FREEZE! Raphaelle Ziemba chills out in her ice princess garb.

This picture of dancer Raphaelle Ziemba in costume for Venetia Stifler’s new work, Daughters of the Myth, is only the tip of a dance iceberg. Daughters—an all-woman quartet examining the cooler, crueler sides of femininity—premieres Friday 24, when Stifler’s troupe, Concert Dance, Inc., celebrates its 25th anniversary with an eclectic evening of new and revisited works at the Ruth Page Center. We recently gave Stifler a ring to learn the story behind the snapshot.
Time Out Chicago: This is a really compelling image. What on earth is Raphaelle wearing?
Venetia Stifler: It’s a costume created by Alison Dahlberg, who has worked as a wig and makeup artist for the Lyric Opera.
TOC: It’s not your usual dance outfit. Where did the idea for this type of garment come from?
VS: I was at an arts meeting at the Swedish American Museum [5211 N Clark St] when out of the corner of my eye I saw this thing in the corner: It was like four big angels without heads, suspended in space. I just couldn’t get the image out of my head. It looked like the [Chronicles of] Narnia witch—the glistening myth of the ice princess.
TOC: It was a sculpture of some kind?
VS: Yes. I tried to find the artist, but she lives in Sweden. Besides, the things are too heavy to dance in, being made of textile with plaster and glue. They have no movement. And the image up close is not the same as far away. It was the far-away view that was haunting me. So I thought, Let’s find a way to use this image. I discussed it with my dancers.
TOC: How did you hook up with the costume designer?
VS: Alison is a good friend of one of my dancers, Jamie Farrell, who suggested her. So [Alison] came in and started making versions of the costume. At first it was all white, but I told her, “It needs to look like an icicle with dirt in it.” We turned one of the offices upstairs [in the Ruth Page Center, where Stifler works and the company rehearses] into a craft shop, and Alison came in every week to work on them, figure out how to make them stay on the dancers, and so on. Now we are dealing with the undergarment.
TOC: So these costumes are meant to evoke the cool hardness of ice.
VS: I should tell you, aside from the Swedish sculpture I saw, I was inspired to create Daughters of the Myth by a falling out I had with a woman, who turned out to be Scandinavian. That’s why the image really stuck with me. I felt as though the Ice Goddess first gave me the Turkish delight and then turned me to ice. I thought, Maybe I should address this feeling in a more universal, not-so-personal way. So I started researching myths about ice queens and princesses. Myths are expressions of our psyche, and I thought, Here’s a way to purge myself of this incident.
TOC: Raphaelle seems to be one of your main dancers.
VS: Yes, we are very close. I can ask her, “Can you drop, flow, turn, flop, stop—start in your hip then go to your elbow?,” and she says, “Yes,” and does it. I love her. I love all the dancers, the way they give of themselves. How can you not? You become vulnerable to each other.
TOC: How do you find dancers for your company?
VS: The other dancers bring them to me. They know who they want to dance with, and we have a rehearsal atmosphere we don’t want ruined. It’s joyous.

Concert Dance, Inc. performs Daughters of the Myth and other works Friday 24 to Sunday 26 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.