|
FYI
 What's
up in the dance community
It's the late 1920s in
New Orleans, and a visiting
5-year-old boy from St. Louis is
learning a shuffle, "The
Shoeshiner's Drag," from a cousin.
Decades later, that boy would be
doing the teaching as the performer,
choreographer, and traveling master
instructor who made his name, Gus
Giordano, a synonym for jazz dance.
The founder of Jazz
Dance World Congress, the
performing troupe Gus Giordano
Jazz Dance Chicago, and the Gus
Giordano Dance Center died of
pneumonia March 9 in Chicago. He
was 84.
He was born August
Thomas Giordano in 1923 in St.
Louis, where he studied with
local teacher Minette Buchman.
During World War II Giordano
tried to join the paratroopers
but, as he admitted later, "I've
never been much of a jumper, even
to this day." Instead, he signed up
with the Marines, who assigned him
to perform shows at military bases
around the country. After the war he
attended the University of Missouri,
where he met his wife, Peg.
The couple moved to
New York, where Giordano
performed on Broadway
in Wish You Were Here, Paint Your
Wagon,
and On the Town; appeared
in television variety shows; did four
shows a day with a dance group
at the Roxy Theater; and studied
with Katherine Dunham, Hanya
Holm, and Alwin Nikolais. In 1953
Giordano moved back to the Midwest
and opened the Gus Giordano Dance
Center, teaching what became known
as the Giordano technique in a former
bowling alley in Evanston, IL, a
northern suburb of Chicago.
In his technique, he
told Dance Magazine
in 1988, "the energy comes
from the earth and the power for
movement from the gut, so the dancer
must be grounded. The style looks
as good on a man as on a woman,
but because of the low pli� and the
strength needed in the quadriceps,
men are still the nucleus of most
pieces." He described his technique
in his books Anthology of American
Jazz Dance
(1975) and Jazz Dance Class:
Beginning Thru Advanced
(1992) and taught it in
master classes across the United
States.
Giordano founded his
Evanston-based Giordano Jazz
Dance Chicago troupe in 1962. At first he choreographed
the pieces; later its repertoire, honed
through a heavy touring
schedule, incorporated works by other
choreographers, including Mia Michaels
and Davis Robertson.
In 1990 Giordano
organized the first Jazz Dance
World Congress in Chicago. Such master teachers as
Luigi, Matt Mattox, Frank Hatchett, and
Joe Tremaine took part in the
five-day gathering, co-sponsored by
Northwestern University. The
congresses, which have become
annual events with master classes and performances,
have been held around the United States
and in Japan, Germany, Mexico,
and Costa Rica.
Figures across the
dance world mourned Giordano's
death as they celebrated his contributions
to jazz dance.
"My connection with
Gus Giordano began in 1971 when
I received a scholarship to study at his studio,"
master teacher and choreographer Pattie
Obey told Dance Studio Life.
"Two years later in 1973, the day
after I graduated from high school at
only 16, he asked me to join his company. He gave me a
chance like he did for so many others."
"He has donated his
life to promoting and preserving
jazz dance," Obey continued.
"When the drive and dedication
were present in a dancer, he was
intrigued to push you beyond
expectations."
Obey recalls that when Giordano
was choreographing The Rehearsal,
"slyly, he told each one of us in
rehearsal that he was creating the
work for us. It was a pas de deux. His
intention behind this was for us to
challenge ourselves to a higher level
in order to gain the role."
Jim Vincent, artistic
director of Hubbard Street Dance
Chicago, said, "We're all really
saddened by the news." He called
Giordano "one of the founding
fathers of the dance scene in
Chicago."
Giordano's honors
include the 1984 Dance Educators
of America Award for
"outstanding contribution to the
world of jazz dance," the 1991
Dance Teacher Now Circle Award
for lifetime contributions to
dance education, the 1993 Ruth Page
Lifetime Service to the Field Award
(presented to Gus and Peg Giordano),
and the 2005 Heritage Award from
the National Dance Association.
Giordano's wife and
business partner, Peg, died in
1993. He is survived by
daughters Nan Giordano (who now
directs Giordano Jazz Dance
Chicago) and Amy Giordano, sons
Patrick and Marc Giordano, and eight
grandchildren. A tribute to this iconic
figure in jazz dance is being planned
as part of GJDC's engagement at the
Harris Theater in Chicago on October
24 and 25.
