Hello? You there, yes you.
Can I take a moment of your time for a quick, painless and ANONYMOUS survey? I have an idea of who you are, but would like to ask a few simple questions to solidify who is reading RB.
Please and thank you!
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Giselle "Gigi" Crain at home.
Her extensions aren’t so good and she isn’t known for sticking to the choreography (although she is a wonderful marcher). But what she lacks in technique, she more than makes up for with enthusiasm…and kisses.
Career Transition For Dancers will host a free career development conference on Sunday, April 1st at the Hubbard Street Dance Center (1147 W. Jackson Blvd). All dancers are invited to attend. You can be actively dancing, retired, getting ready to retire or just want some information to see what else is out there and available. You do not need to be a client of Career Transition or a union member to come to the event. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is hosting the event and providing the space. There will be light refreshments served and you don’t have to stay for the entire day.
The conference is from 12:00 (noon) to 6:00 pm. There will be a client services consultant and a career counselor on site, as well as Keynote Speaker Harrison McEldowney and Plenary Speaker Ron De Jesus, both well-known dancers and choreographers. A panel of former dancers that have successfully transitioned to new, thriving careers includes Carl Corry, Keith Elliott, Cheryl Mann and Rachel Northway.
RSVP here in advance or call 312.666.0234. For more information contact Tiffiny Flaim at tflaim@careertransition.org.
Dancers Alaina Murray, Madelyn Doyle & Maggie Koller of The Dance COLEctive. Photo by William Frederking.
Next weekend at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, The Dance COLEctive (TDC) takes the stage with Built By Fault, a concert featuring two works by Artistic Director Margi Cole and a solo, I Think Not, for Cole choreographed by Deborah Hay, a former Cunningham dancer and choreographer noted for her work in the solo form. Last season’s Pull Taught (previewed here), inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, tackles instincts, gut reactions and how we come to quick decisions. Cole’s new work for ten dancers, Moving Stories, reflects on the definition of home, a topic weighing on her mind while traveling in Europe for two weeks last August. “You have your tiny creature comforts that you take with you – my water bottle, my ball I wanted to roll on, a scarf I wore every day – it really makes you think about what you’re returning to, what you need and how home is defined,” she tells me over breakfast in Lakeview. “Is it defined by the place where you are? Is it defined by the stuff you have with you? Is it defined by people? Is it always in the same place or does it change?” Using these questions as a jumping-off point, the exploration quickly turned to questions about moving from one place to the next and how you decide what is important enough to keep. That conversation naturally transitioned to moments of being emotionally moved. Cole had just returned from Hay’s The Solo Performance Commissioning Project in Findhorn, Scotland, an experience she calls profound and humbling.
I want to talk about your solo. Why did you want to work with Deborah Hay?
My interest was really about her solo practice and how it aligned with my interest in solo dance making and the fact that I’m scared shitless to make my own solo. I’m still not ready to do that, so it’s a little stepping stone to that place where I might jump off and make myself a solo…sometime. It’s hard to be in the work. It’s hard to be inside of it. Regardless of whether I’m the dance maker or the performer, the solo is informed by my experience. I’m imprinted in it. I have a little cache of solos that I’ve been doing since TDC started. I think it’s important for me, as the primary spokesmodel to have a presence that way…and important for me to have the opportunity to learn and flip the tables so that I’m the dancer instead of the choreographer. Then I have more to give back to the dancers. Local dancers Julia Mayer and Emily Stein had worked with Deborah and said they had really profound experiences.
Did you have to audition? How did you get chosen to attend the workshop?
You have to apply and get accepted and then you have to fulfill the caveat that you have to raise the money from the community. You couldn’t throw any of your own money into the pot. I had to meet the deadline for the commissioning fee by December, so I went to the Driehaus Foundation and said “this is something I really want to do, would you be willing to help me? I’m going to raise the rest of the money through a Kickstarter program” and they were willing to help, then I raised the rest of the money through Kickstarter. It’s a great mechanism. I love that it has a deadline.
What was the was the solo process like?
