November 2009

This December, HSDC offers Chicago audiences a performance series showcasing three choreographers who have inspired audience enthusiasm and critical accolades throughout their respective careers

Returning to the active repertoire is Ohad Naharin’s Tabula Rasa, which the company first performed in April 2005, underwritten in part by Sidney and Sondra Berman Epstein and Randy A. White.

Ohad Naharin was born in Israel and began his dance training with the Batsheva Dance Company, where he has been artistic director since 1990. He continued his studies at Juilliard School of Music and the School of American Ballet in New York and performed with the Martha Graham Company and Maurice Béjart. His works have been staged by many companies around the world including the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, Frankfurt Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Ballet Nacional Madrid, Cullberg Ballet and Opèra National de Paris.

In a 2004 interview with Patricia Boccadoro of Culturekiosque, Naharin said, “From early childhood I made things up. I wrote music, invented stories and painted and I remember the very moment I created my first choreography. Dance is an illusion and creation a lie, but lying as I see it isn’t negative. I distort reality in order to create my own world. I don’t want to reflect the reality around me.” When asked what was important to him, Naharin replied, “Love, forgiveness and the joy of movement; dance which means going beyond limits, and working with talented designers, collaborating with composers and recycling ideas to find a new angle.”

Originally commissioned and premiered by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre 1986, Tabula Rasa is a haunting, beautiful expression of human relationships, danced to music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The 10 dancers represent men and women searching for love and eventually finding solace in each other’s temporary embrace. London’s The Guardian said that Tabula Rasa “showcases the best of Naharin’s talent, both tender and oddly beautiful.”

Following its Chicago premiere by HSDC, Chicago Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss wrote that the piece “left the audience in one of those stunned silences that always suggests profound emotional impact. In its fierce look at the desperate desire for human connection—with all its misguided cues, blind-sided enthusiasm and frenzied pursuit—Tabula Rasa takes no prisoners. Alternating between centripetal and centrifugal force, the dancers work themselves to exhaustion in the first section of the piece, collapsing to the floor and crawling into the dark. Then, in a slowly accruing horizontal line, they establish an eerie tranquility, swaying hypnotically as if on the deck of a ship, only to once again find themselves drawn into the romantic fray…[a] psychological novel in the form of a dance…”

Chicago Tribune critic Sid Smith wrote, “Deeply felt, gorgeously underscored by Arvo Pärt, it begins with velvety, choral lyricism and finishes with a mournful, minimalist horizontal line, a slow-motion weaving back and forth that builds to a towering drama motivated by its own peculiar imagery in particular and the human condition in general."

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Following its well-received company premiere during the 2008 Winter Series, HSDC performs Walking Mad by Johan Inger, which was sponsored in part by Meg and Tim Callahan.

Inger joined the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1985, becoming a soloist in 1989. In 1990 he joined NDT, dancing with the company until 2002. Inger’s official breakthrough as a choreographer came with Mellantid (Swedish for In Between Time)—his first work for NDT II, followed by several creations for NDT I, NDT II and NDT III. He assumed artistic leadership of Cullberg Ballet in 2003, creating new works continuously until he stepped down in summer 2008 to devote himself exclusively to choreography. Other companies that have performed his work include Monte Carlo Ballet, Dresden Ballet, Gothenburg Ballet, Essen Ballet and Finnish National Ballet. He returned to NDT as associate choreographer this season.

In his madcap comedy Walking Mad, Inger has found the perfect balance between pure dance and theatrical effects. The piece consists of many bizarre and surreal situations propelled by the rhythmic “Boléro” by Maurice Ravel.

“It all started from an idea I had about a wall that could change the space in very unpredictable ways,” Inger said in an interview with FootNotes last November. “Once I had figured out the different spaces the wall would create, I started to fill them with characters and situations. The piece evolves around a man on a journey to something, encountering a new world, a world of madness, playfulness and sadness. I wanted the audience to feel as if they had been taken on an emotional roller-coaster ride.” To read the full interview, click here.

“Joy, madness, hilarity and agility all get stage time,” said Smith in the Chicago Tribune. “Peopled with odd, clownish characters right out of Samuel Beckett, Mad includes such varied components as a group of men enacting a kind of pelvic chorale while wearing dunce caps and a pained, almost cruel duet played out on the fence-like panels that form a movable set…Mad builds to a spectacular chorus of tramps and a powerful solo…”

In the Sun-Times, Weiss wrote that the piece “fits Hubbard Street like a glove. Part sexy, madcap silent film with party scenes and crazy chases to nowhere and a strong sense of playful insanity reminiscent of the Marx Brothers and part dark Scandinavian winter blues…it has a true touch of madness and danger about it, with a central architectural element — a great slatted gray timber folding wall on wheels — helping to create a multitude of strange, almost dreamlike states… Multiple viewings required."

