(365) Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Artistic Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Today on 'Conversations On Dance' we are joined by Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Artistic Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. We talk to Linda-Denise about her late start and quick catch up in dance, her years touring with Alvin Ailey and her plans to continue to bring Hubbard Street to all Chicago audiences through innovative programming. To purchase tickets to Hubbard Street's 2023-24 performances, visit hubbardstreetdance.com.
THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR:
New York Theatre Ballet celebrates its 45-year legacy with a Fall program of World and Company Premieres by Artistic Director Steven Melendez, Douglas Dunn, David Gordon, and Amanda Treiber, Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 at Florence Gould Hall in New York City. New York Theatre Ballet performs small classic masterpieces and new contemporary works for adults and innovative hour-long ballets for young children, all at affordable prices. This season’s “Once Upon a Ballet” series features The Firebird and Merce Cunningham’s Scramble for four family-friendly shows, Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8. For tickets and information, please visit NYTB.org/tickets.
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TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was generated automatically. It’s accuracy may vary.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:00:48]:
I'm Rebecca King Ferraro.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:00:50]:
And I'm Michael Sean Breeden, and you're listening to Conversations on Dance. Today on Conversations on Dance, we are joined by Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, artistic director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. We talked to Linda Denise about her late start and quick catch up in dance, her years touring with Alvin Ailey and her plans to continue to bring Hubbard Street to all Chicago audiences through innovative programming. To purchase tickets to Hubbard Street's 2023-24 performances, visit hubbardstreetdance.com.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:01:29]:
Linda-Denise, thank you so much for joining us this morning. It's such a pleasure to have you on.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:01:32]:
Thanks for having me. So nice to meet you both.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:01:36]:
You too. We certainly want to get to, of course, the incredible work you're doing now leading Hubbard Street, but as we do with any guests that we haven't had on the show before, we got to get a bit of a background on your own performing career. So we'd love to hear. Just take us back to the beginning and tell us about how you first fell in love with dance.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:01:58]:
Wow. Okay. So it was a long time ago I actually came to know dance, and I'm going to date myself through the media, through television. Right. So I was a teenager when MTV first came into view, right. They just came on TV. And so all of these music videos were coming on. It was the first time I could see dance and what it was. Otherwise, I had no interest. I had no exposure to dance at all. I fell in love with everything. Michael jackson did.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:02:35]:
We hear that so much on the podcast? That's so fun. I love that.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:02:39]:
And solid gold was on. It was another show, flash, dance, fame, all of those things were on TV and in the movies. When I was about 13 or so, I fell in love with fame because I was like, I want to go to that high school where they dance at lunch and they get to jump on the tables and all those things. And I found out that Baltimore, my hometown, had a fame school. They had a performing arts school. And I said, oh, I'm going to audition because I want to be in a Michael Jackson video. And so that's where I'll go and dance on the tables and all of those things. So out of pure ignorance, I auditioned. They said, you have to do an audition and you have to do a Y'all. I didn't know choreography, I didn't know form, I didn't know anything about the technique. And I think I auditioned to, like, Lionel Richie's running with the night or something. And if you ask my teachers who were at the panel, because they were trying not to laugh, really, and it wasn't because I was ridiculous or anything. It was just like, we are watching unabashed movement, like movement. She doesn't know what she's doing. They even asked me to do it again because they knew I was just ad living, right. They knew it was like improvisational, even though I didn't even know what that meant.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:04:09]:
That's an important skill, though.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:04:11]:
It is. And when I talk to them now, I said, well, what did you see? Why did you accept me? They said, first of all, you were musical. You could dance with the music, you could take up space. You were not afraid to take up space, and you were very flexible. So all those things. And then when they worked with me, I took really good direction, so they accepted me. I learned very quickly. Everything was thrown at me at the same time. Ballet, modern jazz, West African, all these things were like, Get it and get it now. You're 14, you're late. All of your cohorts have been doing this since they were three. Jump in. And I had excellent teachers. I had the best teachers at the Baltimore School of the Arts. They were a bit of a taskmaster at times, especially my ballet teacher, Sylvester Campbell, and he was work, work, work. Technique, technique, technique. You got to get it right. You got to get it now. This is a tough industry, and he definitely toughened me up. And I went from not knowing anything. clier Tondu at 14. I was, at 15, a scholarship student at the Ailey School for my summers. Yeah, when I was 17, I was an apprentice in a local ballet company. On point, they were like, and go now, and this is what you have to do. And I was very good at listening, and I did exactly what they told me to do. And so I progressed really quickly. I attended the juilliard school. So it was crazy. Went from just learning how to dance. At 14. I got into Juilliard, I think, because of the fast progression of my training. Juilliard seemed slow, like, in its pace. They were really trying to get me to understand a certain somatic practice and understanding and almost kind of deconstructing what I knew. And I can appreciate that now as an educator. But I think for me, I was ready to go. I was told I had to do stuff now, so I need to dance. And so at the end of my first year at Juilliard, I picked up a backstage magazine and I said, hey, Hopper Street is having auditions. And I had seen that company before, a Baltimore school for the arts. Alum was in the company and would come back and teach master classes. And so I'd seen how excellent of a company they were, and I auditioned, and I actually was hired. Fast forward only five years of dancing, and I moved to Chicago and joined my first international dance company, hover Street Dance Chicago, and danced with them for three years and had the most excellent introduction into a professional career that I could have. Just the work ethic and the way that Lou Conti ran his company, and with the kind of integrity and the array of works that we did and our connections to the audience and our fan base and all those things. So I have nothing but excellent memories of Hubbard Street, but my dream was to be with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. I saw them when I was 15 years old, and I was like, oh, my God, this is why I need to straighten my knees. Now I get it. This is why I need to point my feet. My classicism made sense, right? I couldn't understand ballet class. I mean, I did it right? I did it because my teachers asked me to do it, but I didn't understand its purpose. And I think the first time I saw the Ailey company, I saw, first of all, people who looked like me and so many beautiful people who looked like me at the highest caliber that I have ever seen in my entire life. And so I made all of those connections with my training, and I think I progressed even quicker after seeing them. And so I auditioned for the Ailey company after three years of Hover Street and was accepted. I think we might have had 300 women in that audition. It was wow. And I performed with them for 13 years and traveled all over the place, all over the world, and did I don't know how many works from I don't know how many different choreographers. When I reflect on it, it really is mind blowing how much work we did. And it was the pinnacle of my career. It really shaped me who I was as an artist. I learned so many different things about myself and then left the company after 13 years. I had a daughter while I was in the company, so I was a working mom, which was crazy when I look back at that as well. And after I left the Ailey company, I joined the faculty of Towson University, where I was a tenured professor for 16 years, teaching all levels of ballet, all levels of modern. I teach the Horton technique. Stayed connected with Ailey, of course, stayed connected with Hopper Street. I would teach at their summer intensives during the summers. Started my own ailey camp. Baltimore. I was the director there for about six years. So it just kept going. And then in COVID, like a lot of people, I had to reevaluate, is this the most I can do? Is this the top of my career or is there more for me? And I saw the job listing for artistic director for Harbor Street Dance Chicago, a company I knew very well and loved. And I said, you know what, that's a huge job. I want to do that. And I think the affirmation for that for my children, my children, they said, oh, go for it. That's you. They read the job description and said, this is you. You should do this. And here I am. So that's everything. And that's the summarize?