It’s almost like you have to strip down…you have to take away everything you know in order for you to get to a place where you can really have some self-reflection and have an authentic experience. It’s really fucking scary. The way she works allows for you to have this really profound experience. She’s been working on solo practice for 40 years. She’s got it perfected to some degree. It’s perfected in a way that the shape of the process holds. It’s like this vessel that allows you to explore and discover something new all the time. That’s really part of what all of this was about. I had a lot of epiphanies there. One of the things that happened for me was that I recognized that the practice was all about honoring time in a different way. It’s not about how much less you have, but how much more you have and that having a vast space for experience to happen is valid. Having less time is part of my culture and using the time that I need and actually using the time that I need has the potential to be a political statement for me. I also realized that I make myself terminally busy, so that I don’t have to self-reflect. I had this moment with Deborah one day where she came and talked to me in group practice…there’s 20 of us in the room and she could tell that I was struggling and having this moment and she said, “I can see that there’s a lot bubbling up for you and you’re getting a lot out of the process. You know what’s really beautiful about it is what you’re getting is coming to you from the dance…through the experience of the dance.” I’ve been dancing all this time and, in essence, just giving, giving and giving and never asking it for anything back. The fact that I was having this really profound experience and it was being given to me by dancing was really overwhelming. She just has this amazing power. I felt really vulnerable the whole time I was working. Deborah is so dedicated to discovering something new every time. That’s not easy to do. You have to be fully present and open.
Cole with choreographer Deborah Hay.
So, will all 20 of you do the same solo?
What happens is she gives us a score. Basically it walks you through the whole process step-by-step. It tells you where to go in terms of your shape, the choreography…and everybody has the same score. Then she teaches you how she operates in space and what her values are around having that particular experience. That’s how you surf in the structure of the score. She gives us permission to create an adaptation* of her work. An adaptation implies the evolution of the solo, so we can add a costume, we can add text, film, lights, etc. We can’t create another element to the structure, but you can subtract from it. When she sends you away, you sign a contract that says you have to practice your solo daily for three months, basically five days a week, and you have to commit to the exploration of the solo practice. That paired with your commitment to the community of people who have backed your work gives you accountability. We can invite people to come and watch. It’s a challenge to incorporate the daily practice into your life on top of everything else. I’ve been doing it, but it hasn’t been easy. Again one of the big things I got from this was about honoring time. As I’ve been doing my practice, I’ve had a really hard time getting over the hump toward a longer version of the solo. Ideally, it’s around 22 mins. That’s a challenge for me, but it was also a discovery of how I operate personally. I have self-discipline when it comes to getting the job done when it needs to be done, but when it has to do with me, then it’s not so good. I’m really good at making myself the last priority. I did the solo on Sunday and one of the things that one of my dancers said was that she’d never seen me do anything like this before. That was a huge compliment. If I feel uncomfortable, then I rely on Margi-the-dancer and now I’m more to a point where I don’t have to rely on Margi-the-dancer to hold my own in the material. I feel braver about being able to go beyond her.
Are you freaking out about having to perform it next week?
I’m a little scared. I get nervous when I perform. I have so many people invested in me and this that I want it to come off. But I’m also so enamored with Deborah that how the adaptation comes to life is really important. I want to honor her process and vision in terms of the work.
I think it’s crazy brave. I would never have the balls to do it.
I knew what I was getting myself into, but…didn’t realize what I was going to take away from it. She kept saying, “What if where I am is what I need?” What do I need? I never give myself enough time to think about it.
*Hay’s notes on adaptation here.
The Dance COLEctive presents ‘Built By Fault’, Jan 26 – 28 @ 8pm
Ruth Page Center, 1016 N Dearborn, Tickets $25 (Students/Seniors $20)
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Smith as Drosselmeyer in Joffrey's "Nutcracker". Photo by Herbert Migdoll.
“I’m very thankful,” Michael Smith told me over cocktails this summer. “The Joffrey chapter of my life has been going on for a while. I’m lucky because I never really planned on it being this way.” A Chicago native, he lived for a short time in Gary, Indiana with his teacher/social worker mother before moving back to the city. That is where he got his first taste of dance at school. “My grandma would say that I watched The Nutcracker in her living room and just dance around. She’d say, ‘ok, you need to stop it before you knock something over!'” Smith, now in his 11th season with the Joffrey Ballet, is finishing this year’s run of Nutcracker performances (only two matinees left!). This season he’s dancing multiple parts: a parent in the Party Scene, a soldier, the Mouse King, in snow scene, two parts in Waltz of the Flowers and Russian nougat and Dr. Drosselmeyer, his favorite part. “There’s nothing like it. It’s an acting role, but it really gives you a chance to tell the story with Clara and have a great time with the audience,” says Smith. “You are the storyteller and you get to make all the magic happen. It’s hard because if it’s not done well, the story is lost.”
