Hubbard Street's Season 39 Spring Series Programming Announced

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the artistic direction of Glenn Edgerton, announces today, full programming for Season 39 Spring Series March 16-19, 2017 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Highlighting the engagement are two works by globally renowned choreographer Nacho Duato, Crystal Pite's mesmerizing Solo Echo, and Lucas Crandall's full-company work, Imprint.

One of the first dance companies in the U.S. to perform work by global choreographer Nacho Duato, Hubbard Street pays tribute to its two-decade relationship with the Spanish-born artist by reviving his plaintive, pastoral Jardí Tancat, for three couples and set to Catalan music recorded by vocalist María del Mar Bonet.

Catalonian for "Closed Garden," Jardí Tancat is based on a collection of ancient Spanish folk songs. In this piece, originally choreographed in 1983 for the Nederlands Dans Theater, Duato reveals this appeal in the movements of sowing, planting, and threshing, of the barren Catalonian land.

The Spring Series also features the Hubbard Street debut of the duet, "Violincello" from Duato's evening length work, Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness (1999), a two-act tribute to the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, performed to Bach's Suite No. 1 in G major.

Says Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton: "Nacho Duato has been a groundbreaking force in contemporary dance for over 30 years. Jardí Tancat, his first choreography, was also the first European work to be brought to Hubbard Street by Lou Conte which broadened both the audience's and the dancer's perspective on contemporary dance. I am excited for our audiences now to revisit Jardí Tancat, first performed by Hubbard Street in 1997, alongside the Hubbard Street premiere of an excerpt from Duato's signature work Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness."

Solo Echo by Crystal Pite was originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2012. Inspired by poet Mark Strand's "Lines for Winter" and set to excerpts from two sonatas for cello and piano by Johannes Brahms, opuses 38 and 99, Solo Echo is exemplary of the fluidity with which Pite's choreography shifts between dance and theater, using classical and contemporary techniques. Hubbard Street was the first Dance Company to present Solo Echo in the U.S. during the Season 38 Winter Series in December 2015. Excerpts of the piece were also performed during the 10th annual Chicago Dancing Festival in August 2016.

Solo Echo "presents a man reckoning with himself at the end of his life," explains Pite. "The character is echoed - copied, reiterated, by seven different dancers. He is portrayed through both male and female bodies, and through various physiques and strengths. Each performer is a distinct and nuanced version of the character, and the connections between them evoke a man coming to terms with himself."

Completing the Season 39 Spring Series is Hubbard Street Rehearsal Director, Lucas Crandall's 2016 full-company work Imprint. Inspired in part by stampedes, with improvised live percussion by Hubbard Street Dancer David Schultz, Imprint "seeks to create an experience both visceral and visual - one which expresses a collective consciousness by exploring the dancer's instinctive responses to natural and urban imagery," Crandall said. "My creative process in the studio, in collaboration with the dancers, has been to construct complex, dynamic movement patterns with groups, then disrupt those patterns, or subject them to a variety of interventions."

Hubbard Street's Season 39 Spring Series is at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, located at 205 East Randolph Street in Chicago, and the complete performance schedule is as follows:

Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 7:30pm

Friday, March 17, 2017 at 8pm

Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 8pm

Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 3pm

Single tickets for the Season 39 Spring Series are $30-$102 and available now, online at hubbardstreetdance.com/spring. Season 39 three-series subscriptions are also on sale, online at hubbardstreetdance.com/subscribe or by phone to the Hubbard Street Ticket Office at 312-850-9744. Patrons who purchased single tickets to the Season 39 Spring Series can still upgrade to three-series subscriptions. Discounted rates are available for groups of 10 or more patrons; visit hubbardstreetdance.com/groups or call 312-850-9744 ext. 164.

