Chicago Dancers United

Dance for Life 2021: Celebrating 30 Years

August 3, 2021 by 4dancers

Stephanie Martinez’s *kiss.,* with dancers Chris Bloom and Gabrielle Sprauve,
photo by PC Michelle Reid Photography

August is a special time in the Chicago dance community–because that is when Dance for Life takes place. This annual event is celebrating its 30th year in 2021, and now more than ever we’ll gather in true appreciation for the sense of community we have grown here over the three decades this performance has been running.

For those who don’t know what Dance for Life is, it’s a performance/benefit that takes place each year. Funds raised will benefit Chicago Dancers United, an organization that administers The Dancers’ Fund; premium bowl seating is available with a $300 minimum donation. The fund provides short-term financial assistance to Chicago dance professionals that have health and wellness needs. This year free seating will also be available in both the bowl and the lawn area.

Each year various dance artists/companies/groups are selected to perform at this event. Performers this year include: DanceWorks Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet, Movement Revolution Dance Crew, South Chicago Dance Theatre, Trinity Irish Dance Company, Visceral Dance Chicago, and a finale choreographed by Randy Duncan. The program also includes a film by Winifred Haun & Dancers.

Stephanie Martinez’s PARA.MAR has also been chosen to perform this year. We caught up with Stephanie to learn more about her choreography for the evening’s show, as well as her long-standing involvement with Chicago’s dance community.

Can you briefly share the basic history of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre?

While my vision for creating a platform that empowers and elevates diverse artistic voices in contemporary ballet had been growing in me since the moment I first stepped into a studio, the timing of PARA.MAR‘s inception was activated by the pandemic. I saw incredible artists without work, displaced, and some even leaving the field. I felt compelled to create art and employment at a time of such scarcity and deep insecurity.

Would you also talk about how you became involved with this year’s Dance for Life program, and your ties to the Chicago dance community?

From training with Giordano and Lou Conte to becoming a founding member of River North, I’ve spent my life in this community. I’m pretty sure I was in the first Dance for Life! I’m humbled and honored that PARA.MAR was accepted into this year’s line-up alongside some of Chicago’s best. It’s really motivating to have such encouragement and to feel like we belong here. There truly couldn’t be a better way for P/M to round out our first year in existence than performing in such an iconic evening of Chicago dance.

Stephanie Martinez, photo by Cheryl Mann

Your piece, kiss., explores intimacy. How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it?

The piece was created while we were still coming to grips with quarantine, and was heavily influenced by it. There was more time in isolation and time for reflection that anyone could have been prepared for.

The piece is an exploration of the human need for connection as we were grappling with what it meant and felt like to be without it.

You’ll see the characters go through the universal feelings of loneliness, loss, and love. Hopefully, watching the piece makes you realize that in any experience, you aren’t really alone.

You chose the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to choreograph this to – what drew you to it?

Bach, Mozart, and Schubert were perfect companions to the new, more abstract compositions that are featured in the work – three of which were created by the excellent Chicago-based/NY-born composer Darryl J. Hoffman and one by our multifaceted rehearsal director and creative force, Noelle Kayser. Throughout the creation process, we explored the difference between our private and public self. Bach, Mozart, and Schubert are so delicious…luxurious and grand. They were the perfect soundtrack for who we outwardly project ourselves to be and provide an interesting contrast to the more isolated and intimate realities we may feel inside.

Can you shed a little light on your choreographic process for this?

It remains astounding to me that the entire first half of the process took place over Zoom. The way it went is that the dancers were taught various phrases that I created. Then the dancers used the phrases and a series of physical and emotional prompts to manipulate the material. When we were finally able to be in the studio together, I placed and expanded upon the puzzle pieces that were created over Zoom to support the narrative of the piece.

Dance for Life has always been a time of coming together for the Chicago dance community. What does it mean to you personally?

Dance for Life is always an evening of celebration and community. The support you feel in the wings extends well beyond the once a year performance. Over the years, I’ve seen Chicago Dancers United assist my friends and colleagues in times of crisis and feel lucky and grateful to have resources like these available to the dance community in our city.

Dance for Life takes place Thursday, August 26th at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago. The gates will open at 5:00 p.m. and the performance runs from 6:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Premium seating benefiting Chicago Dancers United is available here for a donation of $300 or more. Please note that this year there will also be free seating available in both the bowl and the lawn area.

