IIT Architecture/Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Collaboration a Grand Success

Chicago, IL — February 28, 2008 —

In an unprecedented collaboration between professional dance artists and students of architecture, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), the internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company, and students from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture spent a semester working together and learning from each other. The project, deemed a success by both HSDC and IIT, culminated in a special presentation in Mies van der Rohe’s signature building, S.R. Crown Hall, on the IIT campus the last weekend in January.

Under the joint direction of HSDC Artistic Director Jim Vincent and architect and IIT faculty member Dirk Denison, 12 undergraduate and graduate students met weekly with HSDC choreographers Alejandro Cerrudo, Lucas Crandall and Brian Enos, as well as HSDC dancers and technical and production staff, throughout the fall to create new environments for three dance works. To learn more about the art of dance, the students began the process by taking movement classes, observing company rehearsals and attending performances.

Audiences for three performances were entranced with the transformation of the landmark Crown Hall and its use in a new and completely different way.

This project is part of Vincent’s overarching goal for HSDC to contribute to the evolution of dance by collaborating with artists in other genres. The project met another of Vincent’s goals to cultivate choreographic work from HSDC’s own artists in order to activate and nurture new talent while developing repertoire exclusive to the company.

Dancer Alejandro Cerrudo’s Extremely Close, set to music by Philip Glass and Dustin O’Halloran, has been commissioned by the Joyce Theater in New York. Associate Artistic Director Lucas Crandall’s The Set is performed to Bach. Both works receive their official world premieres during HSDC’s 2008 Spring Series March 26–April 5 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. Dancer Brian Enos’ B-Sides (12” Mix), set to a score by British electronic duo Hybrid, received its world premiere during HSDC’s 2007 Fall Series.

Dirk Denison FAIA, studio associate professor at IIT and principal of Dirk Denison Architects, has been recognized both nationally and internationally through awards and publications for his outstanding residential and commercial design work.

“This is more of a ‘happening,’ than a straight dance concert,” said choreographer Crandall in a preview story from TimeOut Chicago. “We’ll move the audience around for each piece. It’s spontaneous.”

In the same article, IIT student Gustovo Mendoza described the project as a journey of discovery: “We learned it doesn’t take a lot to change a space. Crown Hall is like the Parthenon—you don’t mess with it. The place we were given made us ask: What do you do with a space while maintaining its spirit?”

In the Chicago Tribune’s preview story, Vincent said, “Developing new works in partnership with artists from other disciplines emphasizes the intrinsically collaborative nature of all art.” Denison concurred, "dance for me is the most conscious way we occupy space, and consciousness is ever in our minds when we teach architecture.

“Dance can be done in a room by yourself, but it's meant to be done for others. Architects don't make buildings just for other architects, but, just like a performance, structures seen by others, existing through time," he added.

A Chicago Tribune review said, “The German-born modernist architect, who designed IIT's Crown Hall in the 1950s with the idea of opening up the interior for multiple uses, may not have had dance performances in mind. But the interplay between settings created by the school's aspiring architects and filled in by dancers at Crown Hall underscored Mies' belief that an efficient structure can be endlessly transformed.”

Students and faculty in Crown Hall have decided to leave the ramp in place until spring break (March 21), so they can use it for various events. Its functionality reaches beyond the one weekend of performances.

A gallery of photos from the collaborative process and weekend of performances is available. High-resolution images from the gallery are available through IIT media relations.

Vincent and Denison plan to continue their partnership in exploring how dance and architecture work together in a special event during HSDC’s 2008 Spring Series, Beyond the Stage: Architecture and Dance, a preshow wine reception and discussion on Saturday, April 5 at 7 p.m., prior to the Spring Series' closing performance. For information, call 312-850-9744 or visit hubbardstreetdance.com.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Jim Vincent, is celebrating 30 years as one of the most original forces in contemporary dance. Critically acclaimed for its exuberant, athletic and innovative repertoire, HSDC presents performances that inspire, challenge and engage audiences worldwide. The company’s ensemble of dancers displays unparalleled versatility and virtuosity, allowing HSDC to expand its eclectic repertoire continually with works by master American and international choreographers. HSDC also contributes to dance’s evolution by developing new choreographic talent and collaborating with artists in music, visual art and theatre. Since Lou Conte founded the company in 1977, HSDC has expanded beyond its main company to include Hubbard Street 2, which cultivates young professional dancers and choreographers, serves as the foundation of HSDC’s education initiatives and performs nationally and internationally with a diverse and engaging repertoire; extensive Education & Community Programs, under the direction of Kathryn Humphreys, which offer city- and state-accredited professional development for teachers to incorporate movement into curriculums and expose young people to dance; and the Lou Conte Dance Studio, under the direction of Lou Conte and original HSDC dancer Claire Bataille, which offers a wide variety of classes weekly in jazz, ballet, modern, tap and hip-hop at levels from basic to professional, as well as workshops and master classes. For more information, visit hubbardstreetdance.com.

IIT’s Mies van der Rohe Society is dedicated to preserving Mies’ legacy, restoring his renowned IIT buildings to enhance educational programs for students, and reinforcing Chicago’s international reputation for architectural distinction.

 

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.