For a 14th consecutive year, Hubbard Street holds its Bold Moves for Bold Women event before the Spring Series opening-night performance on Thursday, March 16. This networking reception and fundraiser celebrates female leadership in business, the arts, and Chicago's cultural communities, at the offices of Baker McKenzie with cocktails, delectable hors d'oeuvres, and dazzling views of the city skyline and lakefront. For 39 years, Hubbard Street has remained dedicated to ensuring that women and their unique perspectives are seen and heard, by identifying and supporting female leadership onstage, in area schools, and at the Lou Conte Dance Studio. Honorary event chairs Aurora Abella Austriaco, of Valentine Austriaco & Bueschel, P.C.; Pamela Cullerton, wife of Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton; and event chair and Hubbard Street board member Karen H. Lennon are joined by a host committee to support this exciting event. Lead Sponsors are Baker McKenzie and Wessex 504 Corporation. Bold Moves for Bold Women begins at 5:30pm at Baker McKenzie, located at 300 East Randolph Street, Suite 5000 in Chicago. $200 tickets include premier seating for the March 16 performance at the Harris Theater; $150 tickets include main-floor seating; and reception-only tickets are available for $100, by phone at 312-850-9744 ext. 130 or online at hubbardstreetdance.com/boldwomen. All proceeds from Bold Moves for Bold Women benefit Hubbard Street's artistic, education, and community-supportive programs.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago also extends special thanks to its 2016-17 Season Sponsors: Athletico, Official Provider of Physical Therapy; and Chicago Athletic Clubs, Official Health Club; and Media Sponsor, Crain's Chicago Business.

Friday Balcony Talks

March 16-18 | Begins one hour prior to performance

Harris Theater Balcony | 205 E Randolph St.

Free | No advanced reservations required.

Due to popular demand, Hubbard Street is offering free pre-performance Balcony Talks before Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night performances. Join Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton and Associate Director of Marketing, Andy Sheagren for a casual conversation about the Spring Series works.

The First Dance

March 19 | 2pm

Harris Theater | 205 E Randolph St.

$10 per person, space is limited. Advanced reservations required | RSVP: 312.850.9744.

Join Hubbard Street for "The First Dance" to enjoy light refreshments prior to the Sunday matinee, and get insights into the Spring Series program from Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton.

About Nacho Duato

Born in Valencia, Spain, Nacho Duato started professional ballet training with the Rambert School in London at eighteen, expanding studies at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels and completing his dance education at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York. In 1980 Duato signed his first professional contract with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm and a year later Jirí Kylián brought him to the Nederlands Dans Theater in Holland, where he was quickly incorporated into company and repertoire. His first choreographic attempt in 1983 turned into a major success: Jardí Tancat to Spanish/Catalan music by compatriot Ma del Mar Bonet won him the first prize at the International Choreographic Workshop (Internationaler Choreographischer Wettbewerb) at Cologne. Duato has created more than a dozen works for the two companies of Nederlands Dans Theater and in 1988 was named Resident Choreographer next to Hans van Manen and Jirí Kylián. His ballets form part of the repertoire of companies like Paris Opera, Cullberg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Deutche Opera Ballet, Australian Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Gulbenkian, Finish Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, The Singapore Ballet, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, North Carolina Dance Thatre, The Boston Ballet, The Gothemburg Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, The Northern Ballet, Ballet du Capitole, Ballet du Rhin, Teatro Comunale Florence, National Ballet of Portugal, The Norweigian Ballet, National Theatre Tokio, The Universal Ballet, Stars Foundation Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Staats Theater Berlin, Bolshoi Ballet, etc. Since June 1990 and until July 2010 Nacho Duato is Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza (Madrid-Spain). In 1995 he received the grade of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres which is annually given by the French Embassy in Spain. In 1998 the Spanish Government rewarded him the Golden Medal for the Merit in the Fine Arts. At the Stuttgart Opera he was offered the Benois de la Danse, one of the most prestigious international awards for choreography, presented by the International Dace Association for his Ballet Multiplicity, Forms of Silence and Emptiness, in April, 2000. From January 2011 he takes the position of Artistic Director of Mikhailowsky Ballet (Saint Petersburgs-Russia). From 2014 He becomes Intendant and Artistic Director of Berlin State Ballet (Germany).