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Cerrudo, who joined the company as a dancer in 2005, is responsible for two earlier works: Lickety-Split (2006) and Extremely Close (2008). After joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999, Cerrudo choreographed his first piece, Beige and Brown, which was performed at their annual Noverre’s Association Workshop in 2000. He went on to create more works for the Stuttgart’s Noverre Gesellschaft workshop and the Sphaera Organization. In 2005 Cerrudo received awards for two pieces that he created for the 5th International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan, and in 2006 he also received an award for his solo work FUEL at the 20th International Choreographic Competition for Young Choreographers in Hanover, Germany.

“I was inspired by music used in films,” Cerrudo said last spring in a FootNotes interview. “I wanted to explore the atmosphere that music creates in a movie and what would happen if I used it in a live performance with dance…exploring the atmosphere of movies took us through many different states—fear, drama, love, comedy. It was challenging to put all those pieces of music together and make them flow.” To read the complete interview with Cerrudo, click here.

In the Tribune, Smith called the piece “a wily, wonderful tribute to the golden age of European cinema, the heyday of Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini. In setting a piece to musical snippets from various modern films, and then in letting it move through Gothic mystery and commedia dell’arte to a startling, enigmatic non-ending, the Madrid-born Cerrudo delivers a highly theatrical homage to the post-war Continental avant-garde cinematic mind-set. This is a beguiling step forward for the already accomplished young Cerrudo.” And in the Sun-Times, critic Wynne Delacoma observed that Cerrudo has “a wonderful eye for wit.”

Chicago audiences can form their own opinions about these three fascinating works at HSDC’s 2009 Winter Series December 3–6 at the Harris Theater. To purchase tickets, click here.

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HSDC always has one eye on the future, not just that of the institution but the artists who make it possible—specifically, choreographers and dancers. To nurture the next generation of both categories of artists, HSDC has its annual National Choreographic Competition (NCC), which provides emerging choreographers an opportunity to develop new work as well as the young professional dancers of Hubbard Street 2 (HS2) an unparalleled experience in learning a range of choreographic styles and techniques.

For the 2009–10 season, the NCC winners are:

	Maurice Causey (Florence, Alabama), who will be in residence with HS2 at the Hubbard Street Dance Center January 11–21, 2010, has danced with the Cleveland Ballet, Pennsylvania/Milwaukee Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. He was a principal dancer with William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt form 1991 through 1999 and co-choreographed several works. After three years as a principal dancer with the Gothenburg Ballet in Sweden, he retired from dancing and became ballet master for the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. In 2004, he joined Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) as ballet master, where he has assisted such choreographers as Jorma Elo, Alexander Ekman, Wayne McGregor, Paul Lightfoot and others. His premiere as a choreographer for NDT came in 2008; his work Mood Swings was nominated for best Dutch Dance Production for that year. He also has choreographed for schools, workshops and special events in Europe.
	Jonathan Fredrickson (Corpus Christi, Texas), in residence February 15–March 3, created new work for Corpus Christi Ballet while attending California Institute of the Arts between 2002 and 2006. His work during that time was selected for performance at the Taiwan Dance College Festival as well as numerous venues in Los Angeles. At Cal-Arts he formed The AusterLand Company, which debuted at the Hong Kong Dance Festival in 2006. Fredrickson’s work has been performed at the Reverb Festival, Wave Rising Series and the Thang Dao Contemporary Dance Festival. His new work, The Edge of Some World, will premiere in Beijing December 2009, commissioned and performed by the Limon Dance Company. He has been a member of the Limon Dance Company since 2006.
	Gabrielle Lamb (Savannah, Georgia), in residence April 26–May 7, after dancing as a soloist on the stage of Prague State Opera and for three years with the Finnish National Ballet, joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 2000 and was promoted to soloist in 2003. She has shown choreography at the Grands Ballets choreographic workshops, Studio 303 and the Saint Sauveur Arts Festival, and her dance films have been presented by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Dance Camera West, the Dance Films Association of New York and the American Dance Festival. Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times described her film Quizas as “a charming piece of whimsy” with “the quality of play that often characterizes good or great art.” She is currently dancing with Morphoses, the Wheeldon Company.

