Evanston Dance Ensemble showcases young choreographers at latest show
Eight dance works by talented young choreographers will be in the spotlight when Evanston Dance Ensemble presents “You Are Here” Dec. 15-17 at Studio5 Performing Arts Center in Evanston.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15, and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 16 and 17. This is a new iteration of the company’s Young Choreographers Project, which began in the 2002-2003 season.
In order to have their project chosen, members of Evanston Dance Ensemble had to submit a proposal and agree to work with another young choreographer, according to Enid Smith, co-artistic director of the Evanston Dance Ensemble with Allison Kurtz Volkers.
“They had to describe their inspiration, their ideas and what kinds of artistic styles they were interested in playing with,” Volkers said. “We have been exploring the theme of American portraits across this entire season and so we also encouraged them to kind of think about their lives as American teenagers.”
“Everyone who proposed is part of the show but we did have some students collaborate on an idea together,” Smith said. A professional mentor is providing guidance for each choreographer or team.
The result is “a very upbeat show,” Smith reported. “The kids are teenagers, they wanted to make fun dances. We did have a couple kids dig into some deeper topics like gender identity and bullying at school. I think those add a nice depth to the show.”
In terms of styles, Smith said, “There’s one dance en pointe, there’s one hip-hop piece. There’s a lot of fun jazz dancing in the show.” Twenty-four dancers will perform.
The dance concert also features works by two guest choreographers, Tina Diaz and Maria Theodore. That’s a tradition with the Evanston Dance Ensemble. “Part of the mission is highlighting some voices that are working outside our company, making connections for our young dancers so that they are a part of the larger Chicago dance community,” Volkers said.
Theodore, who performs and choreographs street style across the county, is creating a hip-hop piece.
Diaz’s work was featured in the November concert of The Seldoms’, a 20-year-old Chicago-based dance company known for creating multimedia performances that address current issues without a political agenda.
Diaz was happy to take on the Evanston Dance Ensemble project because “I love working with youth,” she said.
“I have a lot of experience teaching kids. More often than not I teach kids in an environment where there’s less of a focus on technique. It’s more about community and engaging the kids in some way, igniting their creativity. It’s more about the fun of dance.”
The contemporary piece that Diaz is creating for the Evanston Dance Ensemble will feature 10 dancers. The music is by Aphex Twin.