Bardo
Set to international rhythms by Dead Can Dance, Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki’s Bardo is a mystical and mysterious journey between life and the afterworld. Passionate, fiery and fiercely athletic, the twelve dancers in Bardo weave their way through daring partnerships and striking visual images. The Chicago Tribune calls Bardo “a pounding, intense ensemble work…beautiful, haunting, seductively lovely even when breathlessly fast…”

Click here to watch a video of Toru Shimazaki's Bardo

… a pounding, intense ensemble work full of tortuous partnerships and unrelenting passion. Shimazaki's movement is beautiful, haunting, seductively lovely even when breathlessly fast, and he weaves a spell of mystery, power and hints of terror.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, September 2006

In Japanese, "bardo" describes the uneasy, suspended state of body and mind in the weeks immediately after death. Shimazaki's piece begins as a great swirl of figures huddle and spin apart in a kind of strange, panicked relay. A riveting duet was among the many highlights in a work that needs multiple viewings to appreciate fully… a sense of feverish passion and romantic desire at work.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, September 2006

Toru Shimazaki (Choreographer) began his training at the Goh Ballet Academy as a full scholarship student before joining Goh Ballet Company in Vancouver, Canada. In 1986, he moved to Austria and danced as a soloist at Tirol Landestheatre in Innsbruck. The Sitter School of Dance in Canada invited him to be the director of the Ballet Department in 1990, launching his career as a choreographer. Thunder Drum, created in collaboration with Canadian composer Geoff Bennet and performed by Reiko Matsuoka Ballet Company in 1992, marked his Japanese choreographic debut. Shimazaki has also created works for Polish Dance Theatre, Grand Theatre de Geneve, Momoko Tani Ballet Company, Colorado Ballet, Setsuko Ichikawa Ballet Company, Japan’s National New Tokyo Theatre and other companies throughout the world. His work River was chosen to represent “today’s Japanese contemporary dance” at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ 2004 annual conference. In July 2004, the American Dance Festival invited him to participate in its international choreographers commissioning program. He also served as a member of the jury for Prix de Lausanne, Shanghai International Ballet competition and Cirque du Soleil auditions. He choreographed the musical Elisabeth, which has been running in Japan for three years and has enjoyed more than 300 performances. Shimazaki now works primarily in Kobe where he is the chief professor of the Dance Department at Kobe Jogakuin College.

The Sara Lee Foundation is the Principal Sponsor of Bardo, a significant addition to HSDC’s International Masters Initiative. Generous contributing support provided by The Boeing Company.

From All Sides
From All Sides is a new work by Jorma Elo, an “A-list” Finnish choreographer whose latest creations for the New York City Balled was called “an exhilarating exercise in flat-out virtuosity… [a] sheer physical spectacle by the New York Times.

Click here to watch a video of Jorma Elo's From All Sides

Chilly but seductive, abstract but idiosyncratic, alternately jerky and smooth. It is arrestingly fast and busy, its demands are so spectacular you wonder how the six performers from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago survive it… an impressive addition to the repertory.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, January 2007

Jorma Elo (Choreographer) was born in Finland and trained with the Finnish National Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad. Prior to joining Nederlands Dans Theater in 1990, he danced with Finnish National Ballet from 1978 through 1984 and with Cullberg Ballet from 1984 through 1990. Throughout his career as a dancer Elo worked closely with numerous master choreographers, notably Jirí Kylián, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe and Paul Lightfoot. These influences led Elo to a choreographic career of his own. He has created new work for Ballet X in Pennsylvania, two premieres for Alberta Ballet (Blank Snow and L’Apres Midi d’un Faune/Spectre de la Rose) and in 2002 his Twisted Shadow premiered with the Finnish National Ballet. Boston Ballet commissioned two world premieres by Elo, including Sharp Side of Dark in 2002 and Plan to B in 2004. His most recent work includes pieces for New York City Ballet, Aspen Sante Fe Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Basel Ballet, Ballet Debrezen, American Ballet Theatre, Happy is Happy for Finnish National Ballet, in my DREAM team for Stockholm 59° North (Soloists of Royal Swedish Ballet) and two premieres for Nederlands Dans Theater (1st Flash and Plan to A). Elo received the choreographic prize at the 2005 Helsinki International Ballet Competition. Boston Ballet appointed him as resident choreographer in 2005.

