On March 12, the dancers of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago were onstage preparing for opening night of their spring program, Ohad Naharin’s DECADANCE/CHICAGO, at the Harris Theater. They continued to rehearse until 5 PM, the hour when Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced guidelines for the cancellation of large-scale and community events to stem the spread of COVID-19. “How could we justify performing [that] night when the following day was not safe?” recalls artistic director Glenn Edgerton. With performers at the ready, the show was canceled just hours before curtain.
In the weeks leading up to the lockdown, Chu had been working with HSDC and HSPro to revise the piece for (in Edgerton’s words) “a normal setting, where the audience is sitting in the audience, and the dancers are behind a proscenium.” Post-lockdown, Chu continued to work with HSPro remotely from his home in Las Vegas, when Edgerton approached him to continue his process with the company. “I said, ‘What does this mean? The dancers haven’t had time to grieve. I haven’t had time to grieve. Our world has turned upside down.’”
“It didn’t change the process much for me. He directed it, but it was hands-off [and] lends itself well to doing in a more removed way,” says Schultz, who played vibraphone, piano, and harmonica, and improvised during scenes at the Harris. Furthermore, he notes, the situation has prompted new outlets for creativity: in anticipation of a government stimulus check, Schultz availed himself of a camera, editing software, and filmmaking classes. “I felt this [quarantine] was going to be a long time, so let’s learn to make video. I mentioned it to Peter, and he immediately tasked us with making a movie. I’m so glad I had the opportunity. And I’m still waiting for that check!”
Choreographer and former HSDC dancer Robyn Mineko Williams was also developing new work with HSDC to premiere this spring when the pandemic halted the process. “In March, when the lockdown went into effect, I did a small video project [Create with Hubbard] right off the bat. After that, I didn’t know what to do. Peter was in an online process, and it was offered to me to do the same, to continue rehearsals over Zoom. I didn’t do that because I wanted to know what I was working towards. Was I working towards finishing the piece for the stage or livestream?”
“It doesn’t feel like a COVID piece to me,” says Williams. “It feels like something we would do in time regardless, make a film. The way we have to make it is affected by our current time, but what I love most about this project is that it feels kind of normal. It’s been really nice to feel at home again. This is what we do. This is how we work.” v
Space, In Perspective, Sat 5/23, 4 PM CST; Undercover Episode 018: Home Video, Fri 5/29, 6:30 PM CST; (stay)Inside/Out, Fri 6/5, 6:30 PM CST. Full schedule for all events at hubbardstreetdance.com, F.