Here’s my Q&A with a man that literally grew up within the Joffrey and who I’m happy to call friend.
So, what’s your story?
(Laughing) I’m a child of the 80’s. Imagination was really pushed with me and my sister. When I was going to be a freshman in high school, my Mom thought I should audition for this private school…Chicago Academy for the Arts. I wanted to just go to school and be a teenager, but she convinced me. I went to the audition and I got in…then I freaked out. I had no idea what that really meant. Most kids know that they want to dance and have been dancing since they were three. For me, it was more like a hobby. At school. I was taking three hours of ballet, jazz, modern classes and learning about the art form. It wasn’t until my junior year that I thought maybe I should do this…maybe I should start taking this seriously.
How did you go from hobby to Joffrey?
The secretary of the school told me the Joffrey was looking for boys to fill in the background in The Nutcracker and I was like, “no, I don’t do ballet”…but she convinced me. The school sent four of us over and we had to take class. Mr. Arpino came and watched. The asked me and a friend (David Gombert) to come back and take another class, then asked if we were interested in doing Nutcracker. So for a few months, we would go to school in the morning, then head over to Joffrey to take company class at 10:00 am. We were there all day rehearsing. We did Nutcracker season and started getting to know a few people in the company that we weren’t scared of. I was terrified of everyone, but Calvin (Kitten). He’s the cutest little nugget ever. I was a soldier. I still am! I did the same soldier spot for like 12 years. (laughing) That’s sad. Now, I help teach it.
Were you hooked? Was Joffrey it for you?
My goal since my junior year was I want to go to New York. I’m going to dance for Ailey. Period – end of story. My email address used to be Ailey2000! Being at Joffrey…we were in this fantasy bubble where dance was our life for a few months, it was weird transitioning back into school life again. Joffrey was starting a new apprentice program for six dancers and asked if we (Smith and Gombert) were interested. I’d just started taking it seriously, meaning, ok I’m not going to skip my ballet class and go take another modern class. I knew that I didn’t want to go to college. I thought ‘you need something. You can’t be poor!’ I agreed to it and signed the contract. Literally a week later I got offered a contract with Hubbard Street 2 and had to turn it down. I graduated in 200 and started the apprenticeship in the fall.
Over the years, how has the company changed?
Technically, the company has always had its technical people in it, but now it is really emphasized. The company is a lot younger than it used to be. There’s a huge age gap. There’s a small group of us that are about to turn 30 and a few at 25, then the babies…19, 20, 21. Over the years, the emphasis on rep has changed…the things being brought in and what is being demanded of us. I kind of miss doing some of the historic works. There’s nothing better than to be choreographed on, being that vehicle to produce art. At the same time, there’s something very interesting and a lot of growth can happen by doing older, historic works. I go to do the horse in ‘Parade’. Who wants to do that? The experience was amazing. I miss doing Arpino stuff a little. I guess that’s a change as well. I got to dance while he was still alive in his company. To have that greatly influenced how I viewed and still view dance and this company.
Do you have a favorite Mr. A story or memory?
Some of my favorite memories are just random moments. I miss seeing him sitting in front of the room or seeing him in the back giving you a thumbs up or an ‘ok’ sign. As apprentices, we would get gifts from him every once in a while. One of them was this huge, oversized knit scarf that,I assume, someone had made for him. The first couple of years, I only wore it every once in a while, but now it is a saving grace come wintertime. I need that big, chunky scarf. I need Mr. A’s scarf. Getting to dance for him at the opening of the new building (Joffrey Tower), that was a really special moment. He’d always say, ‘This company is going to have a home.” To see him walk into that building was such a special time. His dream just came true. That was pretty kick ass.
How have you changed?
I’m a lot calmer with age. Outside of work, I try to be really chill. In the studio, in my early 20’s, I tried to be a bad ass and talk back. You’re still trying to figure out who you are at that age and my nature was to be more aggressive about it. You have to find where you’re going to put your energy. Life is too short. I’m here to dance. I want to be art. I want to express myself through art. I want to exchange art and discuss it with other people. I’m the most senior boy in the company now and I know what it’s like to be that little punk kid in high school. Now I have all this experience under my belt. There is nothing more humbling than to have someone new in the company and to go and help them. I learn things and help teach it to others. I’ve been here a long time. I’m dedicated to it. It’s home to me.
