Jessica Lang is in Chicago setting her world premiere that will be a part of the Joffrey 09-10 dance season. Young and extremely gifted, she is also one of the “New Voices” selected to present her work as part of the 2010 Chicago Dancing Festival. Jay Franke, co-founder/artistic director of the festival recently sat down with Jessica to discuss her piece To Familiar Spaces in Dream that will be performed by the Richmond Ballet on August 18th at the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance at Millennium Park.

jF
In this piece, you have used music by 3 different composers: Philip Glass, John Cage, and Craig Armstrong. What connections did you make between these 3 musical compositions and the movement?

jL
To Familiar Spaces in Dream is the second part of a two-piece full evening idea about piano music. I chose these musical selections because my piece uses contemporary piano music as its inspiration and I liked the mood and depth these composers captured through this single instrument. The piece has a set of 8 white boxes representing the white keys on the piano, all various lengths as well as 8 dancers, this number representing the idea of an octave in music. I wanted to explore the percussive side of the piano so that is I why I chose the John Cage piece because it uses a prepared piano and gives nice opposition to the Glass and Armstrong selections. The movement helps take this idea beyond its logical concept and open up channels for emotional reactions and deeper meaning. The sister piece to this is called From Foreign Lands and People… (Commissioned by Colorado Ballet, 2005). That work, to classical piano music, has a set of 5 long black boxes, representing the black keys on the piano, 2 long and 3 short indicating their arrangement on a piano. The full picture is that the entire piece From Foreign Lands and People…To Familiar Spaces in Dream could be on a program together giving an insightful look at how this one instrument can be versatile in sound and feeling, both a percussive and string instrument.

jF
What was the creation process like for you and the dancers at Richmond Ballet in regards to the 8 boxes used in the piece?

jL
We designed the boxes and had them made before I got to Richmond so I could start on day one with them in the space. When I create with objects, they are physically used, not just set up in the background. There were 16 objects in the studio that day that I had to make into a piece, 8 dancers and 8 boxes, and I knew it was my job to make them have a purpose and be present on stage.  The challenge is that the boxes are quite heavy, and they don’t reset themselves as I created the choreography. So there was a lot of time spent just dragging them around the space and resetting them so we could try the phrase or idea again. It could have been exhausting, but it was just part of the process that I think both the dancers and I knew we had to do and we became really excited by what we were creating.

jF
In much of your work you incorporate scenic elements and props- what challenges do these elements hold for you as a choreographer?

jL
I became really interested using props and other elements in my work because of the challenges they propose and the way my imagination began to run wild with images. How can I create a piece where the scenic elements add meaning to the overall work and are not merely a trick to falsely excite the audience?

My challenge lies in craft and relating every element that goes into the piece (music, sets, costumes, lighting) to each other. If a prop or set does not add meaning to the piece, I don’t use it. I am really focused on the craft of making dance, the overall painting of the piece. I do not get obsessed with trying to investigate movement or the steps and I don’t find it necessary to focus on movement invention. It has all been done. I am not going to reinvent the arabasque or create a new technique. I create dance where musicality is extremely important, there is a sense of humanity in the movement, the movement feels good on your body and that the audience, no matter their experience with dance, is part of the end result.

jF
Your husband, Kanji Segawa, electrified our audience last year with his stunning solo of Robert Battle’s piece “Takademe.”  How do you balance your busy work schedules with time together?

jL

He is amazing in “Takademe”!! And I am not saying that because I am married to him!! I am so happy he was able to share his performance of this piece in particular with your audience because it is really a great experience when the right artist meets the right piece of choreography. It is just magic! Unfortunately, I missed it. I was creating a new work on Cincinnati Ballet and I just could not get away. We are always busy and since we met 10 years ago we have had a schedule like this. As freelance artists, you take work when you get work and you are just so grateful for it! We are quite used to the time apart, and although the good-byes are hard, we both are so happy for each other that we are able to do what we love and what we have trained our whole lives for. Neither of us would take away the opportunities so that we could be together. We travel with each other when our schedules permit and we cherish our time together. For example, Kanji just came with me for the first 2 weeks while I was at Joffrey and came everyday to help me in the studio. We have fun working together. We try not to go more that a month without a visit. And when we come home from tours, we have that excitement to share what we did and what we accomplished. We have such an understanding of what our lives are with careers in dance that this is just perfectly natural for us.

jF
…and on that note, what does Jessica Lang’s calendar look like for this upcoming year?

jL
I have been in Chicago since July 26^th working with Joffrey Ballet on a premiere and I don’t settle home again until November 15^th. This is one of my longest stretches I have ever had that I go from job to job directly. Immediately after the festival performance I will travel with Richmond Ballet to create my 5^th premiere on the company. I will go back to NYC for 3 days to teach a new course on choreography for the NYU/ ABT program before Kanji and I travel to Texas Christian University where I will set one of my works and he will set one of Robert Battles’ pieces. After this I will go to Kansas City Ballet to create a premiere and simultaneously set one of my works on the company in a month, then I am off to a residency at Goucher College to set a work and teach, then back to Richmond to premiere the new work, and finish up this trip with a new creation on the University of Richmond. I can’t believe when I go home it will be the end of fall and almost Thanksgiving! And that is just the travel itinerary for this year. But like I said I am grateful to be working, and even more so because I love what I do! And I can’t forget that I will be back in Chicago in April 2010 to premiere my Joffrey piece!

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To Familiar Spaces in Dream will be performed by the Richmond Ballet on August 18th as part of “New Voices” - one of the “all free” performance events of the Chicago Dancing Festival.

Let’s take a look at Craig Hall who, like Jonathan Alsberry, studied at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Originally from Maywood, IL, he’s now a soloist with New York City Ballet and will be performing with NYCB principal dancer Wendy Whelan at the Festival this year. Look for them at the Modern Masters program on August 20 at the Harris Theater where they will be performing a pas deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy”. Chicago audiences might be familiar with Wheeldon’s work as his “Carousel (A Dance)” was performed by the Joffrey Ballet for their Spring season earlier this year.

Check out this awesome article about Craig Hall to learn a little more about his start as a dancer – as well as interesting tidbit involving “Age of Innocence” choreographer Edwaard Liang’s hairdryer The Joffrey will perform Liang’s work, first premiered by the company last Fall, at the New Voices program on August 18.

Jessica Lang, whose “To Familiar Spaces in Dream” will be performed at New Voices by Richmond Ballet, follows suit with her homonym contemporary Ed Liang (and Ed’s NCYB compatriot Chris Wheeldon) — Lang is set to create a work on the Joffrey Ballet for their upcoming season.

Did you get all that?
Here’s the Cliff Notes version (don’t worry, you won’t be tested on any of this):

Craig Hall and Jonathan Alsberry – Chicago Academy for the Arts
Craig and Ed Liang, Wendy Whelan and Christopher Wheeldon – New York City Ballet
Ed Liang, Chris Wheeldon and Jessica Lang – Joffrey Ballet
Jonathan Alsberry – Luna Negra, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and Aszure Barton & Artists
Aszure Barton – Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

And that’s just a quick look! To find out more about the dancers and the ties that bind them, meet them in person following each performance. Our hotel sponsor, the Palmer House Hilton, is helping us put together a series of fantastic parties to celebrate the festival events. We’ll see you there after the shows!