Tired of giving ties, flowers or jewelry for the holidays? Treat your friends, colleagues and loved ones to an HSDC experience they’ll never forget with any of the following memorable gift ideas:
 
HSDC Gift Certificates:
In increments of $25, $50, $100 and $200 for any Chicago performance during the 2008–09 season—the perfect gift for the dance fan whose schedule you may not know! Gift certificates may be used toward the purchase of tickets to any 2008–09 Chicago performance and are valid until June 5, 2009. Available online or by calling the HSDC Ticket Office at 312-850-9744.
 
HSDC 2-pack Subscription:
Receive a 15 percent discount on tickets when you buy both the Spring and the Summer Series together! The 2-pack subscriptions are available for opening nights (Aprll 1 and June 4), Saturday nights (April 4 and June 6) or Sunday matinee performances (April 5 and June 7). A 2-pack subscription is a great way to guarantee great dance throughout the year while getting a great discount! Available online or by calling the HSDC Ticket Office at 312-850-9744.
 
LCDS Class Card:
With classes in jazz, hip-hop, ballet, Pilates and more, the Lou Conte Dance Studio was named “Best Dance Class for Adults” by Chicago magazine and has classes for everyone! The LCDS Class Card is a pre-paid card for LCDS classes, offering a discount on individual class purchases. A great gift for beginners and longtime dancers alike, the LCDS Class Card is available by calling the studio at 312-850-9766.
 
For questions about any of these gift ideas, please call the HSDC offices at 312-850-9744. Don’t delay your holiday shopping—give the gift of HSDC now!

Get the Entire Family Dancing!
HSDC Launches Family Workshop Series

HSDC is inviting families to introduce their children to dance—not only by watching it, but actually doing it—through a new family workshop series beginning in January 2009. As an extension of its Family Matinee performances, HSDC's workshops will provide an opportunity for parents and children ages three through eight to participate in dance movement in various cultural settings around the city. Families will learn about the integral role that movement plays in expression and communication as they jump, spin, slide and move with featured HSDC teaching artists and members of Hubbard Street 2.

“The workshops are a natural extension of our Chicago elementary school dance programs,” said HSDC Education Director Kathryn Humphreys. “By participating in dance, rather than just watching, children and their parents learn to appreciate movement in a new way.”

Families also have one more opportunity this season to see a Hubbard Street 2 Family Matinee, Saturday, June 6 at 3 p.m. during the 2009 Summer Series at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.

The workshop schedule for 2009 is as follows:

Saturday, January 31, 1-3:30 p.m.
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago
Workshop includes a gallery walk and children’s art activity.

Saturday, February 14, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe
Workshop includes a greenhouse walk.

Saturday, March 21, time TBD
Hubbard Street Dance Center
1147 W. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago

Saturday, March 28, time TBD
The Center on Halsted
3656 N. Halsted Street, Chicago

The fee for participation in each workshop is $5 per person. For tickets and further information, contact HSDC at 312-850-9744. The Family Series is exclusively underwritten by Target.

Thanks to Target’s support, admission to the HS2 Family Matinee on June 6 at the Harris Theater is only $5 per person. To purchase tickets, click here or call the HSDC Ticket Office at 312-850-9744.

LCDS Scholarship Program Cultivates Tomorrow’s Dancers
HSDC Founding Dancer Claire Bataille Guides the Next Generation

Young dancers who seek professional careers face a number of challenges along the way—the most critical of which is acquiring sufficient training and being able to afford it. Since its inception in 1974, the Lou Conte Dance Studio (LCDS) has recognized this need and provided opportunities through its scholarship program.

“The program began as a way for HSDC/LCDS Founder Lou Conte to help people with talent,” explained Claire Bataille, one of HSDC’s founding dancers and current director of LCDS. “Basically we received financial assistance in exchange for doing different jobs around the studio.”

When Bataille took charge of the program in 2005, she gave it more structure. Scholarship students must take 12 technique classes each week—five ballet, three jazz, three modern and one Pilates mat class—at the advanced professional level and may take additional classes either during the week or on the weekend. They also must attend all master classes and workshops and pay dues of $27.50 per week.

“In the early days of the company, there was more continuity between the content of the classes and the company’s repertoire because Lou was handling both,” Bataille explained. “So I established a series of three HSDC repertoire workshops to help the students understand what they need to know stylistically to get into a company of HSDC’s caliber.”

Nearly 20 students who participated in the program eventually danced with one or both companies. Former scholarship students currently part of HSDC include Jessica Tong, who joined HS2, then became a main company apprentice before being promoted to full company member; Hogan McLaughlin, who joined HS2 and is now a main company apprentice; and current HS2 member Nefertiti Thomas. Other scholarship students have gone on to join Ballet Met, Dayton Ballet, River North Chicago Dance Company, Thodos Dance Chicago and the Las Vegas cast of Mamma Mia, among others.

Currently 10 dancers are enrolled in the program between September and June, and 15 dancers participate in an intensive eight-week training program during the summer. All have to be at the advanced pre-professional level and preferably out of high school. In exchange for the scholarship support, the participants divide up weekly jobs, from maintaining the LCDS bulletin boards to cleaning the studio floors, vacuuming hallways and disinfecting the studio barres.

Bataille derives tremendous satisfaction from managing the scholarship program. “This is payback for me because when I started dancing, Lou was a big mentor of mine, but there were many other people along the way,” she said. “It’s important to pass on what we know to younger dancers. Our goal is to help them navigate the dance world and find jobs, so we help them with their resumes or prepare for auditions. But sometimes all they need is some help getting through the day. It can be discouraging to go to audition after audition—emotionally as well as physically. It’s very satisfying for me that besides mastering technique, they know they have a support system here.”

HSDC is very grateful for the generous support of the LCDS Scholarship Program Patrons, the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation and The Patti Selander Eylar Scholarship Fund.

Pictured are the current scholarship program students: (L–R, on the floor) Betsy Sterling, Lindsey Fratarre, (standing) Kaitlin Ritchie, Bridgette Rawlins, Sarah Pelc, (on the barre) Angela Palladini and Grace Whitmore. Missing: Isaiah Alatorre, Alison Law and Samantha Campbell.