Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Announces 2021/22 Season

After 'reconnecting' with audiences this spring at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) has announced the program for the company's return to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E Randolph St) to wrap up its 2021/22 season. The Summer Series: RE/UNION will premiere two programs that will take place May 12-15.

Hubbard Street concludes Season 44 with two revelatory programs. Program A (May 12-13) is a two-night engagement featuring the highly anticipated return of Ohad Naharin's Decadance/Chicago, an evening-length work curated specifically for Hubbard Street comprised of excerpts from Naharin's most celebrated pieces, including Sadeh21, Naharin's Virus, and the iconic Minus 16. Program B (May 14-15) offers two additional evenings of a thrilling mixed-repertory program: a captivating Chicago premiere of Ne Me Quitte Pas by Spenser Theberge alongside exhilarating selections from the season, including Aszure Barton's BUSK, George & Zalman by Ohad Naharin, and Amy Hall Garner's latest work for Hubbard Street, As the Wind Blows.

Hailed by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune in 2018 as a "spectacularly immersive must-see," Hubbard Street is delighted to revive Ohad Naharin's wildly popular Decadance/Chicago after the 2020 iteration was scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the company's U.S. premiere of Naharin's Minus 16 in 2000, the Israeli choreographer's works have become a staple in the company's repertoire. Acclaimed for his thrilling signature panache, Naharin's collection of pieces will perfectly cap what has been a triumphant season for Hubbard Street.

After captivating audiences during its world premiere in March, Amy Hall Garner's As the Wind Blows will be reprised by the company this summer. Aszure Barton's BUSK, hailed by Irene Hsiao of the Chicago Reader as "never more brilliantly manifested than in this moment," will also return for the summer engagement. Joining the program's second lineup, multi-hyphenate performer and creator Spenser Theberge will be debuting a reimagined version of Ne Me Quitte Pas, crafted especially for the Hubbard Street dancers. Rounding out Program B's mixed-repertory program will be Naharin's intriguing George & Zalman, also featured as part of Decadance/Chicago.

"We couldn't have imagined a better time to bring this Summer Series to our Chicago community," said Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Artistic Director of HSDC. "We've taken our patrons on a journey this season; returning to live performances this Fall, reconnecting with our MCA family in the spring. Now, as we've started healing from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are eager to reunite with our audience at the Harris, our second home."

The Summer Series has performances Thursday, May 12 through Sunday, May 15. Tickets for Summer Series: RE/UNION at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance (205 E Randolph St) are now on sale via the Harris Theater Box Office. They can be purchased at harristheaterchicago.org or by calling 312-334-7777, and range from $15 to $110. The Harris Theater Box Office is open from 12-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Please visit harristheaterchicago.org/faqs for the theater's up to date COVID-19 safety protocols.

To demonstrate Hubbard Street's commitment to making the arts accessible to all, a limited number of $15 tickets are available for every performance this season, with more than 1,000 Hubbard Street tickets set at this special $15 price this year.

Post-show Curtain Talks for Summer Series: RE/UNION will be held immediately following the performances on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14. These intimate opportunities to hear directly from the dancers and choreographers are included with the price of admission. Friday's Curtain Talk will offer dancer reflections on Decadance/Chicago, and Saturday will be a sit-down interview with featured choreographer Spenser Theberge. Both will be moderated by Artistic Director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell.

Hubbard Street is grateful to Liza Yntema for her support of female leadership in dance. Athletico Physical Therapy, Chicago Athletic Clubs, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency are Season 44: RE/CHARGE Season Partners. Amy Hall Garner's As the Wind Blows is supported in part by Camille Rudge.

The Summer Series: RE/UNION performance schedule is as follows:

PROGRAM A: OHAD NAHARIN (Decadance/Chicago)

Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13 at 8 p.m.

PROGRAM B: Amy Hall GARNER (As the Wind Blows), OHAD NAHARIN (George & Zalman), SPENSER THEBERGE (Ne Me Quitte Pas), Aszure Barton (BUSK)

Saturday, May 14 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 15 at 3 p.m.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has already begun preparation for Season 45, with plans to announce soon after their summer engagement. The new season will premiere in the fall.