About Crystal Pite

Born in Terrace, British Columbia and raised on the Canadian west coast, choreographer and performer Crystal Pite is a former company member of Ballet British Columbia and William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt. Pite's professional choreographic debut was in 1990, at Ballet British Columbia; since then, she has created more than 40 works for companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, the National Ballet of Canada, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, and Louise Lecavalier / Fou Glorieux, plus collaborations with the Electric Company Theatre and acclaimed director Robert Lepage. In 2002, Pite formed the company Kidd Pivot, which integrates movement, original music, text and rich visual design, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Kidd Pivot tours nationally and internationally, performing critically acclaimed works including Dark Matters, Lost Action, The You Show and The Tempest Replica. Pite is the recipient of the Banff Centre's Clifford E. Lee Award (1995), the Bonnie Bird North American Choreography Award (2004), the Isadora Award (2005), two Dora Mavor Moore Awards (2009 and 2012), a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award (2006) and the Governor General of Canada's Performing Arts Award, Mentorship Program (2008). Pite also received the 2011 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award, the inaugural Lola Award in 2012, and the Canada Council's 2012 Jacqueline Lemieux Prize. Visit kiddpivot.org to learn more.

About Lucas Crandall

Lucas Crandall began his dance career with the Milwaukee Ballet in 1979. In 1980, he joined the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, then directed by Oscar Aráiz. Under the direction of Ji?í Kylián, he danced with Nederlands Dans Theater for two years before returning to Geneva, as soloist and later rehearsal assistant, under the direction of Gradimir Pankov. Crandall has performed and originated roles in works by notable choreographers including Aráiz, Kylián, Christopher Bruce, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Rui Horta, Amanda Miller, and Ohad Naharin. In 2000, Crandall returned to the U.S. to join Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, as Associate Artistic Director and staff at the Lou Conte Dance Studio. His teaching and coaching career includes residencies at various U.S. universities; master classes and repertory workshops, both domestically and abroad; and guest positions at companies including Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Northwest Professional Dance Project, and the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. Crandall's choreographic work includes multiple premieres for Hubbard Street (Atelier, Gimme, The Set) and new works for Northwest Dance Project and Thodos Dance Chicago. Crandall was recently rehearsal director for Nederlands Dans Theater's main company for three years, under the directorships of Paul Lightfoot and former Hubbard Street Artistic Director Jim Vincent. Crandall returned to Hubbard Street as Rehearsal Director in April 2013.

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About Hubbard Street

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the artistic leadership of Glenn Edgerton, celebrates its 39th season in 2016 and 2017. Among the world's top contemporary dance companies and a global cultural ambassador, Hubbard Street demonstrates fluency in a wide range of techniques and forms, and deep comprehension of abstract artistry and emotional nuance. The company is critically acclaimed for its exuberant and innovative repertoire, featuring works by master American and international choreographers. Hubbard Street's artists hail from four countries and 12 U.S. states, and comprise a superlative ensemble of virtuosity and versatility. Since its founding by Lou Conte in 1977, Hubbard Street has grown through the establishment of multiple platforms. Each is dedicated to the support and advancement of dance as an art form, as a practice, and as a method for generating and sustaining communities of all kinds.

Extensive Youth, Education and Community Programs, directed by Kathryn Humphreys, are models in the field of arts education, linking the performing company's creative mission to the lives of students and families. Hubbard Street also initiated the first dance-based program in the Midwest to help alleviate suffering caused by Parkinson's disease. Youth Dance Program classes at the Hubbard Street Dance Center include Creative Movement and progressive study of technique, open to young dancers ages 18 months to 18 years.

At the Lou Conte Dance Studio, directed by founding Hubbard Street Dancer Claire Bataille, workshops and master classes allow access to expertise, while a broad variety of weekly classes offer training at all levels in jazz, ballet, dance fitness, modern, tap, African, hip-hop, yoga, Pilates, and more.

About Harris Theater for Music and Dance

The Harris Theater, opened in 2003 in Chicago's Millennium Park, is the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929. The Theater hosts the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city's world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and International Artists and ensembles.

The Harris's mission is to make the arts relevant and accessible to audiences of all ages and communities, and through its partnerships with an array of Chicago's music and dance performing arts organizations, has earned national recognition as a distinctive model for collaboration, performance, and artistic advancement.

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