Imagine for a moment that a dance stage is a giant white canvas, and that the dancers moving on top of it are human brushstrokes. If you were a choreographer what “painting” would you draw?
This fascinating question is raised by Alejandro Cerrudo, resident choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which is performing two shows this Saturday, November 23, at the National Arts Centre. For Cerrudo, creating a dance piece can be compared to an artist working on a painting.
“There is this freedom that I have when something blank is in front of me,” he says in a phone interview from Chicago. “There is the first stroke, the first step, and you see where it goes from there.”
Cerrudo is the creative force behind One Thousand Pieces, a critically acclaimed dance piece that was inspired by Marc Chagall’s America Windows, a series of six stained-glass windows that hang in the Art Institute of Chicago, and which was made famous by an appearance in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
The beautiful work was created specifically for the Art Institute to commemorate the United States bicentennial in 1976. Unveiled in 1977, the same year that Hubbard Street Dance was formed, its blue-tinged windows celebrate the arts of music, theatre, literature, painting and dance.
“Hubbard Street and America Windows have the same birthday,” notes Cerrudo, who created One Thousand Pieces last year to celebrate the 35th anniversary of both the dance company and Chagall’s popular art piece.
Comprised of 24 dancers that move to the music of Philip Glass, One Thousand Pieces promises to be a brilliant performance. To celebrate the upcoming arrival in Ottawa of one the best modern dance troupe’s in the United States, Apartment613 is giving away a pair of tickets for the Saturday matinee show at 2 pm.
To enter, send an email to apartment613@gmail.com with the subject line “Hubbard Street Dance Contest” by 4 pm, Thursday, November 20. The winner will be picked on Thursday evening.
Creating One Thousand Pieces was a challenge for Cerrudo. “I am a choreographer that does shorter pieces. I am always worried about boring the audience,” he tells me. “So in a way shorter is better.”
This instinct to work on shorter dance routines was put to the est by One Thousand Pieces, which runs for 1 hour and 30 minutes with intermission.
“How do I keep the audience interested without a story? I was very conscious of that,” says Cerrudo, as he recalls the artistic process of creating the piece.
Judging by reviews, Cerrudo has not only kept audiences interested, but awed them. One writer called his work “a love letter to art,” while another described it as “magical.”
On the heels of a fantastic show by Akram Khan, the performance of One Thousand Pieces promises to be a a wonderful event in what is shaping up to be an excellent dance season at the NAC.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago perform two shows on Saturday, November 23, at 2 pm and 8 pm. Regular tickets start at $40, while cheaper options are available for students. The show lasts approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes with intermission.
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