Hubbard Street's 39th Season at Harris Theater to Feature Works by Tharp, Cerrudo & More

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton are excited to announce the main company's 2016-17 season performances in Chicago. Tickets to four engagements at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, located at 205 East Randolph Street in Chicago, are available immediately as a Season 39 subscription; single tickets will go on sale in late summer 2016.

November 17-20, 2016 at the Harris Theater, the Season 39 Fall Series features two world premieres: Alejandro Cerrudo will unveil his 15th original work as the company's Resident Choreographer, alongside Hubbard Street's debut in choreography by 2013 Guggenheim Fellow Brian Brooks, founding artistic director of Brian Brooks Moving Company. Hubbard Street's world premiere by Brian Brooks is commissioned by the Harris Theater and is made possible by the Jay Franke and David Herro Choreographer in Residence Fund through the Imagine campaign. Completing the Fall Series program, Hubbard Street presents two contrasting ensemble works by Czech-born, Holland-based dancemaker Ji?í Kylián: Sarabande (1990), for six men and set to J. S. Bach's second partita for solo violin, with electronically manipulated live vocals and body percussion; and Falling Angels (1989), for a cast of eight women and set to part one of Steve Reich's phased-percussion composition, Drumming.

March 16-19, 2017 at the Harris Theater, the Season 39 Spring Series marks Hubbard Street's fourth program devoted to the work of a single choreographer, following its past series dedicated to Cerrudo, Kylián, and William Forsythe. One of the first dance companies in the U.S. to perform the choreography of Nacho Duato, Hubbard Street pays tribute to its two-decade relationship with the Spanish-born artist by reviving two of his masterworks, alongside two company premieres. Originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater 2 in 1983 and first performed by Hubbard Street in 1998, the plaintive, pastoral Jardí Tancat is danced by three couples, and set to Catalan music recorded by vocalist María del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer, and arranged by French composer Jacques Denjean. Remarkably, Jardí Tancat was Duato's choreographic debut, for which he received first prize at the International Choreographic Workshop in Cologne, Germany. Also returning is Duato's Rassemblement, originally created for Sweden's Cullberg Ballet in 1990, first performed by Hubbard Street in 1999, and for a cast of ten dancers, set to recordings by the late Haitian actress and singer Marie Clotilde "Toto" Bissainthe. New to Hubbard Street's repertoire will be a duet from Multiplicity. Forms of Emptiness and Silence (1999), Duato's two-act tribute to the composer J. S. Bach; and the complete work White Darkness (2001), described as a requiem for the choreographer's sister, who died following struggles with drug abuse.

May 12 and 13, 2017 at the Harris Theater, Hubbard Street presents its first-ever Chicago Series, to feature all new work by Chicago-based choreographers including Princess Grace Award-winner Robyn Mineko Williams; and Julia Rhoads, founding artistic director of Lucky Plush Productions. Additional work to premiere during the Chicago Series will be announced at a later date. Season 39 subscribers with Thursday and Sunday ticket packages will attend their choice of either the Friday, May 12 or Saturday, May 13 performance, both at 8pm.

June 8-11, 2017 at the Harris Theater, the Season 39 Summer Series kicks off "Hubbard Street at 40" - a full year of programming, domestic and international touring, special events and more to mark the company's 40th anniversary season. The Summer Series combines audience favorites representing all four decades of the company's history, and closes with Founding Artistic Director Lou Conte's full-company The 40s, Hubbard Street's longtime signature work, set to bandleader Ralph Burns's rousing take on Sy Oliver's "Opus One," and Burns's own "V. J. Stomp." Hubbard Street also revives Conte's beloved duet Georgia, set to Willie Nelson's "Georgia on My Mind," originally premiered in 1987 as part of the triptych "Rose from the Blues." Representing The Tharp Project - a ten-year initiative and partnership launched in 1990 between the company and choreographer Twyla Tharp - Hubbard Street performs Tharp's The Golden Section, premiered on Broadway in 1981, and debuted by Hubbard Street at the Holland Dance Festival in the Netherlands in 1991. For 13 dancers and set to music by composer and pop star David Byrne (Talking Heads), The Golden Section is the finale of the full-length dance drama The Catherine Wheel, televised for the PBS series "Dance in America," with costumes by Santo Loquasto, and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. This program also features the full-company work One Flat Thing, reproduced by William Forsythe; the solo A Picture of You Falling by Crystal Pite; and excerpts including scenes from Imprint (2016) by Rehearsal Director Lucas Crandall, Palladio (2007) by former Hubbard Street Artistic Director Jim Vincent, and One Thousand Pieces (2012), the company's first evening-length production, created by Alejandro Cerrudo in response to Marc Chagall's America Windows at the Art Institute of Chicago, and premiered for Hubbard Street's Landmark 35th Anniversary Season.