From All Sides was created with funds from the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work, which was awarded to Jorma Elo and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2006.

Palladio

“Beauty will result from the form and correspondence of the whole, with respect to the several parts with regard to each other, and of these again to the whole; that the structure may appear an entire and complete body.”
Andrea Palladio, The Four Books of Architecture (1570)

Palladio, Vincent’s third creation for HSDC, is a full-company work set to a modern-meets-Baroque score by Karl Jenkins, who was inspired by the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio’s celebration of harmony and order. Vincent’s choreography draws its motivation from a physical environment, one that is aesthetically ornamented yet precarious. The piece moves from fragments of ideas towards structure and the power of the ensemble, exploring our capacity to demonstrate moments of tenderness, compassion and intimacy despite the constant tension, conflict and violence surrounding us.

Lush, stirring, animated, and yet dark…it is a work of fatalistic intensity and overriding gloom, but beautiful and impassioned… the finale is breathtaking, the large cast slyly maneuvered into a memorable choral cluster.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, April 2007

Jim Vincent (HSDC Artistic Director; Choreographer) joined HSDC in August 2000 following an extensive career as a dancer, teacher, ballet master and choreographer. His dance training began at the age of five and continued through his childhood with Mercer, Burlington and Princeton Ballets in New Jersey. He studied on scholarship at the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, D.C., Harkness House of Ballet in New York City and North Carolina School of the Arts at the University of North Carolina. Vincent's distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a 12-year tenure with Jirí Kylián's Nederlands Dans Theater, a guest appearance 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, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, Christopher Bruce and Ohad Naharin.

Vincent has served as Ballet Master for Nederlands Dans Theater II, Compaña Nacional de Danza and Opéra National de Lyon, where he rehearsed repertory by renowned choreographers Kylián, Duato, Forsythe, Ek, George Balanchine, Angelin Prejlocaj and
Bill T. Jones, among others. He has restaged choreographies for Duato, including Jardi
Tancat, Synaphai and Na Floresta, and for Kylián, including Return to the Strange Land and Stamping Ground. Vincent has choreographed a number of works for Nederlands Dans Theater I and II, Quebec's Bande à Part and Switzerland's Stadt Theater in Bern.
At Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, he has recently choreographed counter/part, his first work for the company as Artistic Director. His teaching experience includes Holland's Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Australia's Victorian College of Art, Compañía Nacional de Danza and Opéra National de Lyon. He served as Assistant Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza from 1990-94.

In October 1997, Vincent joined the creative team of Disneyland Paris as a concept designer and show director. He specialized in creating original concepts for corporate entertainment, press and gala events. Born in New Jersey, Vincent is both a U.S. and French citizen, speaks four languages and is married to France Nguyen, a former dancer with Nederlands Dans Theater, Compañía Nacional de Danza and Lyon Opéra Ballet and is currently the assistant to the principal at Lycée Français de Chicago. They have three daughters, Léna, Claire and June.

Cor Perdut
Sensual and fiery moves are inspired by the hypnotic and syncopated music of Tunisian percussion instruments in this dynamic work by Nacho Duato. He created this piece for the famous Majorcan singer, Maria del Mar Bonet, whose haunting voice brings depth and dimension to this powerful masterpiece.

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

…sheer ravishing, sensual dancing…was so full of urgency, so intense, so completely breathtaking that it often felt as if the two dancers had morphed into brushes and ink and were simply spelling out magical words in elaborate Arabic calligraphy.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, March 2004

…a duet of immense sensuality and lyricism…lush joyful sense of motion…a marvel of articulation.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, March 2003

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. One 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.

Peter and Karen Lennon are the Exclusive Underwriters for Cor Perdut.

counter/part
Artistic Director Jim Vincent's first choreographic work for the company was inspired by its music, Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, and features 10 dancers whose movement is a visual representation of the music.

Click here to watch a video of Jim Vincent's counter/part

Vincent's choreography caught the passion and drama in Bach's music…at one point, a woman borne aloft by two partners seemed to be lifted more by the zesty rhythms of the CSO's buoyant Third "Brandenburg'' allegro than her partners' strong arms.
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times, January 2004

It is a splendid modern ballet that grows richer, more layered and more open to interpretation with each viewing.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, April 2002

Jim Vincent (Artistic Director) 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.

