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player ready...“In the beginning, I think they wanted to do something to help the cause,” says choreographer Randy Duncan, speaking about the performers who first gathered in his now-annual Dance for Life finale.
It’s a tradition that sprang into being nearly a quarter-century ago, not long after Dance for Life was founded in 1991 to help the many dancers then struggling with HIV-AIDS. The first show landed in 1992 at the old Organic Theater, which seated 400. That sold out — and audiences have been growing ever since, says Anthony Guerrero, executive director of the newly formed nonprofit Chicago Dancers United. For the 25th anniversary show at the Auditorium on Aug. 20, CDU hopes to surpass the 2,500 figure.
Though in 25 years the medical community has made great strides in HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment, unfortunately the disease has not disappeared. And there are still dancers with other critical health issues and less-than-adequate or no insurance. That’s where DFL’s Dancers’ Fund, started in 1994, comes in. “That’s really one of the core reasons for moving on to be a nonprofit,” says Guerrero. “Chicago Dancers United wants to better structure the fund so that it’s marketed properly to the (dance) community.” CDU also plans to explore arts-oriented financial resources and to offer additional dance-related programming.
The fact is, years and years of showcasing Chicago’s top troupes meant Dance for Life could hardly go wrong. The three regulars performing this year — Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street and Giordano Dance, which has performed from the get-go — will be joined by Visceral Dance, Chicago Dance Crash, and new works by both Duncan and Harrison McEldowney. Over the years, 32 local troupes have performed on the DFL stages.
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But in 1994, when Duncan came up with the idea of a finale, he believed that “something was needed in terms of gluing the community together.” Though individual companies were performing their trademark pieces — “and you see all of them on one evening, which is great,” he notes — Duncan thought about “how effective it would be if I chose a dancer or two from each of the companies involved.” The past two years, he’s also held open auditions in order to include “some independents who wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to perform but who are fabulous dancers.
“Any dancer that I’ve asked has always been very, very happy, even though it’s extra work after they finish their own during the day,” Duncan adds. Why are they so happy? “They never get to dance with each other!” he says. “This is a time that we really become friends. You know how it is when you’re rehearsing — it’s that kind of energy. It happens every single year. It’s like a love fest.”
In honor of the 25th, Duncan’s new “Depth of Light” features a tailor-made score by Andy Mitran. The choreographer had a very good idea of what he wanted: A vocal-music major, Duncan always starts thinking about the structure of his next finale as soon as the most recent is done and gone. (This one, however, will be performed again, on Aug. 27 at the Chicago Dancing Festival.)
As usual for the finale, a sizable crowd — here, 16 — performs “Depth of Light.” Duncan says it’s important “to get as many dancers involved as possible, without going overboard and putting a group of 50 onstage and not being able to handle that in terms of cleanup. They still have to look like a company, and I only get two weeks with them: three hours each day for 10 days.” But he’s also “very excited about these beautiful people. It is amazing to be in (the studio) with all the wonderful talent, to see and feel the warmth and love and beauty of these artists. It gives me chills just to think about it.”
Duncan might also be the source of that love. Guerrero, who produced the Dance for Life shows from 2012-2015, describes the choreographer as “one of the most big-hearted, kind, giving, gentle people that I know.”
The dance world is small, and it is supportive. Dance for Life — originally a mom-and-pop outfit, Duncan says — was born in large part out of Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre. Holmes died of AIDS-related causes in 1986; Duncan was later the company’s artistic director; and JHCDT dancer Keith Elliott and associate artistic director Harriet Ross were instrumental in founding Dance for Life.
It’s an organization that “has always been about the dance community taking care of its own,” Guerrero says. “There’s still a need for what we do: Dancers’ work is all about their bodies and their health.” In recent years, the Dancers’ Fund has helped two people with testicular cancer and another person, head of a small company, who’d suffered a “serious traumatic injury and was responsible for not only their own livelihood but that of other dancers.” In that case, the Dancers’ Fund helped both the individual and the company through a rough time.
The name is a bit misleading, Guerrero points out: The fund is available not only to dancers but to choreographers, administrators, full-time instructors, accompanists and others. Applicants are considered on a case-by-case basis and can receive many kinds of financial aid, including the costs of housing, insurance, medication. “We’re raising money,” Guerrero says, “and we want it to be utilized.”
Laura Molzahn is a freelance critic.
Dance for Life
When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20 (5 p.m. gala)
Where: Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway
Tickets: $15-$75 (or $250-$600 with gala) at 312-341-2300 or chicagodancersunited.org
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