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:10:55]:
That's the overview.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:10:57]:
Yeah.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:10:58]:
We're going to go back and dig in, though, because I really need to get into this very quick, starting at 14 and then becoming a professional so quickly. We talk to dancers who start a little bit later, and we talk a lot about how they are able it's like a different skill set, right? You were clearly able to see something, copy and paste and put it on your body very easily. So how did that skill and that I guess it really was a drive, right? Like, you started at 14, you were like, I'm going to get this, I'm going to figure it out in a year. And you did. How did that then serve you later in your career?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:11:37]:
Oh, my God. That is the best question. Rebecca, you better go ahead. I'm going to attribute it to the fact that I pride myself in being a good student and that's throughout my entire life, I like to listen, I like to learn, I like to take notes, whether they're mental or whether they're actual physical notes. Even when I'm taking class now, I'm listening to every single detail, like that teacher is talking to me, even though I'm the afterthought in the corner. So I think that's a through line and also the ability to observe and being lucky enough to have really incredible examples in front of me. So even at an early age, when I was in dance class, when I had to look around to see what is a tondu? What are they talking about? I had excellent examples so I could look and go, oh, like that, and then be able to I'm a good mimic, so I have the ability to really fake it. Fake it till you make it. I can do what it looks like on the outside. I'm really good at repeating that, and it takes me a while to figure out the intention on the inside. So I think being a really good student and a really good observer and someone who has an appetite for the next level, I think that was just like, even as a four year old, I was like that, I guess as.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:13:21]:
You learn choreography very quickly too, would that be true?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:13:26]:
Yeah, I did I was one of those in the classes, like, right, we knew that.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:13:39]:
Come on, guys, get it together.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:13:42]:
I love that. I'm wondering this pace at which you are absorbing information, like moving through these prestigious organizations, it's so breathless. And did you ever have a moment where you had to stop and consider what the goal was? I'm just thinking, like, 18 year old you is a world away from 14 year old you that wants to be in a Michael Jackson video. When the goalposts shifted, were you aware of that happening? Or was it just like, boom, boom, boom, we're moving through, we got to keep it going.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:14:17]:
Of course, my teenage self doesn't understand or remember anything. You know what I mean? I was just like we are when we're young. You're just moving. You don't even realize that your goals are shifting. And I think that was because I told you I saw the Ailey company, and then the summer after I started dancing, I was on scholarship. Could you imagine what I saw on scholarship? Like, I had people like Desmond Richardson in class, right?
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:14:46]:
Yeah.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:14:47]:
You know, what were it they were in front of? Francesca Harper was in these I danced with all of these people as a team, and so, like I said, seeing the most incredible examples and going, got it. I'm way off. I really need to work harder. And I think just before I knew it, you know what I mean, that the goal changed. Like, oh, I'm moving at a rapid clip, or I want to dance. I feel ready. I feel ready to take the stage, even though, like, in hindsight, I should have stayed at juilliard longer. You know what I mean? If I had to do it over, I just I guess the goalposts kept shifting, and I didn't realize it. I was just moving. Moving.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:15:40]:
Yeah. So you mentioned that Hubbard street was the best introduction to professional dancing that you could have. Can you elaborate on that a little bit and tell us what that was like? You've already had this crash course in dancing, so now you're in a company, and that's already an adjustment for anyone. But you never really maybe even have you even felt really comfortable with dancing yet when you've gotten to that point of being a professional.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:16:03]:
Yeah, so the standard was so high. Once I got into the company, like, Lou didn't even know he wanted to hire in. We were in New York, and I did this audition, and I did the callback. Usually you get the job after the callback. He was like, I still don't know. I don't know about you. I need you to come to Chicago, and I need to see you with the company, amongst the company. And they invited me to the company when they were in Sean. Could you imagine, like, they were on stage performing, and I had to take class with them on stage it was unbelievably intimidating and learn repertoire and all those things. And he could see me, like, the dynamic within the company. And every day the standard was high. We had to take class every day. Which, if, you know, if you're AGMA, that might not be in your contract where you have to take class. It's optional. Well, because Hubbard Street is not union. Lou wanted that practice to be in there. We had to take class. Every rehearsal was slow out. It was almost crazy. And so that was my introduction. So I'm thinking, oh, this is what you do. And just the way technical rehearsals were run, just meticulous. There was a meticulous spacing before each and every performance, no matter how long we were on tour. Which seems like a crazy pace now that I think back on it, but I think it set me up so that when I went to the Ailey company and it was an AGMA company, and there was an optional company class, and certain things were optional, they weren't optional to me. So I'm thinking, no, I have to do this, I have to do that. So it helped me to continue the progress of my form, of my technique, of what was expected of me, and all the works that were done. It was like, no, this isn't mean. Lou was meticulous about all of us being on the same angle. We all look different individually, but when we dance together, we had better dance mean. If we're going to step on this corner, we had all better step on the downstage right corner. So it really helped me take in an ensemble how to work as an ensemble. I did have solo moments, even as a youngster, to be out on stage and what that, Sean? And the expectation of my dynamics and all of those great things. So I just think that how we toured, how we carried ourselves internationally, what those expectations were when we were in the theater and how to conduct ourselves in the dressing room. And all of those things were at a really high level, high standard.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:19:21]:
Right.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:19:23]:
So touring must have been just a near constant for basically your entire career between Hubbard Street and Ailey. How did that impact your development as an artist? Like, what's it like kind of just always being on the road and having to find yourself in a new theater in a new place all the time.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:19:44]:
Difficult, I think, when I look back on it hard. It was really hard. It was really hard. And remember, I was touring when there was no FaceTime. We just barely had email. Am I aging myself or what? You know what I mean? I remember trying to keep in contact at home and buying these cards, phone cards, and just spending so much money on long distance and all those things. So just really crazy, but able to adapt to anything, to the size of the stage. To the condition of the stage, different theaters. It made me very resilient. We would go from gigantic stages that the crew basically had to build to the parasop. There's suddenly a five inch rake. Hello. Right. And you're just able to walk into a theater and kind of ascertain what the dynamics are. Okay, great. Where's my table? Where I can set up my makeup? And that was home. Setting up your dressing table, that was something that you could make a constant. Right. That dressing table, that home base and every other variable moved and shifted. So I think it was excellent training for learning repertory, maintaining repertory, being a world citizen right. And appreciating who we all are in our humanity by meeting so many different people and going to so many different countries and finding out that we're basically all the same. We basically all love our children. We love to eat, we love to laugh, we love all these things while entertaining so many different people across the world. So it was insane. And the ailey company toured. I don't know if they still do. They must. More than any other. They we would pack up and be gone. I try to tell the current members of cause, you know, sometimes if we're gone for like three or four weeks, it's like, oh, wow. I'm like I've packed my bag and been gone for 14 weeks.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:22:20]:
A long time.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:22:23]:
Right.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:22:24]:
Incredible.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:22:24]:
You kind of feel like a circus sometimes. And it is a hard way. It's hard on relationships. It's hard on so many things. You sacrifice so much for your art, but I'm telling you, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have seen so many places that I wouldn't have ever traveled to had I not danced.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:22:50]:
Yeah. I wonder where performing fell for you. Was it something that came really naturally, I'm guessing since you went into this audition and were very fearless when you were 14 years old and just was loving to entertain the judges in front of you, that maybe it was something naturally. Did it come naturally to you? Was it something you had to work on? You were clearly thrown into while you're touring, you're performing so much. What was that transition to the stage like for you?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:23:18]:
I think I'm a natural performer. Right. I don't know where it came from. Before I dance, I played the clarinet for years. I was in orchestra, I was in band, I was in marching band. So that idea of is showtime. Got it. I think I knew what that meant. I'm a daughter of a jazz musician, so seeing my father step up and hit it, I think maybe that was just if I didn't think about it, I think that's probably something that he instilled in me.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:23:56]:
And musicality came from, too.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:23:59]:
Absolutely. Even as a toddler, I can remember rehearsals in my house, there's a rehearsal. I mean, there's a drummer setting up. There's a saxophone, it says of this. And so music was always a part of my life. And so I think performing may have always been as well. I don't ever remember like, oh, I had to work on my performing, right? You know what I mean? Or like, I had stage fright or I never wanted to look like I was like, Showtime.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:24:35]:
Yeah, here we go. So you had 13 amazing years at Ailey. What kind of spurred a decision to retire from the stage? And when you made that choice, was it always linked to staying in the arts? Or did you ever consider, well, now I'll open a restaurant, or do a totally different career path?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:25:01]:
Right? I'm done. I'm packing it up, a couple of things. So I told you I was one of crazy people. I had kids in the company. If your life wasn't complicated enough, not only did I have my daughter Adia, while I was in the company, I was married, and then I divorced and then I remarried. Like, all of this happened during the span of that 13 years in the company. And so I had a daughter, I had a new husband, and then I had a stepson. So I had kids, right? So I'm traveling all over the world, and I think because I had kids, I knew that my time was limited. Right. I already knew I can't keep going. Sometimes it's really hard for dancers to measure when is the end, right? I think I always had that in the back of my mind. This is fine until it's not, right? And the second that this is not going to work, especially for my family, I'm going to have to say goodbye, right? So I had that in the back of my mind for years. And so I'm telling you, every time I got on stage, you can ask colleagues whether it was rehearsal or whether it was on stage. During the performance, I was full out with feelings because I knew this could be the last. So I'm going to go for it. I'm going to just let everything out. And it actually served me really well. I didn't feel any regret. And so when my kids got to be middle school age, and I could see the difference in their behavior from when I was at home for a while and when I left and came back, I could see them deter a little bit. Like, this time they really need me and I need to say goodbye, right? So that just came about and Little Know showed themselves. One was, I think we went to Copenhagen or something, Denmark, and we had been to Copenhagen I don't know how many times, and I put the key in the room and I opened the door and I said, not only have I been in this hotel, I have been in this room. That's so, like, you just have been in a lot of the places before, and you feel like I've given what I should have given on stage, right? You know what I mean? I don't have anything else to say. I'm satisfied. I feel good. And so I said, you know what? I'm going to transition to teach full time. And why teaching? I taught ever since I became a member of the ailey company. I was a company teacher. Masuzumichaya asked me when I first got into the company, hey, do you teach? And I said, I don't think I've ever taught a ballet class or modern class. He said, do you want to teach company class?