Karen and Peter Lennon are the Exclusive Underwriters of counter/part.

Diphthong
A mysterious and intriguing work for six dancers, Diphthong is influenced by the music of Belgium-based band Zap Mama. The syncopated beat evokes power and beauty "and is a visual representation of the music—it's about the dancers getting swept away and moving through the space," explains choreographer Enos.

Click here to watch a video clip of Brian Enos's Diphthong

…a mesmerizing world beat treat……a pure musical evocation…alternately sexy, playful, absurd and quirkily exotic…it hints at the vestiges of the primitive in contemporary man.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, March 2004

[Enos] shows a great sensitivity to the music and great promise for the 21-year-old choreographer.
San Jose Mercury News, October 2003

Brian Enos (HSDC Main Company Dancer/Choreographer) began his dance training at age 14 and has studied with the Houston Ballet Academy, Maria Vegh, the Santa Rosa Junior College and Sara Stuber. He began choreographing at age 15 when he created his first work for the Santa Rosa High School Dance Company. Enos has gone on to choreograph works for several companies including Houston Ballet, Ballet Austin II, and Houston Ballet Academy. At age 18, he created Landing for Houston Ballet, becoming the youngest choreographer in the company's history. In 2001, as a winner of National Choreographic Competition, he created Whip for Hubbard Street 2 and set an additional piece, Spare Parts, on the second company in 2002. Enos joined HSDC in July 2002 and has created Diphthong, his first work for HSDC's main company, as part of the Choreographic Workshop, Inside/Out in June 2003.

Diphthong was created with funds from HSDC's Program for Emerging and Developing Artists, which is underwritten by The Chicago Community Trust and The Boeing Company, with additional support from Regents Park by The Clinton Companies.

Enemy in the Figure
The curtain opens on an intake of breath, a moment of coiled expectancy as William Forsythe's Enemy in the Figure springs into motion with a furious, tensile grace. Driven by the voracious rhythms of Thom Willem's music, the dancers become a pure visceral intelligence that dives through connection and shadow, ranging in this landscape of energetic time. It's "simply one of the most electrifying pieces of dance I've ever seen," says Stuart Sweeney of Ballet.co.uk, a European dance website.

Click here to watch a video clip of William Forsythe's Enemy in the Figure

The mysterious Enemy in the Figure… features a score by Thom Willems, whose fierce electronic music combines with bursts of bright light and a roving floodlight (manned by company members) to expose and abruptly obscure the eleven dancers as they leap over a rope that quivers along the stage. The dancers carve intricate patterns as they whirl and shimmer through space in counterpoint to the technology-saturated environment…Forsythe at his most strident.
The Observer, U.K.

William Forsythe (Choreographer) was born in New York City in 1949. He studied dance at Jacksonville University, Florida and later at the Joffrey Ballet School. In 1973 Forsythe joined Germany's Stuttgarter Ballett as a dancer, and later began choreographing works for the company. It was there that he made his first piece, Urlicht, a duet to the music of Gustav Mahler. Over the next years, Forsythe made numerous ballets for the Stuttgart Ballet and for other leading companies, including the Basel Ballet, Munich Ballet, the Deutsche Opera Ballet in Berlin, the Joffrey Ballet, and Netherlands Dance Theater. Forsythe's key works over the last 20 years include Gänge, Artifact, Impressing the Czar, Limb's Theorem, The Loss of Small Detail, A L I E/N A(C)TION, Eidos:Telos, Endless House and Kammer/Kammer. Forsythe continues to stage pieces for companies around the globe, and his work is in the repertoire of the New York City Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, and the Paris Opéra Ballet, among others. In January 1999 Forsythe became director of both Ballett Frankfurt and TAT.

Enemy in the Figure is partially funded by a matching challenge grant from Alfred McDougal and Nancy Lauter, and supported by additional funding from Debbie Bricker, David Herro/Jay Franke and Timothy R. Schwertfeger and Gail Waller.

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 will receive its world premiere in Chicago during the company’s 2008 Spring Series, March 26-April 5.

Float
Float is an endearing piece that elicits the nostalgic yearning for childhood and the aggressive physicality of the adult body. Deemed “a clear glimpse into an enticingly familiar world” by the New York Times, Float’s simple but poignant theme evokes that the body can not alone articulate what the mind and heart want to say.

