UMS Concert Program, March 13, 1988: Hubbard Street Dance Co --

Season: 109th
Concert: Thirty-fifth
Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

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THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Hubbard Street
LOU CONTE, Artistic Director
Sunday Afternoon, March 13, 1988, at 3:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Company
Alberto Arias Claire Bataille Frank Chaves Sandi Cookscy Ron Dc Jesus
Ginger Farley Rick Hilsabcck Shannon D. Mitchell Geoff Myers Josef Patrick
Lynn Shcppard
Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck
Leslie Stevens
Sven Toorvald
Carlton Q. Wilborn
Claire Bataillc, Assistant Artistic Director Warren Conover, Ballet Master Ginger Farley, Rehearsal Assistant
Jeffrey W. Hudgins, Production Stage Manager
Todd L. Clark, Lighting Supervisor Sue Saltmarsh, Wardrobe Supervisor Birgit Rattcnborg Wise, Costumer
Gail Kalver, General Manager Donna Magnani, Development Director Katherinc Wagner, Business Manager Don Sorsa, Company Manager
Elizabeth Finley, Assistant to the General Manager
Jamie Lou Goldman, Assistant to the Director of Development
Paula Campbell, Administrative Assistant
This concert is supported in part by Arts Midwest's members and friends, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the auditorium. Thirty-fifth Concert of the 109th Season Seventeenth Annual Choice Series
PROGRAM
LINE DRIVE (1982)
Choreography: Lou Contc and Claire Bataille
Costumes: Cindy Maniates
Lighting: Robert Christen
Music: "Danza" by Pipo, performed by Sky;
"God Bird Change" by Mingo Lewis, performed by Al DiMeola.
The Company Costumes for Line Drive were made possible by a donation from Colleen Zenk.
ROSE FROM THE BLUES (1987)
Conceived and Costumed by Jcffcry Jackson
Lighting: Robert Christen Sets: Jeff Bauer Sound: Robert Neuhaus
Georgia
Choreography: Lou Conte Music: Willie Nelson, "Georgia On My Mind"
Claire Bataille and Ron De Jesus
Lenny
Choreography: Rick Hilsabcck Music: Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Lenny"
Ginger Farley
Mae
Choreography: Richard Levi Music: Kitty Wells, "Love Letters"
Leslie Stevens and Rick Hilsabeck
1987 Matrix: Midland Award for Excellence in Dance. Commissioned for Hubbard Street Dance Company, premiered June 13, 1987, Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, Michigan. Lenny and Georgia On My Mind provided courtesy of CBS Records. Love Letters provided courtesy of Varese Sarabande Records, Inc.
THE ENVELOPE (1987)
Choreography: David Parsons
Music: Gioacchino Rossini Costumes: Judy Wirkula Lighting: Howell Binkley
Geoff Myers
Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck Leslie Stevens Sandi Cooksey Lynn Sheppard Frank Chavcs Alberto Arias
INTERMISSION
TIEMPO (1983)
Choreography: John McFall
Costumes: Jessica Hahn Lighting: Robert Christen Music: Igor Stravinsky, the third of "Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo'
Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck Alberto Arias
Lynn Sheppard Ginger Farley
APPEARANCES (1984)
Choreography: Lynne Taylor-Corbett Costumes: Judanna Lynn Set: Jeff Bauer
Lighting: Robert Christen Music: Pat Mcthcny and Lyle Mays
Leslie Stevens and Rick Hilsabeck
Shannon Mitchell and Sven Toorvald
Claire Bataille and Ron De Jesus
Appearances was made possible by a generous contribution from the Borg-Warner Foundation. Are You Going With Me composed by Pat Mctheny and Lyle Mays; performed by the Pat Metheny Group, published by Pat Meth MusicLyle Mays, Inc.
INTERMISSION
DIARY (1982)
Choreography: Lynne Taylor-Corbett
Costumes: Nancy Missimi Lighting: Robert Christen
Music: Written and performed by Judith Lander
Claire Bataille Geoff Myers Diary was made possible by a generous contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Allen M. Turner.
