding around with him one afternoon and I was like, “I can’t believe I’m a tap dancer.” It really hit me. It really hit me because I never knew what I wanted to be. I was always into baseball, basketball…shortly before we started dancing; we were playing piano…so I didn’t know where my life was going. After a while…after being involved in performing…the amount of shows we did with The Kennedy Tap Company…it was like kind of a shock. My life just completely took a different turn. And that was when I realized that I had such a strong connection with the dance – being athletic and artistic.

For me, I kind of fought it my whole life. I knew I loved dancing and I would always dance for my…as long as I could breathe and walk, but I never really saw it as a career. And so, I went from wanting to be a lawyer at one point to wanting to be a human rights activist at another point…um, wanting to start my own business. I even did. I started a coffee business for a little bit and I would say…in every endeavor, my dancing always took me away from it. And so that’s when I finally realized…if this is what I’m supposed to be doing then it’s really making it clear. The dancing is just kind of saying this is where you need to be. And I knew that…it’s always been my escape, it’s always been something I could turn to deal with issues and deal with things. It’s been my coping mechanism to get through life and a passion of mine, but I never say it as what I would do for the rest of my life until now. I’ve finally come to terms with it!

And you look happy.

Yeah.

What made you decide to audition for a Cirque show?

They actually contacted us. They saw footage of us dancing on You Tube and invited us to one of the auditions.

And there are few opportunities for tap dancers today, especially with a company that’s as well known as Cirque du Soleil. When we heard that they were interested in doing something that focused on vaudeville, we couldn’t miss this opportunity of where our teachers come from…that is passed down through the dance, hand-down…the opportunity to pay homage and also…

…to show tap dance, because it’s really not shown on a scale this large. There’s a scene, but it’s an underground scene that tap dancers and people who know about tap dance go to, but on a large like this, tap dancers aren’t really exposed unless it’s in a commercial setting. This is the first time I feel that it’s going to be…best represented in its truest form.

And today, the tap dance scene is busting…

It’s really spreading everywhere. This (show) is going to be huge and they have three finalists on SYTYCD that are tappers…I love it. You don’t see tap everywhere and I think this show will bring it back…really since Gregory Hines…he was the last big thing.

Well, Savion.

Do you know him? Do you guys hang out?

Not hanging out. We know him, but not…

The community is so small, but I don’t have his cell phone number. Many folks that came out of his show that he choreographed…some of who are our mentors and teachers. We learned indirectly from him. A lot of the hoofers that he studied from hands on, we still go back to footage of the dancers that really took this dance in a different direction when they added their own personalities. They did it for 60 years…they did it until the end. They had a different understanding.

Can you explain the difference between tapping and hoofing?

There’s no difference. (Answering at the same time)

There’s no difference. It’s the same thing…a step is a step — a shuffle is a shuffle.

It’s not just a style difference?

No, hoofing is what tap dancers call…tap dancers that really spend a lot of time with improvisation. They really perfect the expression of…their own expression through tap dance.

Their voice. They find their own voice.

They can create, they can choreograph, but they’re really defined by how well they can create a picture, a story visually right on the spot.

Right on the spot. (Again, at the same time.)

Just like any of your best jazz musicians. Like when Bunny Briggs was still alive, he would perform with Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Earl Hines and create performances that people would think were choreographed, but were really made up on the spot.

Do you prefer improving or set choreography?

I prefer improvisation, personally.

I like both. I know I spend the most time on choreography, but it’s better when I can improvise and know myself. I really enjoy both.

For Banana Shpeel, is it a lot of set choreography and then you get to improv as well? Or were you involved in the process of creating the choreography?

Well, right now the show is changing so much and for the moment…for our featured segment, we can choreograph also. We have the artistic opportunity…

Of your section?

Yes, for our section.

Gregory Hines came up with this term “improvography,” where there are certain ideas that are outlined and we have artistic room to make that change…to make any changes on stage or that happens beforehand. We’ll have elements of both.

So, when you work together, who’s the boss?

Both.

We both are.

We have – so far – found a way to compromise. Give and take.

…It kind of flows naturally. I think the one you might have seen us perform, we choreographed in four hours.

I read that you did it two days before you performed it at 3 o’clock in the morning.

On carpet.

It was kind of fun.