Creating Dance in 2020: Hanna Brictson and Dance for Life

August 13, 2020 by 4dancers

Hanna Brictson, Photo by Nicolette Nunez

Dance for Life is a yearly fundraising event held in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre, but this year the gathering of dance professionals and supporters will take place in a virtual format. Choreographer Hanna Brictson was asked to choreograph a world premiere – a challenge under usual circumstances – made more difficult by COVID-19. We sent Hanna some questions about how she crafted this new work, and her answers were educational–but perhaps even more importantly–hopeful.

What was the path that led to you being asked to make a dance for Dance for Life 2020: United as One?
My path to creating the new piece for DFL 2020 happened in the heat of the pandemic. DFL contacted me and noted that they loved the piece I had submitted in early February, “Natural Women.” This was back when it would have been in the show. Having seen my works over the last few years, they asked if I could create a brand new piece to represent the current situation. It wasn’t clear at this point when or how we could do such a thing during a quarantine. Then the wheels started turning and the plan to create virtually and do a film was born.

Can you talk just for a moment about your background in Chicago dance and how this affected your approach regarding the World Premiere you have choreographed for the event?
My background in Chicago starts from the beginning. I grew up in the suburbs and by the age of 15 was training very closely with River North Dance Chicago. At 18, after graduating high school, I joined River North as a company member, and that’s where I danced for 12 years, eventually choreographing on the company and being an assistant rehearsal director. During those years, I was brought into the DFL family, performing several years with RNDC at the performance each year—a definite highlight in my early career. Following RNDC, I joined Visceral Dance Chicago. I was able to perform again in DFL with a different company. Two seasons later I submitted my own choreographic work to be in the show. Prompted by mentors and pushed to show what I could do choreographically, I did it. It was picked for 2018. It’s been a journey! To be on both sides of the Auditorium stage as both a dancer and choreographer is beyond emotional for me. That young passionate 12-year-old never would have guessed that, at 34 years old, I would have accomplished these things. It still is quite surreal, and I am extremely grateful and honored to create and have people actually enjoy it! DFL has given me such wonderful opportunities.

“My Darling” – Choreographed by Hanna Brictson for Dance for Life 2018.
Photo by Todd Rosenburg.

Dance for Life has always been about community. Can you speak to the challenge of trying to bring that feeling into this year’s virtual event?
The community aspect was a challenge for this creation! We never were able to rehearse in person. We had only communication through emails, YouTube videos, and a few Zoom calls. I actually did note sessions talking to my camera and uploading it online to send! Completely different than the normal. Many dancers in Chicago had traveled home, taken breaks, and so much more during their own journey through a quarantine and worldwide pandemic. When I first started reaching out to people, it seemed like this was exactly what people needed in their life. Dancers are hungry to feel and share. These dancers are the most generous and humble humans. They really came together in a rough time for us all. Community is a tie that we will always have together. Sometimes it may seem thinner, but Chicago’s dance ties are a bond that will continue to stay strong and collected. We felt distanced at first but quickly realized we actually were capable of anything. That day, that ONE and ONLY day we came all together to film, we felt so strongly about our Chicago Dance Community, and so happy to finally be together!

What did you learn from this unusual approach to creating a work under these circumstances?
I learned through this process that a lot is possible going forward in this new world approaching us. I can still create under intense circumstances. It’s actually a very optimistic view for me to look forward to. We have a great community of dancers that are eager to create and share with the world. We need to keep dancing and creating as much as we can right now.

Those who are interested in participating in Dance for Life 2020: United as One can find information at Chicago Dancers United. It begins Saturday evening at 6:30 pm, CST.

Choreographing “Echo Mine”

July 29, 2019 by 4dancers

Robyn Mineko Williams and Jacqueline Burnett rehearse “Echo Mine”.
Photo by Chloe Hamilton.

Chicago’s annual benefit performance, Dance for Life, is a time for community. It’s a time for celebrating dance–and dancers–right here in our city. It’s a time for coming together, and a time for reflection.

This year’s performance offers a great variety of talented dancers and dance companies, as well as a “first look” at Echo Mine, a work choreographed by former Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancer and award-winning choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams. The piece was inspired by the late Claire Bataille—one of HSDC’s founding dancers, as well as a choreographer and director of the Lou Conte Dance Studio.

We are fortunate to be able to share excerpts from a recent conversation with Robyn, regarding how this piece came into focus, and how the decision was made to included it in this year’s Dance for Life Chicago performance.

