Hubbard_Teacher_Guide_-_FINAL

UMS ARTISTIC STATEMENTCONTEMPORARY V. MODERNTHE MISSION OF THE MAIN COMPANYof Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is“to be America’s leading contemporarydance company, presenting eclectic,innovative and razor-sharp repertoire;promoting appreciation for contemporarydance; and contributing to the evolutionof the art form.”As a repertory company, HSDC does nothave just one resident choreographerwhose artistic style and dance vocabularyshape the company. Rather, HSDC is drivenby the creation of new choreographyby many different dance-makers, oftenof national and international repute. Thissignature characteristic of a contemporarydance company is a distinguishingfactor in HSDC not being labeled as amodern dance company.Ambiguity surrounds the phrase “moderndance company” (with a basis in modernand contemporary being synonyms in thedictionary). One standard connotation of“modern dance companies” is that theyare ensembles founded and flourishingin the late 19th to late 20th centuries:companies that, if still in existence today,continue to promote and create within theframework of their founding choreographer’smovement legacy.HSDC pursues what’s current in artmaking,using an array of contemporarychoreographers to set work on them thatengages and challenges audiences worldwide,that keeps the company’s aestheticfresh, and that generally moves danceforward as an art form. These qualitiessolidly classify HSDC as a contemporarygroup and the ensemble’s visit to AnnArbor provides a special opportunity forUMS Youth Performance audience membersto see work difficult to experiencewithout, for instance, going to a dancefestival that presents the dance companiesof different choreographers.What follows are the five works inHSDC’s repertoire that they will performduring their run of 4 shows in Ann Arborfrom April 22-24. The choreographers onthis list are some of the company’s mostfrequent collaborators and are from allover the world:27’ 52” (2010)Choreography by Jirí Kylián [Netherlands]Music by Dirk HaubrichTabula Rasa (2005)Choreography by Ohad Naharin [Israel]Music by Arvo PärtWalking Mad (2008)Choreography by Johan Inger [Sweden]Music by Maurice RavelAt’em (Atem) Adam (2010)Choreography by Terence Marling [USA]Bitter Suite (2009)Choreography by Jorma Elo [Finland]Music by Felix Mendelssohn andClaudio MonteverdiUMS 09-1011