Season 2016-17 subscriptions are $90-$306 and on sale now at the Hubbard Street Ticket Office, by phone at 312-850-9744; online sales begin May 1 at hubbardstreetdance.com/subscribe. For the Fall Series, Spring Series, and Summer Series, Thursday performances begin at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8pm, and Sunday matinée performances begin at 3pm. For the Chicago Series, performances Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13 begin at 8pm. Single tickets for these four series will be available late summer 2016. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's 2016-17 domestic and international touring engagements, special projects, residencies and additional collaborations will be announced at later dates. Programming is subject to change.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago extends special thanks to its Season 39 Sponsors: Athletico, Official Provider of Physical Therapy; and Chicago Athletic Clubs, Official Health Club. Bill and Orli Staley are the Leading Supporters of New Choreography Development. Season 39 at Hubbard Street is supported by the Sandra and Jack Guthman Fund through the Imagine campaign at the Harris Theater. The 2017 revival of The 40s is sponsored by Charles Gardner and Patti Eylar. The World Premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo is sponsored by Marc Miller and Chris Horsman, and Richard and Barbara Silverman. One Thousand Pieces was created with funds from the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work, which was awarded to Alejandro Cerrudo and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2012.

Based in New York City, Brian Brooks is the recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, in addition to a New York City Center Fellowship, the Jerome Robbins Foundation's New Essential Works (NEW) grant, the Joyce Theater's Artist Residency, and a National Dance Project Production grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. His dance group, the Brian Brooks Moving Company, has toured nationally and internationally since 2002 with recent presentations by the Joyce Theater, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the American Dance Festival, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) as part of its 2013 Next Wave Festival. The American Dance Institute has commissioned Brooks's company's next production, Wilderness, with a New York premiere at The Kitchen in June 2016. As an independent artist, Brooks has been commissioned by Damian Woetzel at the Vail International Dance Festival to create three new works, featuring dancers from New York City Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet, including First Fall, one in a suite of duets comprising former NYCB principal Wendy Whelan's "Restless Creature." Brooks is currently creating another work to perform with Whelan, beginning in the summer of 2016. Theatre for a New Audience has invited Brooks to choreograph two off-Broadway Shakespeare productions: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013), directed by Julie Taymor; and Pericles (2016), directed by Trevor Nunn. Brooks has created new dances for programs at the Juilliard School, the Boston Conservatory, the School at Jacob's Pillow, and Harvard University; he dedicated 12 years to being a Teaching Artist of Dance at the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education; and he has served part-time on the faculties of Rutgers University and Princeton University. Visit brianbrooksmovingcompany.com to learn more.

Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo was born in Madrid, Spain, and trained at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid. His professional career began in 1998 and includes work with Victor Ullate Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and Nederlands Dans Theater 2. Cerrudo joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2005, was named Choreographic Fellow in 2008, and became the company's first Resident Choreographer in 2009. Fourteen works choreographed to date for Hubbard Street include collaborations with The Second City, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Nederlands Dans Theater. These pieces and additional commissions are in repertory at companies around the U.S. as well as in Australia, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands; touring engagements have brought his work still further abroad, to audiences in Algeria, Canada, Morocco, and Spain. In March 2012, Pacific Northwest Ballet invited Cerrudo to choreograph his first work for the company, Memory Glow, upon receiving the Joyce Theater Foundation's second Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance. Additional honors include an award from the Boomerang Fund for Artists (2011), and a Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work from the Prince Charitable Trusts (2012) for his acclaimed, first evening-length work, One Thousand Pieces. In March 2016, Switzerland's Ballett Basel premieres his second evening-length work, Sleeping Beauty, at Theater Basel. Cerrudo was one of four choreographers invited by New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan to create and perform original duets for "Restless Creature," and he is United States Artists' 2014 USA Donnelley Fellow.

After a performing career that included roles in Broadway musicals such as Cabaret, Mame, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Lou Conte established the Lou Conte Dance Studio in 1974. Three years later, he founded what is now Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Originally the company's sole choreographer, he developed relationships with emerging and world-renowned dancemakers Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Margo Sappington, and Daniel Ezralow as the company grew. Conte continued to build Hubbard Street's repertoire by forging a key relationship with Twyla Tharp in the 1990s, acquiring seven of her works as well as original choreography. It then became an international enterprise with the inclusion of works by Ji?í Kylián, Nacho Duato, and Ohad Naharin. Throughout his 23 years as the company's artistic director, Conte received numerous awards including the first Ruth Page Artistic Achievements Award in 1986, the Sidney R. Yates Arts Advocacy Award in 1995, and a Chicagoan of the Year award from Chicago magazine in 1999. In 2003, Conte was inducted as a laureate into the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, the state's highest honor, and in 2014, was named one of five inaugural recipients of the City of Chicago's Fifth Star Award. He has been credited by many for helping raise Chicago's international cultural profile, and for creating a welcoming climate for dance in the city, where the art form now thrives.