You have deep roots in the Chicago dance community. Can you describe your journey from dancer to choreographer in broad terms?

The pathway from dancer to choreographer was not one I expected. When I left Hubbard Street in 2012, I didn’t intend to stop dancing, but choreographic opportunities presented themselves. The more I did it, the more I enjoyed it and found that I had a voice on the other side of the lens. I knew that I was not ready to leave the world of dance. So it’s been an interesting but unexpected career path. When I was a dancer, I thought I’d leave Hubbard and go back to math school, become a math teacher, open a bakery—so I’m very surprised, but not surprised, that I’m still immersed and feel passionate about being an active member of this community.

Robyn Mineko Williams, rehearsing “Echo Mine”. Photo by Chloe Hamilton.

Claire Bataille is a well-known figure in the Chicago dance community. Would you comment on the sense of loss that has been felt with her absence?

Speaking only for myself, it is a huge loss because of the incredible range that she had during her 40+ years in the dance community—dancer, teacher, mentor, friend. When I walk into Lou Conte Dance Studio, I still expect to see her even though I know I’m not going to. She’s been a constant for me and for thousands of people. She’s just part of the web, like the bones of the dance community. Michael Anderson [former Joffrey dancer and now Chicago Dancers United/Dance for Life board member] and I both noticed that, at Claire’s memorial last winter, so many different people were there, not just spanning generations but from many parts of Chicago and beyond. Claire was so much more than Hubbard; she brought dancers together. She was a key figure, like the glue for all of us.

How did this piece wind up coming about for Dance for Life 2019?

The solo I performed at Claire’s memorial was a work in progress and is now part of Echo Mine. I started to reach out to different people in the dance community for advice about a good venue for this piece and other general, technical questions. This is my first independent work on this level—a 50-minute, full-evening work for proscenium. I’d been in the studio and working with composer Tim Rutili of Califone, so creative elements had been in the works for a long time, but the logistical aspects of how to get it to a stage were things I didn’t know. So I reached out to people who I thought could help me. Michael Anderson wanted to bring the piece to Dance for Life as an option, especially since they knew they’d be paying tribute to Claire this year, so it was a good fit. There was some discussion of Hubbard doing Georgia—which they do a phenomenal job with—but it would be hard not to imagine Claire. So Echo Mine is inspired by and of Claire, and made alongside and with her, but not something she had done—it’s more representative of now.

It’s also really important to me that people know that this started with Claire. This is not a piece about cancer or about Claire’s past. I was really interested, and she was too, about creating something together in the present moment, of her today, and all of her history and my history is part of it, they’re ingredients. When I asked Claire what she wanted, she said it was important to tell a story, and I felt it was important that it be about “present Claire.” And after she got sick, she was still OK with that. As this piece comes more and more together, I see that it’s a snapshot of this amazing time we were able to spend together and make something in the present.

I started talking to her about it in early 2017; that was when original idea came up, because I was encouraged to apply for a grant from Chicago Dancemakers Forum. So this was the idea that came to mind: to work with Claire and see her perform my movement and see how much of my movement is actually her. To see her dance again, and for me to be in the room and create with her, would be the coolest, most rare gem. How often do you get to do that with your idol? A person who you looked up to, who you had posters of in your room? I sheepishly asked her, thinking she would never do it, and she said OK, let’s explore it! She agreed to it, we talked a couple times about early ideas, themes—ironically, she brought up the theme of loss and how it’s been a thread throughout her life, and this was before she got sick. We had one rehearsal in October and a month later she was diagnosed with cancer. In late January 2018, I contacted her again to see how she felt about continuing, and she was fine with it. At first she wasn’t comfortable going back into the studio, not because she physically couldn’t do it but emotionally. But in July she did feel well enough, so we were in the studio for about a month, off and on, and we made a solo for her together, and now that’s the source material for the whole piece. It was such a gift. Regardless of her being sick or not, it was such a great excuse to hang out with her and learn more from her and hear her Hubbard Street stories, which brought to life the photos I had of her.

Claire dancing — Claire Bataille teaching at Lou Conte Dance Studio. © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2015.

Can you share a bit about your connection with Claire?

