The way Chicagoans dance is big and wide, fearlessly filling the amplitude of space in the midwest. The way Chicagoans dance has brashness and grit that doesn’t look for compromises. It is muscular, bold, and quite upright. They don’t call it the City of Broad Shoulders for nothing. A founding dancer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago who also taught in and directed its studio for nearly 40 years, Claire Bataille made us see it that way, working in the studio she loved almost to her final days before succumbing to pancreatic cancer on December 30, 2018. She was 66.
While those who witnessed her on stage never forgot it, Bataille also influenced generations of dancers in Chicago and worldwide as a teacher who imparted transparent classical technique and the development of strength and balance through Pilates. She began ballet classes with pliés in second position, the widest stance of the legs, heels grounded into the earth as the weight of the body falls into the floor and rises to the sky, arms reaching steadily through the walls. Her class was methodical, musical, and never skimped on tendus, the stretch of the foot that connects the body to the floor, indicating direction and the length of the leg. Affectionately known as “Mama Claire,” Bataille mentored countless young dancers as director of the studio’s scholarship program. “Claire consistently went above and beyond to nurture those she worked with,” recalls Maliwan Diemer, faculty and former studio manager of Lou Conte Dance Studio. “Watching her teach and coach the next generation, it was impossible to miss what a brilliant artist she was. She emphasized getting the feel and artistic integrity of the work right, coaxing dancers to find and embody the style while staying true to themselves.”