*video of New Orleans Bump from the 2007 LA Tap Festival

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwSWWTKvoq4]

Did you guys really used to practice in the kitchen in your socks?

Laughing…

Yes, when we first started that’s how we…because I started three months before him and once he started, I was so excited because I had someone to practice with and someone to share this new thing with.

And it was summer, so we had time…

We had so much time, so we’d just go in and went for it. I remember when finally school came around, we had to go to school, but we would go to bed and then wake up and go into the kitchen and practice.

So do you think you have a…kind of psychic physical thing where you know what the other one is going to do because you’ve worked together so much and know each other so well?

Yeah, we don’t call it psychic, but we definitely have a…We pretty much know each other very well. I know her probably closer than any other…in this career. She’s 26, I’m 23 – we’re just three years apart.

We were raised together.

I’ve probably spent the most time with her than anyone else in my life.

To see The Double J’s and the rest of the cast of Banana Shpeel, go to: www.thechicagotheatre.com or call 800.745.3000 for ticket information.

The Glissade Series focuses on artists in various stages of transition.

In May 2008, Willy Shives was gearing up to perform in his final performance with The Joffrey Ballet.  This bittersweet occasion coincided with my first professional writing job.  We sat down one chilly morning to discuss his career and thoughts on retiring.  Now, 18 months later, Shives is thriving in his role as the Joffrey’s Ballet Master.

WILLY THE KID

Cue Curtain – Up
Cue Music – Copeland’s “Hoe-down” (Think “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner” ad)
Cue Lights – Fade In

Act I
A young farm boy on his paper route in south Texas stumbles across a dance studio. Rapt, he starts mopping floors and washing mirrors so he can take class. He befriends a local girl also studying dance. At age nine, he receives a full scholarship to study at a famous ballet school in New York City. More scholarships follow. He and the girl fall in love. At 19, he lands his first professional gig, marries the girl and moves to NYC. He dances all over the world, receives rave reviews, has two children and lives happily ever after.

Set this love story on a ranch, throw in some boots, a cowboy hat and a lasso and you’ve got Rodeo, Shives’ favorite ballet (his wife Evie was his first cowgirl). Really, you can’t make this kind of story up.

Intermission
Looking out over Lake Shore Drive, he says, “I lived my dream.” Truly.

His entire face lights up when talking of his charmed life and love of dance. At 46, he takes class every day. His execution deemed the “equivalent of velvet” by Chicago Tribune Arts critic Sid Smith, is still spot on. So why retire now? His official retirement has been in the works for over three years and he says the time is “right”.

He’s attempted retirement once before. In 1999, injured, tired and with a second baby on the way, he was ready to head home to Texas. Enter Gerald Arpino, co-founder and Director Emeritus at the Joffrey Ballet. Mr. A (or “Uncle Jerry” as the Shives girls call him) convinced Willy to dance for him in Chicago and for nine stellar seasons he has been center stage and an audience favorite.

Act II
With a career spanning 27 years (33 years if you count the jobs he was getting paid for at the age of 13), eight major ballet companies, international tours, critical acclaim and a role in a Robert Altman movie, Shives seems to have nine lives. His next step will be transitioning into full-time Ballet Master for the Joffrey.

Affectionately called “grandpa” by some of the younger company dancers, he thrives in the mentoring role. He is gifted at teaching and enjoys watching dancers embrace his direction and make it their own. Whether through his coaching, character roles or his daughter’s future career (yes, at least one is planning on following in her parents’ footsteps), his presence will be on the Chicago stage for many years to come.

For his final performance (Sunday, May 25), Shives will be dancing Ruth, Ricordi Per Due with long-time partner Maia Wilkins, who is also leaving the Joffrey after this season. Created for the pair, Ruth is a memorial piece in which one lover is left grieving. This duet holds an additional artistic challenge for Shives; he has to cry onstage. When asked if those tears would be easier to access this time, he quietly says no. He is ready to move on and is “cherishing every moment” until that last curtain call. My guess is there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

Music Ends

Cue Lights – Fade to black

Cue Curtain – Down

Applause.

Here is the article as it appeared in the May 2008 issue of CS Magazine: shives_CS_May08

Congratulations to everyone at Joffrey Ballet Chicago for a wonderful run of Othello.