What have been some of your favorite pieces to perform?
(Jiri) Kylían’s ‘Return to a Strange Land’, hands down. I got to do it with Maia (Wilkins) and Willy (Shives). That was beyond a dream come true on so many levels. Kylían is one of my all-time favorite choreographers. It just feels good to do his movement. Having the chance to dance with two people that are such great partners and to be the third in the trio…that’s a lot to live up to. That was a super highlight. The Pilobulus piece ‘Untitled’, ‘Suite Saint Sans’. ‘Inner Space’ was three dancers in a 4×4 Plexiglass box. Loved it! Everyone wants to go out and be the prince or the lead, but there is something to be gained from doing the more abstract stuff too. Finding your own story in it or how you can get through this to make it entertaining and find growth within yourself. You’ve never had to do some self-examination until you’ve been put in a 4×4 box with two other people for seven minutes! Getting to do one of the stepsisters in ‘Cinderella’ with one of my best friends (Gombert). We were playing ourselves pretty much only in women’s clothing. I don’t know if anything that silly will enter my life again. It was pretty fantastic. And ‘Nutcracker’ is always something special. I do love it. It’s the one time of year where you are performing constantly. It’s like, should I even take this make-up off? I’m going to be right back.
You also have talents in a vast range of hobbies: photography, videography, choreography and teaching. What are your goals?
To take whatever comes and see what happens. When Jessica Lang came and set ‘Crossed’…that was a great experience. Really inspiring. You truly just have to be the vessel and let the art come through you. She told me to never say no to anything. Go do it and see what happens. Try to make all these things happen and see what comes out of it. It was a great piece of advice. Not that you can’t say no, but if you can do it…why not? My goal wold be to keep experiencing everything I can possibly experience. If you allow yourself to be open to just experience it, you’ll learn a lot. I’ve auditioned for Hubbard Street like five or six times now. I love them. I’d love to dance for Hubbard Street.
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Time really does fly during the holiday season. It’s been almost a week since opening night of Joffrey Ballet‘s annual The Nutcracker performance at the Auditorium Theatre and I can’t stop thinking about it (or get the music out of my head!). Honestly, this is not a new development. Nothing says Happy Holidays to me more than watching a good version of The Nut and, in my view, Joffrey’s is the best. Set in 1850s America, Robert Joffrey took a classic German tale and made it ours. There is so much action happening on stage that even the notoriously boring Party Scene breezes by leaving you wondering what you missed. Derrick Agnoletti as the bratty little Fritz provided comic relief for those not completely enthralled with Clara (Abigail Simon), her Godfather Drosselmeyer (Matthew Adamczyk) and her obsession with the wooden doll that happens to crack nuts. Once the clock strikes midnight, the action escalates in Clara’s dreams aided with some magic dust from Dr. Drosselmeyer. (Seriously, what is in that sparkly stuff? I’ll take two please!) Dolls coming to life, an enormous growing tree, a, epic battle, a first kiss, a beautiful snow fall and a lovely pas de deux: and that’s only Act One! The audience seemed a bit shy and lulled by the graceful snow pas danced by Victoria Jaiani and Dylan Gutierrez, but finally livened up to applaud during Agnoletti’s spirited dancing as the Snow Prince.
The excitement carried over into Act Two which had each of the divertissements getting rousing approval. Erica Lynnette Edwards was sassy in the Spanish variation, Arabian showed off Jaiani’s super flexibility, the Russian Nougats’ gravity-defying leaps (as usual) brought down the house, Elizabeth Hansen proved perfectly pristine as the lead Marzipan Shepherdess and Gerald Arpino’s choreography in Waltz of the Flowers is just as gorgeous as the famous music. The petite Yumelia Garcia as the Sugar Plum Fairy stunned the crowd (and RB!) with a spectacular balance at the end of the Grand pas that lasted at least 10 seconds! No joke, she stayed perched in first arabesque so long, she missed the next section of choreography, then hurried with her cavalier (Ogulcan Borova) downstage for the dramatic end poses all to cheers and wild applause.