Click here to watch a video of Julian Barnett's Float

Julian Barnett (Choreographer) began his training at the Idyllwild Arts Academy and continued at the Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey Schools in New York. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where he received his B.F.A., and since then has been choreographing and performing in an array of projects that have taken him from the Metropolitan Opera House to the Wuppertal Theater with Pina Bausch. He has been a resident choreographer at the Berkshire Theater Festival where he choreographed and starred in numerous productions, including and most notably the musical THE WHO’S TOMMY. Barnett’s work has been presented internationally and domestically in such venues as Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, Joyce Soho, La Mama Theatre, Symphony Space, the Dancenow/NYC Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, SummerDance in Santa Barbara and the SEAD Theater in Salzburg, Austria, amongst others. As a founding member of johannes wieland where he performed along side with Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater, he has also had the privilege of working in the companies of Doug Elkins, Shapiro and Smith, Eun Me Ahn, Mark Dendy, Larry Keigwin and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet under Doug Varone and Sean Curran. Barnett continually enjoys choreographing for film and video as well as for theater, and hopes to further the realm of conventional performance and art.

Karen and Peter Lennon are the Exclusive Underwriters of Float.

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.

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.

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

Minus 16
An audience favorite, Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin's clever and humorous full-company piece breaks down the barrier between audience and performer. Set to music ranging from Dean Martin to cha-cha, mambo, techno and traditional Israeli music, the piece's audio track includes interviews with HSDC dancers.

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.

The revival of Minus 16 is sponsored by Meg and Tim Callahan and Tim Schwertfeger and Gail Waller.

No More Play
A small sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, which resembles a primitive board game inspired this intriguing work for five dancers, a choreographic play of bodies, mind, sound and light by Jirí Kylián. The work is set to contemporary classical music of Anton Webern.

Click here to watch a video clip of Jirí Kylián's No More Play

…hypnotic…riveting….irresistible.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, March 2003

A striking addition…tantalizing…dark and dissonant.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune, March 2003

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.

The Sara Lee Foundation is the Exclusive Sponsor of Jirí Kylián's No More Play, a significant addition to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's International Masters Initiative.

Passomezzo
Set to the Baroque melodies of “Greensleeves” and The Beggar’s Opera, this highly theatrical duet by Ohad Naharin depicts the intimate dialogue between a man and a woman – the nature of relationships at their most raw and most tender. Naharin’s partnering mingles vulnerability with conflict, articulating a touching, true-to-life exchange.

Click here to watch a video of Ohad Naharin’s Passomezzo

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.

Petite Mort (Small Death)
Set to Mozart piano concerti, this sensual ballet for six men, six women and six foils is an ode to love. Created by Jirí Kylián, the piece features intimate duets, each of which evoke a different feeling and mood.

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.

The revival of Petite Mort is sponsored by Alfred McDougal and Nancy Lauter McDougal.

Rassemblement
Spain’s Nacho Duato turns his choreographic sights to Haiti in the revival of this emotionally stirring and passionate work. Intensely rhythmic and haunting, this piece for four impassioned couples is an impressive audience-affecting appeal for liberation and human rights.

Click here to watch a video of Nacho Duato’s Rassemblement

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.

Sechs Tänze
This farcical group work by Kylián, set to Mozart’s “Six Dances,” is a showcase for HSDC’s most admired skills—precision, timing and confident partnering, all within a comical Baroque context.

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.

SF/LB
Choreographic sensation Ezralow creates an innovative work for 15 dancers that explores the very essence of movement. By using childlike jumps and pushing the limits of speed, SF/LB provokes a visceral reaction among audiences. The piece is set to a score by Leonard Bernstein and creates a provocative statement about the unity and conformity of modern society.

