-
-
Ad Space
(728 x 90)
Published on 5/17/08
Sign up today!
Luna Negra ascends
Like a lot of small- to midsize-dance companies, Luna Negra Dance Theater is trying to grow up. At five years old, the group is ready to step into bigger britches.
Founder Eduardo Vilaro left his teaching job at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and started directing Luna Negra full time on February 1. Like a proud papi, he explains how he is investing in the longevity of his dancers' careers by grooming them not just to be fantastic performers, but also to be teachers who can pass on knowledge to new generations. "Residencies are what will keep the company alive," Vilaro says. They've already got a major one planned for the summer at Tulane U. in New Orleans, which will include teaching, rehearsing and performance opportunities for the company. Locally, lecture-demonstrations and workshops for school kids have been arranged through Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education.
Vilaro credits local and national organizations such as the Chicago Community Trust, the Joyce Foundation and the Cuban Artists Fund with helping Luna Negra achieve this new level of growth. "I'm becoming a fund-raising whore, but I'm gonna be real," he laughs. "Also, now I get more time in the studio to make choreography and be an artist." He's especially happy about last February's appointment of Managing Director Phyllis Brzozowska, Luna's first full-time administrator and arts management expert. "I could sense her talent immediately," Vilaro says, "just as I would with an artist I might work with."
This weekend's performance (See Listings, Sat 5) will be Luna Negra's first full-length concert staged at the 1,000-seat Athenaeum Theatre, giving the dancers plenty of room to stretch their legs.—Asimina Chremos
Comment