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:28:07]:
Wow.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:28:08]:
What?
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:28:09]:
Are you kidding me?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:28:11]:
It's a big deal because you're in a company where it's full of your idols. It's full of people that you watched grow up and have inspired you all along. And I loved it. Like, from day one, I was like, give me more classes. Give me more. And they would put me out there for outreach. I would teach at schools and all those things. So I think that was natural as so I taught for years and years on different levels, went back to my high school and would teach master classes and all those things. And so when I left, there was a visiting guest artist position open at towson university, and I kind of just segued into that. And then that just went back into, oh, you got to go back and get your MFA, and you got to go back. That opened up other things. I never wanted to leave and leave dance. Like, dance was in me from the beginning, and so that was the thing. I'm going to leave, and then I'm going to be home, and I'm going to educate and keep this dance thing in my life, and it's still there.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:29:27]:
Right. So you mentioned that during the pandemic, you were kind of reassessing what was next for you, and you found this job description for artistic director at Hubbard street. And I just wonder what made you interested to go from educating to back to the professional realm while you're working with professional dance?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:29:48]:
I think because I was trying to get dance ready for their professional careers. That was the whole thing. Towson is a BFA program, and so I had so many students throughout the years that wanted to know what it took. How can they be prepared, not just physically and within their technique, but like, how do I write a resume? How do I show up at an audition? How do I do all these things? I also directed the towson university dance company, and so I would curate and bring in different professional choreographers to come in and work with them. So I've been doing all of this preparation building at the same time. Still teaching the ailey company when they came into town, still teaching hover street, like, still teaching. So I didn't ever leave the professional side. I just always questioned all of the skills that I had been gaining since becoming a professional dance. Is there something out there where I can put them all together? Right. And so, as a director at Ailey Camp Baltimore, I was mentoring middle school kids, ages eleven to 14. And that, I'll tell you, I had stories. You talk about so much fun, and we served each other, the kids, really. I'm telling you, I learned so much on the job training. So how do I bring together my knowledge of the form, my knowledge and understanding of the field, of curating, of bringing in different choreographers, of encouraging, of uplifting, of mentoring and directing and all of those things? How do I bring them all into the same place on a different level? And so that's how being the artistic director, I feel, is an organic next step for me.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:32:00]:
You're like, you know, it would be really fun to do this during the pandemic and see if we can.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:32:07]:
Challenge. Yeah, you sure do. While the arts are struggling, while we're in this kind of reset. I tell you, I always love the challenge, and to me, it meant opportunity. Like, just what we were going through as a know at George Floyd and all these things to question. I'm not sure if this opportunity would have made itself available if the nation didn't shift the way it did. Right. It's like now all of a sudden, let's look at everyone in a way that maybe I wouldn't have been looked at in the past. And for me, other people see challenges, I see opportunity. It is in the heart of a pandemic, and we aren't back in person. I didn't even meet the company. I had the job I started the job in March 1, 2021. I didn't see them in person until May. Wow. So it was crazy. We were in crazy times, but I just felt like, you know what? The company had been through some trials and some struggles. Hey, there's no way but up from here. Let's go on up. And if it keeps going down, I tried, but on my watch, we're going to try to steady the ship and go forward.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:33:44]:
Yeah. Maybe we could talk about some of the specific challenges in contrast to Hubbard Street is obviously, like, such an incredible, know, internationally renowned company. What were some of the things that you were like, this is good, let's bolster it, let's secure it, and then some of the things that you knew needed improvement?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:34:05]:
Well, Lou, the founder of the company, always hired excellent dancers. I mean, just that whole integrity of the company and the training and how the work is approached has been maintained flawlessly. That's one thing that has not changed. And thank God, right. The caliber, the quality of the artists, the way the artists look at the work and value the work and value how the work evolves. It's really a process driven place. You know what. I mean, it's not about TADA, we have a show. It's really about no, how do I learn this technique that might be new to me or this form or this style? How do I really dig into it and really going on that road? So that was a through line that needed to just maintain. It has always been a diverse company, but maybe in different ways, right? So I was in the company back in 89, so there were people of color. So I don't want people to think that there were never people of color in the company. But I think because I am a woman of color, that I do have a different lens as to maybe how many people of color are here or how many people of color are having the opportunity to choreograph on the company or maybe the folks who have never choreographed on Harbor Street before that I knew of. And I always wonder and let's go. So I think those are the things that I felt like not needed to change, but maybe needed to open. Right? So the Gateway might have needed to open. One fantastic thing about the company is the team, right? So it's not just the dancers who are seller. The general manager, she is off the excellent, excellent. The executive director, Dave McDermott. Excellent, excellent. Like, folks are not playing about their roles and about the integrity in which they approach their work. So that cannot change. So I think I just brought myself to Hubbard Street and tried to also bring audiences back. There had been a decline in who came to the shows. Chicago is a very diverse city. It is an incredible city. And I don't think that we saw the fabric of the city at the show. You know what I mean? And so I wanted to get back to that. When I was in the company, we had houses, I mean, all kinds of folks. And so what was that? I don't know. I don't know what that thing was, but I think opening up who came to the table, the dancers, what the dancers look feel like on stage, all of those things, I think, have broadened our audiences. Like, more people are going, oh, I don't think I've ever looked at Hubbard Street or I haven't looked at them in a while, and, wow, I love this piece, or I could connect with it. So people are finding connections and pathways back to us. And I don't know if it's anything that I did. I have memories, fond memories of what Hover Street was and all of the people who we have brought on board as fans and members of our community. And I just wanted to broaden what that was, broaden our appeal while continuing its excellence.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:38:21]:
Right. I'm not sure if this is a question that maybe we can answer, but it just making me think. While you're talking about coming in during the pandemic, I wonder if there was a little bit of a sense of freedom that you felt that you may not have otherwise. Just because everyone was dealing with this really extreme situation that was very rare. So in a way, I wonder if you were able to kind of do things differently than you maybe would have if you came in during a very stable time where everything was running smoothly.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:38:50]:
Yeah, maybe. I think maybe I felt the opposite. We had just sold our building. We didn't have a school. We didn't have all these things. So I actually didn't feel that freedom. Like, if we had a building and we had some structure, I could just kind of jump in. Okay. And I can make subtle changes or whatever, but the machine would have kept going. The machine wasn't there. And so I'm coming into, what do you want this to be? And it's a pandemic, and folks are going out of business all around you. So there still is a lot of pressure. I don't take it lightly. This is a legacy I'm jumping into. Right. And so the survival of this legacy, I feel like it's on my shoulders. I feel that weight. I feel that responsibility. So I kind of feel the opposite. I don't feel that freedom.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:39:58]:
Right.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:39:59]:
Because those infrastructures are not in place.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:40:03]:
Yeah.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:40:03]:
Interesting.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:40:04]:
Maybe we could talk a little bit about some of the ways that a director most obviously makes a mark. How are you choosing some of the rep for every season? And what are you looking for in the dancers that you're hiring that you're adding to the company?
