E-Mail This Article to a Friend The sight of music Hubbard Street’s dancing rhythms BY IRIS FANGER

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago careens into the Shubert Theatre next weekend with its repertory of adventurous, engaging works. "For many years, Hubbard Street was competing with Broadway musicals because a lot of the movement and style of dances we were presenting were almost a vignette version of those shows. What we are doing now is more contemporary dance," says Jim Vincent, who became director of the 21-performer troupe three years ago.

Hubbard Street was founded in 1977 by dancer/choreographer Lou Conte, who headed the company and its popular school, now based in Chicago’s humming West Loop area. Conte, who retired from HSDC in 2000, created a company with a look different from anything else in the dance world, embracing pop music and dance styles, mounting their productions with integrity and a joie de vivre that were irresistible. Among the early choreographers commissioned by Conte were Twyla Tharp and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Vincent, who succeeded Conte on his retirement in 2000, is a New Jersey native who trained in the United States. He spent his dancing career in Europe: 12 years in Kylian’s Nederlands Dans Theater and two years in Duarto’s company in Madrid, before leaving the stage to head up the Special Events unit at Disney-Europe.

"I was sitting at my desk at Disney-Europe when the HSDC search committee called me. I told them, ‘I’m settled here in France, in our rural farmhouse. Keep my name but not now.’ They said, ‘No.’ So I came to Chicago for a few days and realized what an amazing facility the company has, with its five beautiful studios, equal to anything I’d experienced in Europe, plus a company of 21 dancers on 52-week contracts with six weeks’ paid vacations and health benefits." (In contrast, the 40-plus members of the Boston Ballet work on 36- to 40-week annual contracts, with their vacations paid for by government unemployment insurance.)

Needless to say, performing with Hubbard Street has become a prime gig. When Vincent auditions for new dancers, he looks for versatility, "as close to an instinctive musicality as possible, because we don’t do works in the same genre as Merce Cunningham where music coexists with dance," he says. "Choreographers who interest me are motivated by music. We’re looking for character but also for someone who can leave the ego at the door when they become part of the ensemble. We don’t have a hierarchy of principal, soloist, corps, here. There is opportunity for solo work, but the company has been acclaimed for that ensemble power."

The repertory that the company will present on opening night in Boston includes Rooster (Rolling Stones); a preview of a new piece by Christopher Bruce, who headed up Britain’s Ballet Ramber; a 25th-anniversary revival of Daniel Ezralow’s Super Straight Is Coming Down ( Thom Willems); Kiss (Arvo Part), by Susan Marshall, also a company preview; and Minus 16 (music that varies from Muzak to bossa nova) by Ohad Naharin, former director of Israel’s Bat Sheva Dance Company. On Saturday and Sunday, Trey McIntire’s Full Grown Man (Beck) will replace the Naharin work.

"I’m looking for pieces that have that same kind of imprint — if you want to watch it just for entertainment, fine, but if you’re looking for a little bit of depth, there’s certainly that as well."

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago perform at the Shubert Theatre, February 6 through 8. Tickets $55–$35; call (800) 447-7400.