Click here to watch a video clip of Daniel Ezralow's SF/LB

Let's not equivocate. With the world premiere of choreographer Daniel Ezralow's high-propulsion classical jazz ballet "SF/LB," Hubbard Street has a smash hit on its hands….a piece that explodes with all the confidence and pulsating energy of mid-20th century America.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, November 2004

"SF/LB" exploded across the stage like a string of ingeniously timed firecrackers.
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, November 2004

Daniel Ezralow (Choreographer) created SUPER STRAIGHT is coming down, READ MY HIPS, In Praise of Shadows and Lady Lost Found for HSDC. A native of Los Angeles Ezralow began dancing while at UC Berkeley and in New York with Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor and Pilobolus. He was one of the original dancer-choreographers of MOMIX, a founding member of ISO Dance and has created original works for the Paris Opera Ballet and Batsheva among many others. Ezralow choreographed Julie Taymor's The Green Bird, on Broadway, Ron Howard's film The Grinch and 1998 Academy Awards and 2000 Grammy Awards for television. He has created music videos for Andrea Boccelli, U2, David Bowie, Sting and Ricky Martin. Ezralow has received The A.C.A. Innovators Award, and an Emmy Award for the PBS special Episodes. He conceived and choreographed the award-winning dance special Windows, shown on BRAVO, and is the subject of a new feature documentary film, exploring his solo multimedia show MANDALA. Most recently Ezralow co-created and staged the PBS Great Performances special Josh Groban In Concert shown nationally and directed the MTV for the Josh Groban song, "Gira Con Me Questa Notte."

SF/LB is exclusively underwritten by Meg and Tim Callahan in celebration of Meg's 50th birthday.

Strokes Through The Tail
Marguerite Donlon found inspiration in Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and the dancers' personalities to create a work that combines virtuosic dancing with a delightful hint of irreverence. Intrigued by Mozart's style of musical notation, Donlon reveals a tightly knit work in which the dancers personify the structural patterns of musical notes on a page and balletic details to capture the composer's ingenious wit and humor.

Click here to watch a video of Marguerite Donlon's Strokes Through The Tail

Seeing such gifted dancers in exquisite choreography performed to timeless music played by some of the world's finest instrumentalists was thrilling. The dancers seemed to be borne aloft and swept across the stage by the sheer physical presence of such magnificent live music.
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times, December 2005

The whinnying Mozart depicting in "Amadeus" would have enjoyed a good horselaugh at Donlon's piece…for certain the rest of us did… Donlon is unafraid to go against the grain of the music, creating a counterpoint of delicious, never malicious, irony. The sight gags whiz by so fast you really need multiple viewings to appreciate their subtlet.
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, December 2005

Marguerite Donlon (Choreographer) was born in County Longford, Ireland and worked as a solo dancer and choreographer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 1990. Prior to that she danced with the English National Ballet with Peter Schaufuss, and has worked with leading international choreographers Jirí Kylián, William Forsythe, Meg Stuart, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Bill T Jones and Maurice Béjart. Ms Donlon has choreographed several works, including Celtic Touch and Patch of Grass, for Deutsche Oper Berlin and Taboo or Not for Vienna State Ballet. She has also created pieces for Nederlands Dans Theater II, Stuttgart Ballet and Komische Oper Berlin. Ms Donlon's installation works and dance films have been shown in museums and films festivals in Europe and the USA. In 2001, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Saarlaendisches Staatstheater Ballet Saarbrücken in Germany (now named Donlon Dance Company), where she has created a considerable body of new work including full length ballets Carmen-Privat and Midsummer Night's Dream, and her forthcoming Giselle Reloaded. Collaborative work with composers such as Claas Willeke and Sam Auniger, video artists and live musicians have become a regular occurrence and key to the uniqueness of the Donlon Dance Company. 2001 also marked her first collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for the creation of Reverse Deconstruct. Blind Date, for Donlon Dance Co, earned her company awards from Ballettanz for "Best Premiere for 2004" and "Best Male Dancer." In 2005, Donlon was recognized by Die Zeit for the "Most significant development in politics and the art" as well as by Arnd Wesemann of Ballettanz as "One of the thirty-seven artists who carry hope and can move the future of dance."

Strokes Through The Tail has been generously underwritten by John and Caroline Ballantine, Meg and Tim Callahan, Joel and Katie Cory, Sidney and Sondra Berman Epstein and Jim and Kay Mabie.

Tabula Rasa
Renowned Israeli choreographer Naharin creates a virtuoso tour de force. A haunting, beautiful expression of human relationships, Tabula Rasa is 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. The Guardian of London says that Tabula Rasa "showcases the best of Naharin's talent, both tender and oddly beautiful."

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 Sydney and Sondra Berman Epstein and Randy A. White.