In lieu of flowers,
contributions may be made to the
Gus Giordano Memorial Fund, 614
Davis Street, Evanston, IL
60201.
Architecture Students
Discover Their Inner Dancers
Gabriel Fontes de
Faria came all the way from Rio
de Janeiro to study architecture
at the Illinois Institute of
Technology in Chicago, so the 21-
year-old Brazilian undergrad was a tad
nonplussed to find himself sitting on
the floor last fall in a movement
class, visualizing dots and
trying to touch them with
different parts of his body.
On the one hand he
was a volunteer, one of 12
students in the IIT architecture
program who had signed up to
design a setting for three works
to be staged by Hubbard Street
Dance Chicago in the institute's
S.R. Crown Hall, designed by famed
architect Mies van der Rohe.
On the other hand, de
Faria had never taken a dance
class. He'd never seen a concert
dance performance. He knew
nothing about modern dance. And
he didn't dance much himself--not
even the samba, he admitted.
"When I was in high school I was
in the theater tech group and
there was some costume design,
but nothing like this," he told
Dance Studio Life.
De Faria's learning
adventure was the handiwork of
two men: Jim Vincent, Hubbard
Street's artistic director, and
Dirk Denison, a studio associate
professor at the IIT College of
Architecture. As Denison
recalled, he attended a forum more
than three years ago that Vincent
had devised, in which any Hubbard
Street company member could
present a 6- or 7-minute work that
he or she had choreographed. The
dance-savvy Denison--mindful of
the collaboration between Martha
Graham and Isamu Noguchi, the
sculptor who did the stage designs
for many of Graham's modern dance
classics--thought a collaboration
between his students and Vincent's
company could be rewarding for both
sides. For Vincent, collaboration with
creative minds in other genres had
long been a goal; also, the students'
work promised a striking showcase
for three pieces created by company
members Alejandro Cerrudo, Lucas
Crandall, and Brian Enos.
The students began
their dance immersion, in
addition to morning movement
classes, by observing Hubbard
Street rehearsals, attending
performances, and meeting weekly
with the three choreographers. They
also flew to New York for a weekend,
where they saw three performances
by the Martha Graham Dance
Company. (Denison is a friend of
Janet Eilber, artistic director of the
Martha Graham Dance Company and
Center of Contemporary Dance.) After
one of the performances, the students
"had a dialogue with [Eilber] and
some of the lead dancers and handled
some of the actual Noguchi objects,"
Denison told Dance Studio Life.
The IIT contingent's
unfamiliarity with dance was
only one hurdle. The students
had never built a dance stage
before, so they had a host of
practical considerations to
consider: Would their structure bear
the dancers' weight? Was its surface
dancer-friendly, with sure footing
and the needed resilience? Could it
be erected and struck quickly and
easily? Did it allow the stage action
to be seen from any point in the
audience? Also, given the
landmark status of Crown Hall,
the budding stage designers
couldn't make any changes to
their surroundings. "Crown Hall
is like the Parthenon--you don't
mess with it," one student observed.
Luckily, "one student was a licensed
welder; another had worked
construction," Denison said,
easing the building process.
The culmination of
the 16-week process came at the
end of January, when Hubbard
Street presented the three
works--Cerrudo's Extremely
Close,
set to music by Philip Glass and
Dustin O'Halloran; Crandall's
The Set, performed to Bach;
and Enos' B-Sides (12" Mix),
set to a score by Hybrid, a
British electronic duo-- on the
students' multilevel wooden
ramp. "There was a blizzard the night
of the show," said Jill Chukerman,
Hubbard Street's publicist, "so the
audience was given booties and seat
cushions" to ward off the Crown Hall
chill--which didn't interfere with the
warm reception for both the dance
pieces and the set.
In fact, though the
students had planned to remove
their ramp after the weekend,
they opted to keep it standing
until late March. Denison said
it has become a popular spot:
Professor give lectures in front of it;
children play on it.
De Faria said the
project "definitely opened my
eyes to [dance] and made me a
fan." He's not intent on a
career in stage design, but he's open
to the idea.
By the way: He got an
A in the course.
