Jim Vincent
Artistic Director
Vincent joined HSDC in August 2000 following an extensive career as a dancer, teacher, ballet master and choreographer. Vincent’s distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a 12-year tenure with Jirí Kylián’s Nederlands Dans Theater, guest appearances with Lar Lubovitch and two years with Nacho Duato’s Compañía Nacional de Danza in Spain. As a dancer, he worked with many choreographers, including Kylián, Duato, Lubovitch, Glen Tetley, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, Christopher Bruce and Ohad Naharin.

Vincent served as Ballet Master and Rehearsal Director for Nederlands Dans Theater II and Opéra National de Lyon and was also the Assistant Artistic Director to Nacho Duato with Compañía Nacional de Danza. Vincent has choreographed a number of works for Nederlands Dans Theater I and II and Switzerland’s Stadt Theater Bern.

In 2002 Vincent choreographed counter/part for HSDC, which has been performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Maestro Pinchas Zukerman conducting, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis conducting. Vincent’s second work for the company, Uniformity, premiered at the Joyce Theater in New York City in 2005, and his newest creation, Palladio, inspired by the 16th Century Italian architect and set to composer Karl Jenkins’ score, premiered in Chicago in April 2007.

Jason D. Palmquist
Executive Director
Palmquist joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in May 2007, after serving the arts community in Washington D.C. for nearly fifteen years. Palmquist began his career at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, most recently serving as Vice President of Dance Administration. During his tenure, he oversaw multiple world-premiere engagements of commissioned works in dance, the formation and growth of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and the inception in 1997 of the Millennium Stage—an award-winning, free daily performance series that has to date served over three million patrons. Deeply enriching the Kennedy Center’s artistic programming, he successfully presented engagements with many of the world’s most important dance companies including the Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Kirov Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. Palmquist also managed television initiatives of the Kennedy Center including the creation of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and a prime-time special on NBC memorializing the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In 2004, he accepted the position of executive director of the Washington Ballet. Under his leadership, the company presented full performance seasons annually at the Kennedy Center and the Warner Theater, as well as nurtured its world-renowned school and extensive education and outreach programs. Raised in Iowa, Palmquist is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.

Glenn Edgerton
Center Associate Artistic Director
Edgerton joined HSDC in August 2007, bringing 29 years of professional experience and an international reputation. Edgerton began his career at The Joffrey Ballet where, mentored by Robert Joffrey, he spent 11 years with the company, performing leading roles in its repertoire including works by Gerald Arpino, John Cranko, Frederick Ashton, among many others. In 1989, Edgerton joined the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1 where he danced for five years. Upon retiring from performing in 1994, he was appointed artistic director of NDT 1, leading the company for a decade, presenting the works of NDT’s own Jirí Kylián, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, Mats Ek, Paul Lightfoot, Hans Van Manen and many more of the world’s most distinguished choreographers. Edgerton returned to the U.S. in 2004, teaching at UCLA and Loyola Marymount University, as well as participating in summer intensives at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance with Summer Lee Rhatigan. He has been a guest teacher for many prestigious dance companies, such as American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Since April 2006, he has been director of the Colburn Dance institute along with Leslie Carothers-Aromaa at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, a position he retains concurrent with his position at HSDC.

Lucas Crandall
Company Associate Artistic Director
Crandall was born in Madison, Wisconsin. After receiving several scholarships in the United States and an apprenticeship with the Milwaukee Ballet, Crandall went to Europe in 1980 to perform with the Ballet du Grand Theatre in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1985, he joined Nederlands Dans Theater where he first worked with Jim Vincent, HSDC’s current artistic director. In 1987, Crandall returned to the Ballet du Grand Theatre, working with many choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Jirí Kylián, Mats Ek and Christopher Bruce. In 1996, he became the Ballet du Grand Theatre’s rehearsal director, assisting and rehearsing numerous works. Since Crandall’s arrival at HSDC in August 2000, he has continued to assist choreographers, notably Marguerite Donlon. He has also been on faculty with the Lou Conte Dance Studio, as well as ballet and repertory instructor for master classes and residencies throughout the U.S. A choreographer since 1982, Crandall has created pieces that have been performed in a variety of countries. In March 2005, his work Gimme received its HSDC Chicago Premiere at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. In July 2005 and 2006, Crandall participated in the Northwest Professional Dance Project with Sarah Slipper and Steve Gonzales.

Taryn Kaschock Russell
Center Artistic Associate
Kaschock Russell was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1995 and spent seven years performing and touring extensively with the company. During that time, she danced principal roles in works by Agnes DeMille, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, John Cranko, David Parsons and Gerald Arpino. Kaschock joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2002 and the following January was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” Her repertoire with HSDC has included works by Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe and Ohad Naharin. Kaschock has also participated in new creations by Trey McIntyre, Daniel Ezralow, Lar Lubovitch, Toru Shimazaki, Lucas Crandall and Jim Vincent. Recently named Center Artistic Associate, Kaschock has transitioned from performing to teaching company class, conducting rehearsals, re-setting choreography and coordinating HSDC’s National Choreographic Competition.

Lou Conte
HSDC Founder; Director, Lou Conte Dance Studio
After a performing career including Broadway musicals, Conte established the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago in 1974. In 1977, he founded what is now Hubbard Street Dance Chicago with four dancers performing at senior citizens homes in Chicago. Originally the company's sole choreographer, he developed relationships with emerging and world-renowned choreographers as the company began to grow, adding bodies of work by a variety of artists. These relationships transformed HSDC into the internationally acclaimed repertoire company it is today. In the 1980s, Conte commissioned several works by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Margo Sappington and Daniel Ezralow. He continued to build HSDC's repertoire by forging a key partnership with Twyla Tharp in the 1990s, acquiring seven of her works, including an original work for the company. Conte further expanded the company's repertoire to include European choreographers Jirí Kylián and Nacho Duato and Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.

These long-term relationships along with Conte's participation in selecting Jim Vincent as the company's new Artistic Director have paved the way for HSDC's future. Throughout his 23 years as the company's Artistic Director, Conte received numerous awards, including the Chicago Dance Coalition's inaugural Ruth Page Artistic Achievement Award in 1986, the Sidney R. Yates Arts Advocacy Award in 1995 and the Chicagoan of the Year award from Chicago magazine in 1999. In 2002, he was one of six individuals named Laureates of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois, the highest honor the state bestows upon Illinois residents. He has been credited by many for helping raise Chicago's international cultural profile and for creating a climate for dance in the city, where the art form now thrives.