Uniformity
Artistic Director Jim Vincent's latest full-company work expands the dialogue between movement, silence and music by interspersing the divergent sounds of Vivaldi, David Lang and Jimi Hendrix with compelling dancing, to delve into the human desire for authority. Utilizing posture and humor to explore social, political and emotional cycles, Uniformity punctuated our cultural struggles for control.

Jim Vincent (HSDC Artistic Director/Choreographer) joined HSDC in August 2000 following an extensive career as a dancer, teacher, ballet master and choreographer. His dance training began at the age of five and continued through his childhood with Mercer, Burlington and Princeton Ballets in New Jersey. He studied on scholarship at the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, D.C., Harkness House of Ballet in New York City and North Carolina School of the Arts at the University of North Carolina. Vincent's distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a 12-year tenure with Jirí Kylián's Nederlands Dans Theater, a guest appearance 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, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Hans van Manen, Christopher Bruce and Ohad Naharin.

Vincent has served as Ballet Master for Nederlands Dans Theater II, Compaña Nacional de Danza and Opéra National de Lyon, where he rehearsed repertory by renowned choreographers Kylián, Duato, Forsythe, Ek, George Balanchine, Angelin Prejlocaj and Bill T. Jones, among others. He has restaged choreographies for Duato, including Jardi Tancat, Synaphai and Na Floresta, and for Kylián, including Return to the Strange Land and Stamping Ground. Vincent has choreographed a number of works for Nederlands Dans Theater I and II, Quebec's Bande à Part and Switzerland's Stadt Theater in Bern. At Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, he has recently choreographed counter/part, his first work for the company as Artistic Director. His teaching experience includes Holland's Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Australia's Victorian College of Art, Compañía Nacional de Danza and Opéra National de Lyon. He served as Assistant Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza from 1990-94.

In October 1997, Vincent joined the creative team of Disneyland Paris as a concept designer and show director. He specialized in creating original concepts for corporate entertainment, press and gala events. Born in New Jersey, Vincent is both a U.S. and French citizen, speaks four languages and is married to France Nguyen, a former dancer with Nederlands Dans Theater, Compañía Nacional de Danza and Lyon Opéra Ballet and is currently the assistant to the principal at Lycée Français de Chicago. They have three daughters, Léna, Claire and June.

Uniformity is underwritten by Bill Wood Prince.

The Constant Shift of Pulse
Fluid yet unpredictable movement marks the distinctive choreographic voice of Doug Varone in his new work, The Constant Shift of Pulse. This intricate and visually powerful piece illuminates the purity of movement, as its 15 dancers test the boundaries of trust and release. Interacting as catalysts to build an emotional landscape, the dancers challenge the viewer’s concept of the relationship between personal and shared space.

Doug Varone (Choreographer) has created contemporary dance for the concert stage, as well as opera, Broadway, regional theater and film. He is the Artistic Director of Doug Varone and Dancers which he established in 1986 as an opportunity to explore and process his particular choreographic vision. The company has performed in more than 100 cities in 45 states across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. Stages include The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto’s Harbourfront, Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theater, the Venice Biennale, and the Tokyo, Jacob’s Pillow and the American Dance Festivals. Varone has created or staged works for the Limon Company, Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Uppercut Danse (Denmark), An Creative (Japan), Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Bern Ballet (Switzerland), Rambert Dance Company (London) and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among others.

For New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Varone has choreographed new productions of Le Sacre du Printemps, Les Troyens, Salome, and the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. Other opera choreography includes Die Walküre (Washington Opera); II Viaggio a Reims (New York City Opera); and the American premieres of George Antheil’s Transatlantic, and Ricky Ian Gordon’s debut production of Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera). As a director and choreographer, he has staged Gluck’s Orfée et Eurydice and II Barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Colorado and Laurent Petitgirard’s Joseph Merrick: The Elephant Man (for Minnesota Opera).

Varone’s theater credits include choreography for Broadway, at Baltimore’s Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Princeton’s McCarter Theater, Music Theater Group, The Vineyard Theatre, and The Aquila Theater. Born and raised in Syosset, NY, Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the Presidenti’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Varone was awarded a 2006 OBIE for his direction and choreography of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice at Lincoln Center for its American Songbook series. Other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and 2 New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement in Choreography (1998) and for Boats Leaving (2007). His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts since 1988.