Clinard Dance Theatre offers flamenco instruction as well as builds original dance theatre. Summer 2010 thanks to a generous grant from the Richard Driehaus Foundation we likened our studio location at 18th and Halsted to the hub of a wheel. From this hub we make our way outward; north, south, east and west to share our art in our community parks.
After researching the history of our parks we tried to make connections to our community and what Clinard Dance practices.
We made connections by integrating the art of flamenco into the park’s landscapes. For example, Dvork Park’s baseball diamond became a bull’s ring, bikes via sculptural constructions became bulls and dancers matadors. Via use of the manton dancers got their cues from the wind in the tall prairie grass at Sterns Quarry.
We also invited a muralist, from the rich Pilsen tradition, to draw our performance at Harrison Park. The show at Ping Tom Memorial was drawn by a Chinese ink painter. A guest violinist played a piece by Czech composer Anton Dvork to whom the park was originally named honoring the Bohemian population in the early 1900’s.
Why is the sun so bright? Because it pays attention and does all its homework. Playfully we challenged sublime nature as we integrated parodies via the use of jokes about nature. For example at Sterns Quarry we used bull horns to tell knock knock jokes across the quarry pond. Flamenco singers strolled the park pre show conversing with the birds, dogs,crickets and kids; they shared songs from the swing set or sliding down a slide.
In addition we shared random bits of natural and human histories about the parks. For example, did you know that Sterns Quarry was once an ancient coral reef dating back to the Silurian age 400 million years ago. Dolomite limestone formed, and fossils that were found there are now in the collections of several area museums including Field Museum of Natural History.
Clinard Dance feels it is a gift to have open spaces and art for our communities; both help us breath and process our personal stories. We won’t be around as long as the limestone at the quarry but we can marvel at our stay here on Mother Earth, Illinois, Chicago, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Chinatown and little dance studios.
CLINARD DANCE THEATRE IS SEEKING COLLEGE INTERNS FOR VARIOUS
OPERATION AND ARTISTIC RESEARCH. IF INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT info@clinardance.org
TO RECEIVE A LIST OF VARIOUS SHORT AND LONG TERM PROJECTS.