New Roads for Hubbard Street Dancers

Jim Vincent stepped into some big shoes when he took over the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for Lou Conte in August 2000. Conte had created the contemporary dance troupe in 1977 and led it right up to Vincent’s arrival.

“The most unusual thing about this change of guard is that it was due to a retirement,” Vincent said from Portland, Ore., where Hubbard Street was dancing before its dates Friday and Saturday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“Usually, it’s the result of internal turmoil or trauma that puts a lot of stress on everyone. This didn’t. The company is in great shape, actually.”

Hubbard Street began with four women tap-dancing in cafeterias for senior citizens, but it soon expanded in size and repertory to include theatrical jazz, modern dance and classical ballet.

Conte and Claire Bataille, one of the dancers, created most of the choreography in the early years. Wanting to go beyond his background that was mainly in Broadway musicals, Conte began inviting guest modern dance choreographers such as Margo Sapp- ington, David Parsons, Danny Ezralow and others to create works.

Conte scored a coup in 1990 by acquiring the exclusive rights--which expired after three years--to choreography by Twyla Tharp after she disbanded her company.

In his final year, he reached out to Jiri Kylian of Nederlands Dans Theater, Nacho Duato of Compania Nacional de Danza in Madrid and Ohad Naharin of Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv.

“I was familiar with those works,” said Vincent. “Some were even created on me. It made a lot of sense. The connection was there.”

Even so, in the beginning, Vincent said he wasn’t interested in the job. “I first said no. We lived 40 minutes east of Paris. We had just bought a house. My wife is French. We have three children. It was a wonderful opportunity, but this was not the right time. They didn’t accept my refusal. They said, ‘Come spend a couple of days with us.’”

He did and liked what he saw: “Very strong individual talents and personalities who are able to work together and create a collective ego for the company. I appreciate that discipline and responsibility. Interdependency, almost.

“I felt the repertory, the facility, the board and the good quality dancers--how many times would this come up? There were too many arrows pointing in the same direction.”

There are 21 dancers in the main company and six in a second company. The dancers have 52-week contracts, paid vacations, medical benefits and a retirement package.

The yearly budget is $5 million.

Vincent, who turned 44 on Sunday, was born in Lawrenceville, N.J., and studied at the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, D.C.; Harkness House of Ballet in New York City; and the North Carolina School of the Arts at the University of North Carolina.

He was plucked out of his sophomore year by a call from Kylian, who invited him to audition for Nederlands Dans Theater, where he spent 12 years as a dancer, choreographer and rehearsal director.

“I had tried to leave NDT when I was 25. I had thought, this will be my whole career if I don’t leave now. I had gone to Europe originally only for a year or two. But there was an endless wealth of new work and collaborations.

“Four months into a year or two of a leave of absence, Kylian called me back, saying, ‘I need you.’ How many times in my life would somebody like that call and demand that I come back?”

So he returned to The Hague.

After Nederlands Dans Theater, he worked four years as assistant artistic director of Duato’s company in Spain, and three years as ballet master of the Opera National de Lyon. In 1997, he became part of the creative team of Disneyland Paris, as a concept designer and show director.

“I stopped dancing really early,” Vincent said. “I was 32. I hadn’t done it all, but I felt I had accomplished what I wanted to. I really enjoyed artistic administration as well.”

Working in Europe for 22 years gave him security and six weeks of vacation. “But I was afraid a civil servant mentality had slipped in. A little pressure would be helpful.”

Coming back to the U.S. after 22 years has been “quite an adjustment, more for my family than for me. I’m not used to being sold a burger every 22 seconds. It’s crazy.”

Vincent sees new directions ahead for Hubbard Street.

“There have been so many elements. I want to send one clear message. The company used to be referred to as a mix of classical, modern and jazz: ‘Where entertainment and art meet, with the focus on the accessible.’ If ‘accessible’ is a result of the way a piece engages a public, fine. But that’s not the objective. The objective is to draw in people from both sides of the proscenium.”

Although he wants new work in the repertory, he doesn’t see the company as a vehicle for himself.

“I actually just did my first work for the company,” he said. It’s a work called “Counter/part,” based on sections from the “Brandenburg” Concertos and other works by Bach.

Last year, he started a choreographic workshop in which the dancers could create works.

“That will help produce the next generation of America choreographers. It will also give us exclusive repertory.”

His choreography is said to reflect the work of his mentor. Vincent doesn’t reject his influence.

“Why would I want to? I prefer to be inspired by Kylian--as Kylian was from [John] Cranko--than from someone who is just out there doing it,” he said. “I’m watching so much mediocre video these days. There’s so much [work that’s] just, ‘Oh, yeah, fine. OK, it’s musical. OK, it moves well.’ I need more.”

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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will perform a program of mixed repertory Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. $30 to $35. (949) 854-4646.