The heads of small dance companies do it all: scrounge for grants and sponsors; court board members; audition, rehearse and choreograph; write and send press releases; find collaborating artists; brainstorm day and night about building audiences. You can understand that sort of effort from artistic directors whose troupes are dedicated outlets for their choreography. But what motivates Laura Kariotis, artistic director of eight-year-old Nomi Dance Company?
Of the four pieces in Nomi’s one-night show at the Athenaeum, not one is by Kariotis — though she’s an adept choreographer. Instead, expect new works by former River North dancers Stephanie Martinez (“Adam’s Rib”) and Monique Haley (“Us, Without Walls”) and reprises of “And in the silence she found peace,” by Nomi dancer Katie Carey, and “Letting Go of Looking Back,” by Giordano’s Joshua Blake Carter.
Though in the early days Nomi showcased various styles of dance, today Kariotis is looking for “bigger, better, stronger” choreographic visions, she says. “Whoever I brought in, I was asking, ‘Will this person help the dancers grow as artists? Will it push the company another step ahead?'”
With “Adam’s Rib,” Martinez is giving Kariotis (who says she favors “old-school-mentality modern dance”) a comedy with old-style River North flair.
“I wanted something entertaining, requiring acting chops,” Martinez says. Inspired by ’60s commercials “scripted by a man for women,” this cartoonish duet “dives into society’s view of women,” she says, and comes out the other side suggesting that men “watch out — we might just kick your butts.”
“We don’t always get comedy in our works,” says Kariotis. “It’s hard to do it right — it has to be smart.” But then challenges are the name of the game in dance.
For Kariotis as artistic director, budgeting is “always the icky part. With a small company, you’re limited. And you wish there were no limits.” But she counts herself lucky to have a supportive businessman as a husband: He’s helped with Nomi’s business plan, nonprofit status and grant applications.
What keeps Kariotis going? The dancers, she says. “Someone might have just said no to me about money — and I walk into the studio, and they’re so happy to see me and so happy to get to work. When I watch them move, and watch them create, and watch others create on them, I go, ‘That’s why I’m doing this.’
Kariotis has strong ideas about how to run Nomi. She wants to challenge the dancers, but “I don’t think that, in the middle of that, people need to be beat down,” she says. “I create an environment where they know they can fall, they can make mistakes — and we fix it. You get up, you don’t complain, you don’t make excuses, you just fix it and move on.
“I love this group because they’re problem solvers,” she adds. For instance, she asked for the dancers’ ideas on the stagecraft of Haley’s piece, which involves a couple of onstage walls: “Instantly I could see the wheels turning — they don’t wait for me to give them direction.”
It’s also super-important to Kariotis to pay the dancers. “I told my husband, ‘I won’t start this company unless the first performance we ever do, the dancers get paid.’
“I remember my very first paycheck — it was small, but I felt valid.”
Dancing with Nomi may be “their lowest-paying job,” Kariotis admits, “because obviously they all have multiple jobs. But they always tell me, ‘When people ask me what I do, I say that I’m a professional dancer.’ They don’t say, ‘I’m a personal trainer’ — though some of them are. That’s their second job.”
Nomi’s biggest challenge? “We’re always battling for audiences,” says Kariotis.
She credits Audience Architects, the nonprofit dance service organization founded in 2005, with helping Nomi and other local troupes build their businesses. In April, for example, Audience Architects’ third annual Chicago Dance Month offered more than 90 free or discounted events at tons of locations.
Kariotis notes that, after Nomi’s performances, “Quite a few people asked for information on the show — which is nice, because when you start, it’s just family and friends [in the audience]. You have to add to that. It’s all we talk about at our meetings.”
Also worth noting
Pivot Arts Festival 2015: The fest offers performances by RE|Dance, Lucky Plush and Ayako Kato. May 29-31 and June 6-7, various locations, $15-$20 or “suggested donation” at pivotarts.org/festival
Molzahn is a freelance writer.
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‘Spring Affair’
When: 8 p.m. May 23
Where: Nomi Dance Company at the Athenaeum Theater, 2936 N. Southport Ave.
Tickets: $12-$32 at 773-935-6875 or athenaeumtheatre.org