Take Class
With Merce on
the Internet
Admirers of modern
dance (or anyone who wants to
watch a genius at work) will be
sitting at their computer
screens starting in September, when Merce Cunningham--still
going strong and making new works at 89--can be seen
conducting his Monday technique class at his company's
website, www.merce.org.
The company will
record the classes at Cunningham's studio in New York's West
Village. The free weekly 30-minute webcasts will also
include interviews with Cunningham, company members, and
some of his longtime collaborators, such as artist Robert
Rauschenberg. The full 90-minute weekly classes will be made
available by subscription to universities. The Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation have
provided grant funds for the project.
Even those not in
tune with the Cunningham aesthetic might want to give the
online sessions a look, if only to watch a man acclaimed by
alumni of his company as a peerless teacher (see "Marked by Merce" in the March/ April 2008 issue of Dance Studio
Life).
"Merce gave you the courage to do the next impossible
thing," says Gus Solomons jr, who started with the company
in 1964. "You discover a lot more range." Check
www.merce.org for webcast
times.
Celebrating Tap in Chicago
In celebration of
National Tap Dance Day (it's May 25, which was Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's birthday), the Chicago Human Rhythm Project plans
Windy City Rhythms, a concert of U.S. and Spanish
dance artists, May 22 to 24 at Chicago's Vittum Theater.
Featured will be
Guillem Alonso, CHRP's artist in residence for the season
and founder of the Tap Ol' troupe in Barcelona, Spain.
Alonso won first prize at the World Tap Championship in
Switzerland in 2003. Also on the bill are Tre Dumas' JustLisTeN group; Julie Cartier's ensemble, The Cartier
Collective; Be The Groove, which evolved from a student
ensemble at Northwestern University in suburban Chicago;
IllNoise, a collaboration of Nico Rubio and Jabowen Taylor;
the Huntley Hoofers, more than 100 women "older than 39"
from Huntley, IL; and CHRP's performing group, BAM. Audience
members can take a free tap class before each concert.
More Final Farewells
Natalia Bessmertnova
Natalia Bessmertnova,
a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet, died February 19
in Moscow. She was 66.
Born in Moscow,
Bessmertnova studied at the Bolshoi's school and joined the
company in 1961. She made her mark in the principal roles of
the classic 19th-century ballets, particularly Giselle,
as well as in works choreographed by her husband, Yuri
Grigorovich, who became the Bolshoi's artistic director.
She was named a
People's Artist of the USSR in 1976 and won a Lenin Prize in
1986. She and Grigorovich quit the Bolshoi in 1995 in a
dispute with its management.
Leona Wood
Leona Wood,
co-founder of the Aman Folk Ensemble, once a well-known
Middle Eastern dance group in Southern California, died
February 7 at her home in West Los Angeles. She was 86.
Wood had established
a decades-long career as a painter before becoming
interested in Middle Eastern dance. She and choreographer
Anthony Shay founded Aman in 1963, and it quickly won
acclaim. Los Angeles
Times
critic Martin Bernheimer called Aman "one of the finest ethnic companies anywhere. Repeat:
anywhere." Conflicts led to Shay's departure from the
company, and it is now defunct.
Kudos
Charles
"Chuck" Davis will receive the Capezio Dance Award,
presented annually by Capezio Ballet Makers Dance
Foundation, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 23. The
award goes to an individual or organization that has made a
significant contribution to American dance. Davis, who
founded the Chuck Davis Dance Company in 1967, has been a
tireless performer and promoter of African and African
American dance (see "Finding the Sacred Forest,"
Dance Studio Life,
January/February 2008). He founded
DanceAfrica, an annual celebration of African dance, and
leads the touring African American Dance Ensemble.
Sylvia Waters,
artistic director of Ailey II, was presented with the 2008
Women of Distinction Award of the Division of Student
Affairs at Syracuse University in a ceremony at the upstate
New York campus in February. Waters was a principal dancer
with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater before assuming the
Ailey II directorship.
Debra Danese, dance
director for Villa Maria Academy in Immaculata, PA, has been
recognized as a Registered Dance Educator by the National
Registry.
Above caption: Gus Giordano, pictured here in the 1950s,
made his name synonymous with jazz dance. Photo courtesy
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.
Send Page To a Friend
|