My connection with Claire changed. I saw her dance with Hubbard Street when I was nine, and from that moment on, I thought, “This is it.” So I started as an observer, a fan; when I was a teen, I started taking classes with her. Then at 16, I was on scholarship at Lou Conte Dance Studio for a couple years. When I joined River North, she was our ballet mistress. So our relationship evolved. I joined Hubbard in 2000 when she was still rehearsal director. One of my favorite memories is this: I had auditioned a number of times, and I decided to try one more time in 1999. I went to an open audition, and I think Lou [Conte], Jim [Vincent, income artistic director] and Claire were there. I got the job and Claire said that she asked if she could be the one to call and tell me. So I got the call from Claire, and she said I screamed bloody murder, and when she hung up, her son Isaac asked if she thought I’d call my Mom right away because he could hear me screaming. I remember my first day at Hubbard in class, and she welcomed me to my new home. While at Hubbard I got to know Claire on a different level; I was less socially awkward around her and could talk to her about various things like both of us being moms. So our relationship matured and evolved. I was able to spend time with her, and she was really important to me.

How has this piece taken shape? What’s the process you have used to craft it to specifically honor Claire?

I’ve been talking with Tim Rutili about this as long as I talked to Claire about it. He and his band have composed an original score, which is very different than anything I’ve ever done. He created it after watching videos of Claire and of Claire and me, listening to interviews, and not making it literal but taking it all in and doing his thing. I also have a set and projection designer, Deborah Johnson (aka CandyStations), and will integrate film components. It’s important that we see Claire, and now it’s becoming more evident that the story is a snapshot of this experience I’ve had. I want to finish and share it, keep it simple. I find, as a maker, I tend to go a bit smaller and do what I know and hope that it resonates and makes sense. My story doesn’t have to be the story everyone in the audience gets but I hope it’s filled with enough honesty and humanity that people can take that and make their own thing out of it. And part of what I’m figuring out now is the story and its arc. Part of my initial desire to make a work with Claire is to share beyond Chicago who Claire was—people need to know about this woman and how great she was. I want it to be an introduction for some and a validation or reminiscence for others.

How did you go about selecting dancers for the work?

Originally it was supposed to be a solo for Claire. When she fell ill, I asked Jacqueline Burnett to dance. Then I realized it was not going to be 10 minutes, it was something larger, so I thought we needed more than one dancer. I was very reluctant to dance myself, so I brought in Meredith Dincolo. We’re sort of different generations of Hubbard Street and had different relationships with Claire, but we were all lucky enough to have a solid time with her. In rehearsals, we have an understanding of Claire’s essence. We were all around her, learned from her, watched her—we don’t have to talk about it, we just know. I’ve never danced my own work; I’d rather be outside, it’s easier to create that way. I don’t feel like I need to get back onstage; I feel good about my career, and there’s no unfinished business. But I’m dancing this because it makes sense conceptually. I took myself out maybe four times, but now I’m committed to doing it.

Dance for Life Chicago 2019 takes place at the Auditorium Theatre on August 17th. Tickets are available online, or at the door that evening. 4dancers is proud to serve as a long-time media sponsor for the event. Learn more about the performance, or about DFL’s parent organization, Chicago Dancers United here.

Dance For Life Chicago 2017

August 16, 2017 by 4dancers

On August 19th, Dance for Life Chicago will once again take place at the Auditorium Theatre, and anyone who has attended in the past knows that this performance isn’t one to be missed. The atmosphere is always highly charged, as an enthusiastic audience comes together to support the dance community in our city. It’s a night like none other in terms of the variety of Chicago dance talent gathered together on stage.

Each year the performance is preceded by a Gala Celebration at Hilton Chicago, located nearby at 720 South Michigan Avenue. The show itself begins at 7:30, featuring performances from Giordano Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, as well as Visceral Dance Chicago and Jessica Miller Tomlinson Choreography. Add to that a collaboration between Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, and Trinity Irish Dance, and you have a full evening of dance – topped off by a finale choreographed by Randy Duncan. Carisa Barreca and Kevin Sciretta of The Second City will be the emcees for the night, adding a lighthearted touch to the festivities.

As if such a gathering of Chicago dance companies isn’t enough in and of itself, the proceeds from Dance for Life Chicago 2017’s benefit performance will be contributed to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Chicago Dancers United’s Dancers’ Fund, which provides financial support to dance professionals experiencing critical health and life issues. This yearly event has raised more than 5.5 million dollars since it began in 1992.

Visit Chicago Dancers United to learn more about the performance, the Dancers’ Fund, or to get tickets for this special event.

4dancers is a media sponsor for this event. We have supported Dance for Life for many years, and are proud to stand behind this cause and do our part to give back to the Chicago dance community.

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