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:40:21]:
I'm going to take the second part first. The dancers just have to be fabulous. And this is what I mean at the audition. Of course, we give modern ballet, contemporary, all the things they have to be proficient, movers in an array of styles. Like, they cannot be boxed in when movement is thrown at them. I have to see the clock ticking. I have to see the cogs, the wheels spinning, oh, let me take this, let me do that. I have to see decision making. I have to see choices. I have to see who you are as an artist and not just kind of regurgitating the movement back. Because our dancers are collaborators. They're in there with the choreographers helping to move the choreography along. So I'm really interested in who they are as artists, but they have to master so many different forms and feel comfortable diving in whether something is a little bit more balletic, whether something is a little bit more grounded, whether we're doing Ohad, Naharin, and there's a Gaga class. How do they jump into like, how do they peel all those things back? And as for the work, sometimes things are really planned. Like, I'll call folks up and say, I need this. I'm interested in, like, Rennie Harris, for instance. We've never really done hip hop, so I'm thinking, of course, my lens on contemporary is now what's happening now? Right? We've never done hip hop if you're ignoring hip hop at this point, you know what I mean? Like, look at it. 50 years of hip hop. Wow. And if you're not acknowledging that as an art form, what is happening? Right? So I wanted him to come in, and I also wanted to tie it into Chicago. Where? Hubbard street dance. Chicago. So can you tell the story of warehouse house music? House dance? The warehouse is here in Chicago. I mean, iconic DJ Frankie Knuckles was really instrumental in bringing people to the club. And what that club scene was, I was like, rennie, this is what I want to pull back. And he was like, let's do that. Was that was intentional to kind of shake things up. And all of these things are adding to the dancers in the company's toolbox. They can do so many things because you're bringing so many things to them, and some things are just like they just I i am not very religious, but I'm very spiritual. So when things move and shift and are presented to me, I listen. I'm like, okay, listening why this was brought to me. Randy Duncan, who's a local choreographer here in Chicago but has choreographed all over the place, has never set a piece on Hubbard Street. And we just kind of crossed paths, and I went, hey, why haven't you done anything lately? I've never worked with the company.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:43:48]:
Come on, let's do it.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:43:49]:
You know what I mean? So it's kind of threading the needle of being intentional about going out and getting things and then staying open to what inspires you. Azure Barton. What is going on with Azure Barton? That incredible creative, you know what I mean? I'm just so fixated on her choreography and what drives her and what inspires her and to have that opportunity, to have her come in and work with the company and set work and her feel so comfortable here. And that's another thing that people don't see for the direction, is setting the atmosphere for the company, how they enter the space. Is it a tense space? Is it a toxic space? Is it a space where they can sit back and relax? They are accepted? All of those things, I think, are overlooked as an artistic director. How artists are welcomed, how choreographers are greeted, how they are treated in the space. All of those things are my responsibility. So those are the things that I think about when both picking artists and picking the works that we do.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:45:09]:
Yeah. So, just for our last question before we wrap up, tell us I'm sure you've already touched on some of them, but what can audiences expect from the company season? That's coming up.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:45:21]:
We are just starting our three year relationship with Azure Barton. She is our resident what amazing. Oh, my God. So they can expect this season two works from her, her return to Patience. And she's actually going to stage a new piece. She's going to create a new piece in December that will be premiered in our spring season. So look forward to that. The company is currently working with Maria Torres, who maria has done so many things on Broadway and in film. She's Latina and her movement is Latin based. So that's a whole nother shake up for the company. You might see them on a heel or two. We'll see what happens with that. We're also going to be working with Johann Inger, European choreographer who we worked with in the past, his Walking Mad, of course, the company did years ago. And so just to be able to work with them again is going to be really great. We're also going to do a piece with Flock, Florian Lockner and Alice Klopp, who are also Hubbard Street Alums. And they are choreographic duo. I love that too, by the way. Hubbard street has had a long history in cultivating choreographers, right? So we're just not just interested in the dancer, but maybe you have an interest in choreographing. We still have a program called Inside Out where we encourage the dancers to choreograph and we actually put on a production with just the dancer's choreography and so keeping that alive by having many of our dancers who choreograph have gone on to have incredible careers, like Rena Butler, who just set a piece on the company. That is fantastic. So I always want to go back to that and highlight that. So those are some of the exciting things that you can expect from Hubbard Street this season.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:47:30]:
Sounds wonderful.
Michael Sean Breeden [00:47:32]:
Sounds like a great season. And thank you so much for sharing your personal story and ideas for Hubbard Street in the future. And this is just so wonderful. Thank you so much for coming on.
Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell [00:47:44]:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Rebecca King Ferraro [00:47:46]:
Thank you so much. Conversations on Dance is part of the Acast Creator, our network. For more information, visit conversationsondancepod.com.