About the Choreographers

Aszure Barton

Artist and choreographer Aszure Barton has collaborated with celebrated dancers and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Misty Copeland, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, English National Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Sydney Dance Company, and Teatro alla Scala, among many others. She is a Bessie Award Honoree and has received numerous honors including the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the ranks of Oscar Peterson, Karen Kain, and Margaret Atwood. She was the first Martha Duffy resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and is an official ambassador of contemporary dance in Canada. She is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, an inter-disciplinary international dance project.

Amy Hall GARNER

Amy Hall Garner is a native of Huntsville, Alabama, and a graduate of The Juilliard School. Her work has been praised internationally and commissioned by Ailey II, ABT Studio Company, Collage Dance Collective, The Juilliard School, The Ailey School, Barnard College, The University of the Arts, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Point Park University, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Recently, she has received virtual commissions from BalletX, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process Digital Series, ABT Studio Company, Boulder Ballet and a virtual collaboration between Miami City Ballet and Paul Taylor American Modern Dance. She personally coached Grammy Award winner Beyoncé, providing additional choreography for The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. Theatrical choreography credits include: The Color Purple (Milwaukee Repertory Theater) and Invisible Thread, associate choreographer (Second Stage Theater, NYC). In 2018, she was selected to participate in Alvin Ailey's New Directions Choreography Lab supported by the Ford Foundation. Garner was one of the first recipients of the Joffrey Ballet's Choreography of Color Award (now titled Winning Works). She is an adjunct professor at New York University's New Studio on Broadway at Tisch School of the Arts. In 2021, Ms. Garner was a Virginia B. Toulmin Fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts. Currently, she is creating and reimagining the classical ballet narrative The Nutcracker, at Baltimore School for the Arts.

OHAD NAHARIN

Ohad Naharin is a choreographer, the House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company, and creator of the Gaga movement language. Born in 1952 in Mizra, Israel, he joined Batsheva Dance Company in 1974 despite having little training. During his first year, guest choreographer Martha Graham invited him to join her own company in New York, where Naharin later made his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio in 1980. For the next decade he presented works in New York and abroad, including pieces for Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. Naharin worked closely with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara, until she died from cancer in 2001. In 1990, Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and in the same year, he established the company's junior division, Batsheva - the Young Ensemble. He has since created over thirty works for both companies and set pieces on many others. He has also collaborated with musicians including The Tractor's Revenge, Avi Balleli and Dan Makov, Ivri Lider, and Grischa Lichtenberger. Under the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed, edited, and mixed many of his own soundtracks. Naharin's work has been featured in several films, including Tomer Heymann's Out of Focus (2007) and the Heymann Brothers' Mr. Gaga (2015). In addition to his stagework, Naharin also developed GAGA, the innovative movement research and daily training of Batsheva's dancers that has spread internationally among both dancers and non-dancers. A citizen of both Israel and the United States, Naharin currently lives in Israel with his wife, dancer and costume designer Eri Nakamura, and their daughter, Noga.

SPENSER THEBERGE

Spenser Theberge is a dancer and choreographer based in Los Angeles. A graduate of The Juilliard School and a former company member of the Nederlands Dans Theater and The Forsythe Company, Spenser's own creations have been commissioned and presented worldwide, including at LA Dance Project, Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, The Broad Museum, Korzo Theater, Springboard Danse Montreal, and NAVEL, among others. As a movement director and performer, Spenser has worked with artists and brands including Taylor Swift, Rihanna's Savage x Fenty, Gwen Stefani, Ben Platt, LANY, LykkeLi, and the Tune-yards, and his work has appeared on The Today Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Spenser is a former faculty member at the CalArts School of Dance, and conducts masterclasses at conservatories, schools, and programs across America, Europe, and Asia. Spenser is a YoungArts award winner, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and a Princess Grace Award winner.

About Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's mission is to bring artists, art and audiences together to enrich, engage, educate and change lives through the experience of dance. HSDC is committed to keeping its dancers creating and finding innovative ways to share exceptional contemporary dance with the community. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago grew out of the Lou Conte Dance Studio in 1977, and Conte served as Artistic Director for 23 years. Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell began her tenure at the company in March 2021. In January 2022, HSDC moved to their new home in Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue.

Hubbard Street offers extensive Education and Adaptive Dance Programs to ensure that residents in every neighborhood of Chicago have access to the benefits of dance. Visit hubbardstreetdance.com for more information.

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