27' 52"
27’ 52" takes the viewer along for a game of seeking and being sought, of holding and being held, pulling and pushing, a game in which the dancer must ultimately exit the stage solo. The piece creates an urge to see it again, perhaps in disbelief of what appears on the stage and wondering how this could all be physically possible.

Jirí Kylián (Choreographer) was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1947, and started his dance training at the ballet school of the Prague National Theatre at the age of nine. He later studied at the Prague Conservatory and the Royal Ballet School in London. In 1968 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet under the direction of John Cranko as both a dancer and choreographer. In 1973, he created his first work for the Nederlands Dans Theater, where he became artistic director in 1975 until 1999 and is currently resident choreographer and artistic advisor. Kylián has choreographed 66 works for NDT including Sinfonietta, Sechs Tänze, Kaguyahime and Arcimboldo. His works have been staged by more than 40 companies around the world, such as American Ballet Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, The Australian Ballet and National Ballet of Canada.

Bitter Suite
Jorma Elo, choreography
Felix Mendelssohn and Claudio Monteverdi, music
Nete Joseph, costume design
James F. Ingalls, lighting design
Christophe Dozzi, repetiteur

Jorma Elo has created a wonderfully tender and spirited work with the special stamp of his Scandinavian sense of humor. The piece is built on imagery, at its base, and blends humanity with fierce ballet technique.

Click here to watch a video of Jorma Elo's Bitter Suite.

Jorma Elo (Choreographer) In just a few short years, Finnish-born Jorma Elo has become one of the most sought-after choreographers in the United States and Europe. Elo trained with the Finnish National Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad. Prior to joining Netherlands Dans Theater in 1990, he danced with Finnish National Ballet from 1978 through 1984, and with Cullberg Ballet from 1984 to 1990. Elo, who was named resident choreographer of Boston Ballet in 2005, was singled out as a “talent to follow” by Anna Kisselgoff in her 2004 Year in Review for The New York Times; it was an astute observation. He has since created numerous works in the U.S. and internationally, including Slice to Sharp for New York City Ballet, Glow-Stop for American Ballet Theatre, Carmen for Boston Ballet, 10 to Hyper M and Lost on Slow for Royal Danish Ballet, Offcore for Finnish National Ballet, Pointeoff for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and From All Sides for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The 2005 Helsinki International Ballet Competition awarded Elo a choreographic prize and he was the recipient of the Prince Charitable Trust Prize and the Choo-San Goh Choreographic Award in 2006.

Created for and premiered by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL, October 1, 2009.

Bitter Suite is sponsored, in part, by Paul and Ellen Gignilliat.

Extremely Close
Inspired by the poignant and intimate piano solos by Philip Glass and Dustin O’Halloran, as well as the skill of his fellow HSDC artists, HSDC dancer Alejandro Cerrudo—a highly acclaimed choreographer of “work[s] of great delicacy, invention, subtlety and charm”—created this piece for eight dancers. Extremely Close marks his second work for HSDC.

Click here to watch a video of Alejandro Cerrudo's Extremely Close

Alejandro Cerrudo (Choreographer) received his training at the Real Conservatario Professional de Danza de Madrid. After joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999, he choreographed his first piece, Beige and Brown, which was performed at their annual Noverre’s Association Workshop in 2000. He went on to create two more works, also performed by the Stuttgart, as well as pieces for the Sphaera Organization and the 5th International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan; two of which, Short Cut To My Friend and I Make You Obvious, were awarded bronze medals in 2005. In 2006, Cerrudo choreographed Fuel for the 20th International Choreographic Competition for Young Choreographers in Hanover, Germany, and received third prize for his work. He joined HSDC in August 2005 and created his first work for the company, Come True, as part of the 2006 Choreographic Workshop, “Inside/Out.” He developed this piece further, leading to the world premiere of Lickety-Split, as part of the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 2006 Fall Series at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago, Illinois.