On a somber note before the show, Artistic Director Ashley Wheater dedicated this season’s Nutcracker performances in honor of the city’s former First Lady, Maggie Daley, who was a huge supporter of the arts and served on Joffrey’s Women’s Board. Daley died last month after a long battle with cancer.
There are 16 performances left – get your tickets now and enjoy this holiday classic ballet.
Joffrey Ballet presents The Nutcracker through Dec 27th
Auditorium Theatre, 50 E Congress, 800.982.2787 or ticketmaster.com
Hubbard Street in "twice (once)" by Terence Marling. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
Seven members of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) took a corner of the Harris Theater stage with select members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) for the MusicNOW series last night where HSDC Artistic Associate Terry Marling premiered his work to a score written by CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Anna Clyne. Clyne, along with her fellow Composer-in-Residence, Mason Bates (cute!) hosted the evening that featured four other musical works by Julia Wolfe, Anthony Cheung, Aaron Jay Kernis, Lee Hyla. Each work was previewed with a video clip of the composer discussing their process as well as an appearance on stage to answer a question or two from the hosts. Cellist Kenneth Olsen played brilliantly in four of the five pieces and the petite Cynthia Yeh grabbed my focus with her huge sounds on percussion. Aside from a three-year stint playing the alto sax, my musical knowledge is fairly limited (music is my brother’s milieu), so I will leave that to the experts and focus on the dance.
With general admission seating it’s always a gamble, but I lucked out and grabbed a great seat down front (not too close) and center. When the crew rearranged the stage for the final piece, I realized the dancing would be happening on the stage left side and my vision was compromised, unfortunately, by a man with an ENORMOUS head. Undeterred, I wiggled around and leaned on my friend until I could see the dance space clearly, although at an angle. With no wings, the black stage walls provided a moody backdrop for the dancers wearing all white. A door on the back wall with bright light shining in served as the entrance (and numerous exits) for the dancers. In twice (once), Marling worked with the limited stage space by placing most of the dance on an angle coming from the open door. The dancers worked off of that angle, replacing each other, entering/exiting through the door, disappearing into the stage left blackness to Clyne’s achingly beautiful score. He successfully created a feeling of infinity, particularly in a moment where Kellie Epperheimer walked slowly forward on the angle while the other six dancers ran in a moving circle around her. Another breathtaking moment was with Ana Lopez (always brilliant, her solo work mesmerizing) where Jesse Bechard and David Schultz, who replaced an injured Pablo Piantino, held her feet to the ground while she swayed and arched back like a willow in the wind (pictured above). The sheer tulle skirts on the women added to the elegiac theme of the music (Clyne wrote it immediately after her mother’s death) and the somber, slow exit out of the door into the light by the dancers extended past the final note, again bringing to mind infinity and beyond. I’m looking forward to seeing Marling’s choreography reconfigured for the Danc(e)vole performances at the MCA Stage in January. His keen sense of weight shifts and musical timing shine on the HSDC dancers.
Tonight at the Harris Theater, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) presents another installment of its MusicNOW series and includes a world premiere danced by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC). twice (once), choreographed by HSDC Artistic Associate Terence “Terry” Marling is a work for seven dancers set to a piece of music composed by CSO Composer-in-Residence Anna Clyne. Clyne wrote Within Her Arms in honor of her mother shortly after her passing. Played by a 15-piece string ensemble, it is a departure from the acoustic and electro-acoustic sound she normally dabbles in. Marling, who writes music himself, was immediately in love with the music. “The music is really emotional,” says Marling. “It was a daunting, scary start. There’s the initial fear that music that emotional can overwhelm the choreography, so I had to draw on what I knew of that depth of emotion like the birth of my son.”
The evening also features musical works by Julia Wolfe and Aaron Jay Kernis, with Conductor Christian Macelaru making his MusicNOW debut. This is the first time HSDC has appeared in the series, although they have collaborated with the CSO before. Marling wanted to create a geometrically visual stage picture, so he used a combination of math and choreography to create what he calls “a fair view of infinity”. He started working with the HSDC dancers on the piece over the summer, but with performance and touring schedules found himself short on studio time. Luckily, he knows the dancers well and they were willing to try anything. “The artists I work with are wonderful,” says Marling, “and I can always keep making steps. I’m really happy with how it turned out.”
MusicNOW: Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Hubbard St Dance Chicago, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph at 7 pm
Tickets are still available: $22, 312.294.3000, 800.223.7114
