Glenn Edgerton: I\u2019m always looking for choreography that\u2019s individual. That each one has his own unique style, stamp \u2013 whatever you want to call it. So that dance doesn\u2019t become homogenized, that it has completely new language, new choreography. That to me is fundamental from a choreographer. If it looks like they\u2019re influenced\u2026influence is fine, but it needs to have its own voice that gives it validity.<\/p>\n
\u00a0AD: When teaching new choreography to the company are you trying to create an exact replica of the piece?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: [Shakes head from side to side] It\u2019s not about replicating, it\u2019s about finding through the movement and the personalities of our dancers and what they bring to the work. AD: HSDC is currently working with Ohad Naharin on Tabula Rasa. Naharin works with his dancers using Gaga, the movement language he<\/strong> developed, I imagine that HSDC prepares differently, does that pose any difficulty?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: You know, you work it out in the piece in the choreography. The company has experienced gaga. Of course they\u2019re not as completely versed as the Batsheva dancers. AD: How is the work transmitted to the dancers, how hands-on are you as an artistic director?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: Sometimes I am hands-on with the work, many of the pieces I\u2019ll be rehearsing or pieces from my past that I have known that I have set on the company. But it\u2019s always good to go to the source. Even though we have had experience with different choreographers and a long history with those choreographers. It\u2019s more about the experience for the dancers that they get that first hand information, or as close to first hand information as possible. AD: Are there works from the past that you would like to bring to HSDC?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: Oh sure, there\u2019s so many pieces of Ohad that I would like to bring, there\u2019s a lot of Kylian\u2019s work that would sit very well with Hubbard Street we\u2019ve had some Kylian, I also want to find a young choreographer, a new choreographer who hasn\u2019t been saturated into all the other companies around the world. I want to tap into young talent and give them opportunity, give them a chance to improve their skills so that they will be the next generation of Kylians and Naharins.<\/p>\n AD: Do you have anyone in mind yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: I\u2019m working on it. We have a resident choreographer, Alejandro Ceruudo [whose \u201cOff Screen\u201d is part of HSDC\u2019s program in Israel] who\u2019s important to the company\u00a0 He\u2019s been doing work now for a number of years, he\u2019s created three pieces for the company. He\u2019s going to be doing another one soon for the main company and working on one for the second company. He\u2019s someone we\u2019ve been able to grow from within. He still dances in the company. I want to find others as well.<\/p>\n AD: Will you have a chance to see Israeli choreographers.<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: I\u2019m hoping to. You have an extended festival so I have to search out our times and how I can see them.<\/p>\n AD: In terms of the International dance scene are we entering an era of multicultural fusion, or can you detect different cultural tendencies?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: I can say, arriving here and feeling the culture of the people perhaps is an example of Israeli dance. You see the people very strong, very passionate\u2026living life to its fullest. An obvious passion for life that I feel just in being here the last couple of days and that I think I think is an obvious influence in the dance that I\u2019ve seen from Israel.\u00a0 Whereas the dance in America \u2013 there is a general sense in some instances\u2026 a conservatism. I\u2019d like to find a way that we can open those barriers within my own country.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not even so much the dance it\u2019s what the public are looking for, it\u2019s the public that are designating what they\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n AD: How do you deal with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: You just forge ahead and you have to\u2026that\u2019s why this company is an eclectic company. There\u2019s something in the program that hopefully will resonate with everybody in the audience. If the first piece doesn\u2019t speak to them, then perhaps the second piece will, and if not the second then the third or fourth. You should have diverse programming that will speak to everyone in the audience. You have to have something light, at the same time something with some weight, some passion and everything in between. That way you can present something that\u2019s a little more avant-garde, a bit more pushing the boundaries.<\/p>\n AD: Your dance background at The Joffrey Ballet was classical\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: Joffrey is known now to be a classical company and yes, it was a classical company but if you look back in the time that I was dancing there Robert Joffrey presented Twyla Tharp for the first time, we presented William Forsythe before he was famous. We presented a host of choreographers that were unknown before they became famous. Yes we did full length ballets, Romeo and Juliet, the Ashton repertoire\u2026That\u2019s my background. We did La Fille Mal Garde (Sir Frederick Ashton), but also Twyla Tharp and everything between that as well. Since moving to Chicago it\u2019s become expected to be a more classical company. Then we can be more innovative and alternative.<\/p>\n The intent that Robert Joffrey put into the Joffrey is what I take with me more so than the specific styles of dance, in terms of cultivating new work, new choreographers, new innovations.<\/p>\n AD: Do you feel that the boundary between classical and contemporary dance is becoming more blurred? AD: The NDT had a company for older dancers, what is your opinion on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: Fantastic idea \u2013 no reason a dancer should stop at 40. Many dancers have a lot to offer, and experience that they could bring to a performance. I would love to come to that point where we would have dancers who wanted to do other type of work than the usual heavy physical dance. Dancers we can\u2019t bear to have them leave the company. And start something from that, more in an obvious transitional type rather than copying a format. It would happen holistically and naturally.<\/p>\n AD: As your dancers are currently learning Naharin\u2019s choreography, what do you think of a joint project involving HSDC dancers and Batsheva dancers?<\/strong><\/p>\n GE: It would be a dream of mine to work on a joint project with Batsheva.<\/p>\n Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Performances: Haifa Auditorium Image credit: Karen Knauer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hubbard Street Dance Chicago\u2019s new artistic director Glenn Edgerton generously found the time to talk with Midnight East\u2019s Ayelet Dekel on the eve of HSDC\u2019s opening performance at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. Edgerton comes to Hubbard Street after an international career as dancer under the mentorship of Robert Joffrey at the Joffrey Ballet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSo if you see a piece from Batsheva and you see a piece from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago it could be vastly different. But they\u2019re doing exactly the same movements and its been given the seal of approval lets say from Ohad, but the dancers are different, the personalities are different, and it has a totally different feel to it. Every time you see it, it should feel different. It\u2019s like people, everybody\u2019s different and should be, and those personalities come through the work.<\/p>\n![\"HSDC](\"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Gnawa-170-by-TRs.JPG\" "\\"Gnawa")
<\/a>
\nOur day starts with a ballet class. But when you get to the actual work and the choreography that\u2019s were you get to the root and essence of the piece. You just keep working and delving into it and getting further and deeper into the work as you rehearse.<\/p>\n
\nSo for me, that\u2019s why we are bringing Tabula Rasa here that Ohad can rehearse it so that when we go back to Chicago we\u2019re ready with with his piece for our performances in December.<\/p>\n
\nNacho Duato, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, the list goes on and on and on\u2026.I think those choreographers are phenomenal.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n<\/strong>\u00a0
\nGE: Kylian is the best example. He has a ballet aesthetic but goes beyond the typical movements of ballet. That kind of work resonates more of an emotional imagery. It becomes in my mind richer.<\/p>\n
\nIsraeli Opera
\n19 Shaul Hamelech St, Tel Aviv
\nwww.israel-opera.co.il<\/a>
\nGnawa, Off Screen, SlipStream
\nOctober 28, 29 & 31 at 21:00, October 30th at 13:00
\nTickets: 03-6927777
\nJerusalem Theatre, Sherover Auditorium
\n20 Marcus Street, Jerusalem
\nwww.jerusalem-theatre.co.il<\/a>
\nBitter Suite, Gnawa, Off Screen
\nNovember 2 & 3 at 20:30
\nTickets: 02-5605757<\/p>\n
\n138 HaNassi Avenue, Haifa
\nBitter Suite, Gnawa, Off Screen
\nNovember 4 & 5 at 20:30
\nTickets: 04-835-3555<\/p>\n