Extremely Close was commissioned by The Joyce Theater's Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Fund for New Work, with Principal Corporate Support from the Sara Lee Foundation and additional support from Meg and Tim Callahan and the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

The development of Extremely Close was supported in part by the Choreographic Fellowship, made possible by a gift from the Davee Foundation.

 

 

Jardi Tancat
“Water, we asked for water; And You, oh Lord, You gave us wind; And You turn Your back to us; As though You will not listen to us.” This appeal is portrayed in the powerful movements of three couples, who are occupied with the sowing, planting and threshing of the barren Catalonian land.

Click here to watch a video of Nacho Duato's Jardi Tancat

…masterful and hypnotic on every level as it sets three peasant couples dancing to the magical voice of Maria Del Mar Bonet, the Spanish singer from Mallorca. Whether praying, evoking the natural world or communicating with a mate, these rich "characters" suggest an exquisite depth of feeling and experience.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, October 2009

Nacho Duato (Choreographer) was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1957 and trained with the Rambert School in London, Maurice Béjart's Mundra School in Brussels and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. In 1980 Duato joined the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm, and a year later Jirí Kylián brought him to the Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland, where he was named resident choreographer in 1988. Since June 1990, Duato has been artistic director of Compañía Nacional de Danza (Spain), where he has created several works, including Concierto Madrigal, Opus Piat, Empty, Coming Together, Mediterrania, Cautiva and Tabulae. In 1998, the Spanish government awarded Duato the Golden Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.

Gnawa
The celebrated Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato created this world premiere expressly for HSDC. Set to evocative Spanish and North African sounds, Gnawa captivates with its percussive power and sensual grace, combining the spirituality and organic rhythms from the Mediterranean.

Click here to watch a video clip of Nacho Duato's Gnawa

…both fearsome in its drive and seductively hypnotic in its use of patterning, design and gesture.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, April 2005

It is beautiful and arresting, as hypnotic, befuddling, sensual and wildly intoxicating…Duato's gifts include a seemingly unlimited ability to blend tradition and novelty, the familiar and the unpredictable, in works that glide along on their smooth, almost inevitable course, just as they startle and mystify.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, April 2005

Nacho Duato (Choreographer) was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1957 and trained with the Rambert School in London, Maurice Béjart's Mundra School in Brussels and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. In 1980 Duato joined the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm, and a year later Jirí Kylián brought him to the Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland, where he was named resident choreographer in 1988. Since June 1990, Duato has been artistic director of Compañía Nacional de Danza (Spain), where he has created several works, including Concierto Madrigal, Opus Piat, Empty, Coming Together, Mediterrania, Cautiva and Tabulae. In 1998, the Spanish government awarded Duato the Golden Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.

Karen and Peter Lennon are the Exclusive Underwriters of Gnawa.

Kiss
"The miracle of the piece is that it captures in concrete dance terms that almost palpable feeling of swimming in love, of being suspended in eternity," says The Oakland Tribune. A sensuous, provocative duet between a man and a woman, Kiss fuses ballet, modern and post-modern styles to create deep emotional resonance. "My dances reflect my interest in the information we share with each other in our daily lives that is expressed through subtle gestures," choreographer Marshall writes of her work.

Click here to watch a video of Susan Marshall's Kiss

…this airborne pas de deux creates such a sense of physical passion and emotional tension, ardor and despair, entrapment and freedom, that it leaves you spinning along with the lovers…a sense of ferocious intimacy and such a palpable heat that you could not help but be swept away.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, March 2004

…a case study for making the perfect aerial dance.
Theodore Bale, Boston Herald, February 2004

Susan Marshall (Choreographer) has created 30 dance works in collaboration with the dancers of Susan Marshall & Company including One and Only You, The Most Dangerous Room in the House, Spectators at an Event, Fields of View, Arms, Interior with Seven Figures and Kiss. Marshall's collaboration with the dancers of Susan Marshall & Company has been the main influence on the development of her choreographic process and work. Marshall choreographed and directed Les Enfants Terribles in collaboration with composer Philip Glass in 1996, and has also created dances for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Boston Ballet and Montreal Danse. Her signature aerial duet, Kiss, is in the current repertory of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has collaborated with director Francesca Zambello on operas staged for the Los Angeles Music Center and the New York City Opera. A 2000 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Marshall has also received a Dance Magazine Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Brandeis University Creative Arts Citation and the American Choreographer Award. She has received five National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships and two New York Dance and Performance Awards (BESSIES) for Outstanding Choreographic Achievement. The first BESSIE came in 1985 following Susan Marshall & Company's premiere concert at Dance Theater Workshop, and the second came in 1997 for her collaboration with Philip Glass on Les Enfants Terribles.