THE 40's (1978)
Choreography: Lou Conte
Costumes: Julie Nagel Lighting: Jennifer Tipton Music: Sy Oliver and Ralph Burns
Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck
and The Company
V.J. Stomp: Ralph Burns, copyright 1977 United Artists Corporation, used by permission of Unart Music, a Catalogue of CBS Songs, a division of CBS. Opus Number One: Sy Oliver
About the Artists
Hubbard Street Dance Company has entertained audiences with its acclaimed style of American dance since 1978. The original company of four women was founded in late 1977, when Barbara Cohen of Urban Gateways asked Lou Conte to put together a program for senior citizen centers. His program featured various styles of American dance, including jazz and tap, and was performed throughout the city under the auspices of the mayor's Office for Senior Citizens and the Handicapped. Miss Cohen subsequently became the company's first executive director, and Claire Bataille, one of the original members, is now assistant artistic director as well as dancer. Hubbard Street's name was taken from its original location, and, although now located in larger facilities, the Lou Conte Dance Studio remains the home of Hubbard Street Dance Company.
Lou Conte, veteran dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago, has created a popular, yet serious, style that combines ballet, jazz, and the rhythmic footwork of tap, often incorporating American themes and music. With major artistic contri?butions from resident choreographer Claire Bataille, the company's repertoire also includes works by Lynne Taylor-Corbctt, John McFall, Richard Lcvi, Margo Sappington, David Parsons, David Anderson, and Rick Hilsabeck, a company member who made his choreographic debut for the company in 1985.
Chicago-based from the start, Hubbard Street Dance Company enjoys home seasons at the Ravinia Festival, Opera House of the Civic Center for Performing Arts, Goodman Theatre, and Auditorium Theatre. The company began touring in 1983 and now has performed in 28 states and Canada. Summer festival appearances include engagements at Jacob's Pillow, Artpark, Saratoga, and BalletAspen, in addition to Ravinia. They have also performed in France and South America under the aegis of the United States Information Agency Arts America Program and Mozarteum Argcntino.
Hubbard Street has made two television specials, produced and directed by Richard Carter for WTTW, Chicago. The first program won a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award in 1982 as the best locally produced performance program that year. The company received a 1986 Governor's Award for the Arts and its first Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hubbard Street's archives have been placed in the Midwest Dance Collection of the Newberry Library in Chicago.
Hubbard Street Dance Company now appears for the first time in Ann Arbor during its tenth anniversary celebration.
Lou Conte grew up in DuQuoin, Illinois, where he began tap and ballet studies at a young age. He attended Southern Illinois University as a zoology major, but returned to dance in the 1960s and did his first Broadway musical at age 22, dancing in the chorus of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. His other Broadway credits include Cabaret and Maine, both in New York and on the road. From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, he choreographed over thirty musicals. After thirteen months in Europe with George Reich Ballet, Mr. Conte returned to Chicago in the mid-1970s to found the Lou Conte Dance Studio and devote his choreographic energies toward forming a company. Under his direction since its inception in 1977, Hubbard Street has collected accolades from a variety of critics -among them Fred Astaire, who, after seeing HSDC's first television special, said that it contained "some of the greatest dancing" he had seen in years. Mr. Conte has received awards from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Academy for the Arts for his contribution in dance to the City of Chicago. He currently serves on the Illinois Arts Council Dance Panel and the Dance Presenters Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Claire Bataille, assistant artistic director, resident choreographer, and dancer, is an original company member whose choreography and collaborations with Lou Conte have become a major artistic contribution to Hubbard Street. She has been a teacher at the Lou Conte Dance Studio since 1975 and for the last seven seasons has been featured in Ruth Page's Nutcracker. Ms. Bataille, who grew up in Barrington, Illinois, studied dance in Chicago and New York and currently studies with Lou Conte, Warren Conovcr, Larry Long, and Birute Barodicaite.
Ballet master Warren Conover was born in Philadelphia where he studied with Peter Conlow. His first professional appearance was with the Pennsylvania Ballet, where he attained the rank of soloist. He then became a soloist with the Harkness Ballet and leading dancer with the Eglcvsky Ballet Company before joining the American Ballet Theater in 1970, attaining the rank of soloist after two years. Mr. Conover danced a wide range of roles in over fifty ballets in his twelve years with A.B.T. He appeared on national television in A.B.T.'s Nutcracker, staged by Mikhail Baryshnikov, and was seen in several "Live from Lincoln Center" and "Dance in America" programs. He serves on the faculties of the Ruth Page Foundation School of Dance and the Lou Conte Dance Studio and teaches master classes throughout the country.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
Burton Memorial Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1270 Telephone: (313) 764-2538