Shoshanna Gross, Marketing and Audience Development Associate at The Joyce, asks Meredith Dincolo (HSDC dancer since 2004):

1.    When did dance become a part of your life? I began dancing at seven in a production of Alice in Wonderland.
2.    What inspires you? My colleagues, music, moving beyond my limits.
3.    What is the biggest challenge you face as an artist/choreographer? Keeping the integrity of movement and expressing myself through that movement at the same time.
4.    Who is/are your hero(s) and/or mentor(s) (in dance or otherwise)? TBD
5.    How can/does dance impact the current social/cultural/political climate in which we live? In our fast paced lives dance can allow us to stop to appreciate the moment and also remind us of its history and place in our culture.
6.     What has been your most satisfying moment as an artist thus far? TBD
7.    Who would you like to collaborate with next? Mats EK.
8.    What’s the last dance performance you saw (other than your own)? The Joffery Ballet
9.    What do you do when you’re not dancing? I love to cook!
10.    What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Coffee

Shoshanna Gross, Marketing and Audience Development Associate at The Joyce, asks Jim Vincent, Artistic Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago:

1. When did dance become a part of your life? At 3 years old in front of American Bandstand (TV)2. What inspires you? True and honest collaboration
3. What is the biggest challenge you face as an artist/choreographer? Understanding my own creative process.
4. Who is/are your hero(s) and/or mentor(s) (in dance or otherwise)? Both as an Artistic Director and a choreographer, Jiri Kiliyan is a mentor.
5. How can/does dance impact the current social/cultural/political climate in which we live? I believe the reverse is more true and immediate.
6. What has been your most satisfying moment as an artist thus far? As a dancer – with NDT at The Met. As and artistic director – HSDC’s first performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra w/ Pinchas Zuckerman conducting from the concert master’s chair.
7. Who would you like to collaborate with next? The list is long and cross- disciplinary.
8. What’s the last dance performance you saw (other than your own)? Ciqure du Soleil’s newest procution “Kooza” which included some acts/artists who crossed the line into choreography. One in particular was a duet on a unicycle. It was remarkable and unexpected.
9. What do you do when you’re not dancing? Spend time with my family.
10. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Pistachio from Palazzo at the Puerto del Sol (Madrid)

by Mauriah Kraker

Warm up. Its just the stage and me, both silent. Moving. Feeling the space around me fill and change. Or maybe it is me filling and changing. From beyond the curtain sounds of glasses clinking and dinner finishing and chatter in a thousand and one languages.

My sweat is drying, glitter clings to me, as if not able to give up the magical-ness of the moment, hanging over, hamstrings stretching, I glance over to where my right hand lies trembling on the ground. Yes, the pre show jitters have arrived.

It is opening night. I stand in the dark with the others; I am watching us banish our jitters and search for confidence and calmness. Bodies are shaking, bending. Laughs and giggles and silly stunts are occurring to distract us all from what lies on the other side of this pre show dark.

I am silent, looking at the empty stage in front of me. All is heavy with anticipation; it is the moment before dawn, the second before the airplane jolts to the earth, the silence before the gun sounds in the 100 meter dash. It is the beginning: the lights coming up, curtain rising, the pre show chatter of the audience fades, and all hold their breath for what is to come. This is the moment: when all is possible and feasible. The story is yet to be told and I am receiving a chance to be part of the telling. I smile and enter the stage. (more…)