Peter and Karen Lennon are the Exclusive Underwriters for Kiss.

Lickety-Split
Hubbard Street dancer Alejandro Cerrudo combines sensual and fluid movement with playful and quirky gestures in Lickey-Split. Danced by three couples enveloped in the unpredictable layers of love, Lickety-Split is a contemporary work moved by the sounds of renowned Bay Area songwriter Devendra Banhart.

Click here to watch a video of Alejandro Cerrudo's Lickety-Split

… is a marvel of flirty, intimate connections, humorous and rueful misconnections, and beguiling seductions that suggests pairing off is a strong impulse but returning to a state of happy solitude.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, October 2009

Not only has Cerrudo devised a complete, self-contained, highly original, slinky-meets-sensual language of dance and gesture for his rapid-fire work, but he has demonstrated an unusually sophisticated sense of patterning in his deployment of its three couples.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, September 2006

…inventive… whimsical…infectious… splashed with impish quirks and gentle humor.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, September 2006

Alejandro Cerrudo (HSDC Dancer and Choreographer) received his training at the Real Conservatario Professional de Danza de Madrid. After joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999, he choreographed his first piece, Beige and Brown, which was performed at their annual Noverre's Association Workshop in 2000. He went on to create two more works that were also performed at the Stuttgart, as well as pieces for the Sphaera Organization and the 5th International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan; two of which, Short Cut To My Friend and I Make You Obvious, were awarded bronze medals in 2005. In 2006, Cerrudo choreographed Fuel for the 20th International Choreographic Competition for Young Choreographers in Hanover, Germany, and received third prize for his work. He joined HSDC in August 2005, and created his first work for the company, Come True, as part of the 2006 Choreographic Workshop, "Inside/Out". He developed this piece further, leading to the world premiere of Lickety-Split, as part of the 2006 Fall Series. Named an HSDC Choreographic Fellow in 2008, Cerrudo has created three works for the company: Lickety-Split, Extremely Close, commissioned by the Joyce Theater in New York, and Off Screen, premiered by the main company in 2009. As the company’s first Resident Choreographer, he will present two World Premieres during the 2009-10 season.

Lickety-Split is sponsored by John and Caroline Ballantine and Joel and Katie Cory.

Off Screen
“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.” - Stanley Kubrick

Click here to watch a video of Alejandro Cerrudo's Off Screen

Alejandro Cerrudo (Choreographer) received his training at the Real Conservatario Professional de Danza de Madrid. After joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999, he choreographed his first piece, Beige and Brown, which was performed at their annual Noverre’s Association Workshop in 2000. He went on to create two more works, also performed by the Stuttgart, as well as pieces for the Sphaera Organization and the 5th International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition in Nagoya, Japan; two of which, Short Cut To My Friend and I Make You Obvious, were awarded bronze medals in 2005. In 2006, Cerrudo choreographed Fuel for the 20th International Choreographic Competition for Young Choreographers in Hanover, Germany, and received third prize for his work. He joined HSDC in August 2005 and created his first work for the company, Come True, as part of the 2006 Choreographic Workshop, “Inside/Out.” He developed this piece further, leading to the world premiere of Lickety-Split, as part of the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 2006 Fall Series at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago, Illinois.

Off Screen is sponsored by Marge and Lew Collens, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, and the John and Jeanne Rowe Fund.

The development of Off Screen was supported in part by the Choreographic Fellowship, made possible by a gift from the Davee Foundation.