Working with these promising choreographers, as well as representing HSDC in public performances and in schools in the Chicago area, are the dancers of Hubbard Street 2. This season, HS2 welcomed three new dancers, joining returning dancers Stacey Aung, Ethan R. Kirschbaum and Eduardo Zuñiga, click here for their bios:

Stacey Aung	Ethan R. Kirschbaum	Eduardo Zuñiga

	Alice Klock (Ann Arbor, Michigan) began dancing at the age of 11. In 2003, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy, where she achieved artistic and academic high honors upon graduation. In 2007, she moved to California to study with Alonzo King in the Lines/Dominican B.F.A. program. She has attended summer programs at the San Francisco Ballet, The National Ballet School of Canada, Miami City Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard Danse Montreal and HSDC. She has worked professionally on a number of projects with San Francisco choreographer Gregory Dawson and had the honor of performing with Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in their 2008 home fall season.
	Yarinet Restrepo (Miami, Florida) is a graduate of New World School of the Arts and has attended summer programs at The Harid Conservatory, Orlando Ballet and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. She has studied ballet with Marielena Mencia, Yanis Pikieris and Magaly Suarez. She was awarded second place at the 2004 American Ballet Competition and has previously danced with the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, Grand Rapids Ballet and Miami Youth Ballet. She has performed roles in classical ballets such as Coppelia, Giselle, La Bayadere and Paquita, as well as contemporary works by Alonzo King, Robert Moses, Yanis Pikieris and Andrea Dawn Shelley.
	David Schultz (Grand Rapids, Michigan) began his training with the School of Grand Rapids Ballet. Before joining the company for four seasons, he studied with the National Ballet of Canada. He has performed works by Gordon Pierce Schmidt and Septime Webre, as well as Prodigal Son by Peter Sparling. He has studied the techniques and works of Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Lester Horton, Martha Graham and Nacho Duato.

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A Works-In-Progress event September 16 at the Hubbard Street Dance Center, which provided DanceMakers and business partners with a sneak preview of Bitter Suite prior to its world premiere during the 2009 Fall Series and a chance to talk with choreographer Jorma Elo, Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton and the HSDC dancers, sponsored by GoodSmith Gregg & Unruh.

Guests got insight on HSDC’s new piece Bitter Suite from Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton and choreographer Jorma Elo.		Marilee Unruh (R), partner at GoodSmith Gregg & Unruh, a contributing sponsor of the Works-in-Progress Series, with Meg Cockrell, HSDC’s manager of individual giving.

Dancers Kevin Shannon (L) and Alejandro Cerrudo with HSDC fan Donna Williams.

The Lou Conte Dance Studio hosted a free Fall Open House September 20 to provide a chance for people in the community to try new classes for the first time or bring a friend along to sample what LCDS has to offer. The event, which was attended by nearly 200 people, featured free beginning classes in ballet, modern, jazz, yoga, Pilates, hip hop, African and tap, as well as the new youth “creative movement” programs.

Guests tried out a Pilates class. Private one-on-one sessions are also available.		Parents and their children enjoyed one of HSDC’s new youth classes.

Everyone had fun trying a new class—including Becca Lemme’s Modern class—at the LCDS open house!

The Season Opening Celebration took place October 1 at the Swissôtel Chicago. Guests enjoyed cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and dinner, as well as the opening night performance of the 2009 Fall Series, celebrating the season opener as well as welcoming new Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton. The event was chaired by HSDC board members Karen Lennon, SomerCor 504, Inc.; Joe Bohne, Advantage National Bank Group; and Juan DeAngulo, Cape Horn Group.

(L–R) Event Co-Chair Karen Lennon with dancer Penny Saunders, Artistic Associate and HS2 Director Taryn Kaschock and dancer Jacqueline Burnett.		Jonathan Boyer and board member Linda Hutson.

Choreographer Jorma Elo and wife Nancy Euverink.

Click here to view more photos from any of the events above!

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“Exposing our sons to the wealth of culture in Chicago has always been important to us,” said Richard. “We took them to see many different companies from the time they were young children but we made certain never to miss Hubbard Street’s performances. Through their participation in HSDC performances and events, our sons have seen a commitment to passion and how talent can truly transform the lives of others.

“I’m thrilled that HSDC’s family programming has grown in the last few years from a single Family Matinee during performance series to a separate family series in various locations around Chicago and now to classes at the Hubbard Street Dance Center geared towards children as young as nine months old.”

Throughout their years of support for the company, Richard and Ann on more than one occasion have chosen to sponsor a new piece of choreography, most recently as sponsors of Bitter Suite, the newest piece by Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo, which premiered during HSDC’s 2009 Fall Series.

“A significant factor that makes this company so outstanding in its field is the commitment to creating new choreography. We enjoy contributing to this process as it helps HSDC realize its mission to contribute to the art form of contemporary dance.”

HSDC is proud to be presenting four world premieres during the 2009–10 season, and we are grateful to many individuals like Richard and Ann Tomlinson who make this possible.

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