Born in Valencia, Spain, Nacho Duato began training at London's Rambert School at age 18, expanding his studies at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels, and completing his dance education at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City. He joined Sweden's Cullberg Ballet in 1980 and, the following year, Nederlands Dans Theater in the Hague. From 1990 to 2010, after a successful career as dancer and resident choreographer for NDT 1, Duato was artistic director of Compañía Nacional de Danza under the Spanish Ministry of Culture's Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música. Duato relocated to Russia in 2011, becoming artistic director at the Mikhailovsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, then became artistic director of Staatsballett Berlin beginning with the 2014-15 season, while remaining with the Mikhailovsky Theatre as choreographer-in-residence. For his achievements as a dancer, Duato received the VSCD Gouden Dansprijs (Golden Dance Award) in 1987; recognition for his creative work includes first prize at Germany's International Choreographic Workshop (1983), the rank of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Embassy in Spain (1995), a Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts from the Spanish government (1998), and a Prix Benois de la Danse (Stuttgart, 2000). Visit staatsballett-berlin.de to learn more.

Julia Rhoads is the founding artistic director of Lucky Plush Productions, for which she has created more than 25 original works, several of which have toured extensively throughout the U.S., and has received competitive creation, residency, and touring grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Dance Project, and the National Performance Network. Additional choreography credits include Lookingglass Theatre Company's The Great Fire, Walkabout Theater Company's Mama: A Play for Voices, Redmoon Theater's Project Y, and Oasis and Between Three for River North Dance Chicago, among others. Rhoads is the recipient of the 2013 Alpert Award in Dance, a fellowship from the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award, the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation's Choreography Award, two Illinois Arts Council choreography fellowships, a Jacob K. Javits fellowship for graduate studies, and a 2014 Fractured Atlas Arts Entrepreneurship Award for spearheading Creative Partners, an innovative nonprofit financial model shared by Lucky Plush Productions, eighth blackbird, and Blair Thomas & Company. Rhoads is a former member of San Francisco Ballet and ensemble member of XSIGHT! Performance Group. She received her BA in History from Northwestern University, her MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she has taught in the dance and theater programs of several Chicago-area colleges and universities. She is currently a lecturer and dance advisor at the University of Chicago's Department of Theater and Performance Studies. Visit luckyplush.com to learn more.

Twyla Tharp is the choreographer of more than 135 dances and five Hollywood movies, and she has directed and choreographed four Broadway shows. Tharp is a 2008 Kennedy Center Honoree and she has received a Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, and the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In addition to choreographing for her own companies and ensembles since 1965, she has created original dances for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Paris Opéra Ballet, the Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her award-winning dance musical Movin' Out, set to songs by Billy Joel, ran on Broadway for three years in addition to a three-year national tour; her film credits include Hair (1978), Ragtime (1980), Amadeus (1984), White Nights (1985), and I'll Do Anything (1994). She choreographed Sue's Leg for the inaugural episode of "Dance in America" on PBS, directed The Catherine Wheel for BBC Television, and co-directed Baryshnikov by Tharp (1985). A prolific author, Tharp's books include her autobiography, Push Comes to Shove (1992); and two titles published by Simon and Schuster: The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (2003), and The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together (2009). Visit twylatharp.org to learn more.

Robyn Mineko Williams began her career at River North Dance Chicago, followed by twelve seasons as a member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, during which she performed choreography by renowned artists including Ohad Naharin, Ji?í Kylián, William Forsythe and Johan Inger, and originated roles in new works by Jorma Elo, Sharon Eyal, Twyla Tharp and Lar Lubovitch, among others. She began making her own work in 2001 through Hubbard Street's Inside/Out Choreographic Workshop and, in 2010, co-choreographed with Terence Marling Hubbard Street 2's Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure, designed for young audiences. She has since created multiple premieres for Hubbard Street's main company including scenes in its collaboration with The Second City, The Art of Falling, and has made work for Atlanta Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Visceral Dance Chicago and The Nexus Project, presented at the Kennedy Center, the American Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater and other venues. Named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" for 2014, Williams was one of Northwest Dance Project's 2012 International Choreography Competition winners, received a 2013 Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship, and was selected as an E-choreographer for Springboard Danse Montréal the same year. In 2015 she completed a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works In Progress Residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and recently received a Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in support of Hubbard Street 2 + Manual Cinema's Mariko's Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure. In 2016, Williams was named among Newcity's Players 50 list of local leaders in the performing arts. Visit robynminekowilliams.com to learn more.

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