Tabula Rasa
Ohad Naharin's choreography is notable for its movement quality - especially for its smoothness within technical difficulty. ''Tabula Rasa'' radiates a general sense of loss. The music by Arvo Part in the first half has an affecting melancholy as a violin melody repeatedly builds and fades, while the second half of the work is danced through a textured melodic haze, as the dancers push and pull into Mr. Naharin’s athletically propelled shapes with ease. (Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times)

Click here to watch a video of Ohad Naharin's Tabula Rasa

Ohad Naharin (Choreographer) 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. In 1980, Naharin made his choreographic debut in Kazuko Hirabayashi studio in New York, where he studied and worked with Maggie Black, David Gordon, Gina Buntz and Billy Siegenfeld. 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.

Tabula Rasa is underwritten in part by Sidney and Sondra Berman Epstein and Randy A. White.

The Set
Developed in collaboration with Dirk Denison’s 2007 Architecture Studio from the College
of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Flirtation, deception and naiveté inspired this hilarious romp by Company Associate
Artistic Director Lucas Crandall. Set to music by J.S. Bach, The Set features three
dancers—and a divan.

…a deceptively difficult gem of a piece - a laugh-out-loud comedy of Victorian sexual manners for a man, the woman he pursues and the interloper in drag - gets better with every viewing.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, October 2009

Lucas Crandall (Choreographer and HSDC Associate Artistic Director) was born in Madison, Wisconsin. After receiving several scholarships in the United States, 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. In 1987, Crandall returned to the Ballet du Grand Theatre, working with many choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Jirí Kylián, Mats Ek and Christopher Bruce, and
in 1996 became one of the company’s rehearsal directors. Since Crandall’s arrival
at HSDC in August 2000, he has continued to assist the work of several choreographers,
notably Marguerite Donlon. Since 1982, Crandall’s own works have been performed
in the US and abroad. In March 2005, Gimme and in April 2008, The Set were premiered by HSDC at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. As of 2005, Crandall has participated annually with the Northwest Professional Dance Project in Portland, OR. He also serves on the faculty of the Lou Conte Dance Studio, and instructs ballet and repertory master classes and residencies throughout the U.S. As HSDC’s associate artistic director, Crandall works intensively with the main company and directs its annual choreographic workshop, Inside/Out.

Philip and Marsha Dowd are the Exclusive Underwriters of The Set.

Walking Mad
Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness…
—Socrates

In this madcap comedy Inger has found the perfect balance between pure dance and theatrical effects. Walking Mad consists of many bizarre and surreal situations propelled by the rhythmic ‘Boléro’ by Maurice Ravel.

Johan Inger (Choreographer) was born in Stockholm and educated at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the National Ballet School in Canada. In 1985 Johan Inger joined the Royal Swedish Ballet, where in 1989 he became a soloist. In 1990 he joined Nederlands Dans Theater, where he was a high-profile dancer until 2002. Johan Inger’s official breakthrough as a choreographer came with Mellantid (Swedish for In Between Time)—his first commissioned work for Nederlands Dans Theater II—as part of the 1995 Holland Dance Festival. This work was awarded the 1996 Philip Morris Finest Selection Award in the category of Contemporary Dance. Mellantid was followed by several creations for Nederlands Dans Theater I, II and III. In 2001, Inger was nominated for the Golden Dance Prize by the VSCD (Dutch board of theatre directors) as well as for the British Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Best New Dance production’. In October 2001 he received the Lucas Hoving Production Award for his works Dream Play and Walking Mad. In 2002 Inger received the Prize of Achievement from the Stichting Dansersfonds ’79 (founded by Dutch dance couple Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar). In 2003 the Edinburgh Festival awarded Inger with the Herald Angel for Home and Home. The Italian prize Danza Danza was presented to him in 2004 for Walking Mad. In 2006 Inger received the prestigious Birgit Cullberg Prize. In July 2003, Johan Inger took over the artistic management of the Cullberg Ballet. In the past five years of his directorship, Johan has created numerous works for the company. His latest ballet is Point of Eclipse from 2007.

Walking Mad is sponsored in part by Meg and Tim Callahan.