So You Think You Can Choreograph?
By Suzy Evans in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 27, 2009 6:45PM
Ana Lopez and Alejandro Piris-Nino in Caress, choreographed by Lucas Crandall. Photo by Suzy Evans.
When you’re a dancer, your career ends a lot earlier than most because unfortunately, your body stops cooperating past a certain point. So unless you’re Mikhail Baryshnikov (who is still dancing at 61), you need to transition into a different career. And like many athletes become coaches, dancers become choreographers. However, learning the trade can be tricky so Hubbard Street Dance Center gives its company the opportunity to choreograph for the workshop “Inside/Out,” which goes up tonight.
“It’s really slap-dash,” said Lucas Crandall, associate artistic director. (The company had 2 weeks to put the whole thing together.) Also, for the first time the workshop will be hosted at Hubbard Street in the back warehouse, which used to be rented out to a paper supply company. “We’re creating a theater to run,” said Kristin Brogdon, artistic administrator for the company. “This is definitely the least formal that we’ve seen in recent years.” However, that doesn’t mean the dancing is sub-par. When audience members enter the lobby, there will be two rooms with dancing going on - one with multimedia. And then they will be ushered slowly into the warehouse where they will watch two dance preludes in different areas before they settle around the main performance area. Brogdon says this raw approach takes the pressure off a little for the dancers.
The workshop was created by Jim Vincent, the company’s artistic director in 2000, and next year, it will take place at the Art Institute. While some dancers, such as newly named Resident Choreography Alejandro Cerrudo fine their choreographic calling through this workshop, others do it just for fun. “It’s not my vocation,” said Taryn Kashock Russell, artistic associate. “It looks so much better than I thought,” she added about her piece. The workshop has two showings, tonight only, at 6 and 8:30 p.m. The 8:30 performance is followed by an after party, which has an open bar. Ticket prices ranges $25 - $70 and can be reserved at 312-850-9744 x 128.