LIN HIXSON AND BRYAN SANER
Keep creating without repeating
Dancers are often entertainers who feel dance is in their blood even as they recognize that their shelf life is short. Lin Hixson and her Goat Island collaborators, on the other hand, are not so interested in entertaining. As performer Bryan Saner puts it: “Some of [our work] is hard to digest. It’s not dessert. It’s not sweet. It’s more of a vegetable.”
Their feelings about the end
Hixson: It’s mixed. There’s celebration and sadness and looking forward to things and a sense of courage.
Saner: I feel gratitude that this happened, that we had this opportunity to work together for so many years — and work well.
What’s next
Hixson: I don’t want to form another group. I don’t want to repeat Goat Island. But I want to continue directing on a project-by-project basis.
Saner: I think I will be doing nothing for a while. [But] I’ve been working with [occasional Goat Island performer] Charissa Tolentino. … We want to do documentaries about culture and R&B, specifically in Chicago and relating to civil rights.
Final thoughts
Hixson: My big concern is how to support younger people. I have to keep creating in order to teach. I feel the live art form is critical — the creative mind is critical at this time, politically, for human evolution.
Saner: [Goat Island was] never about agreeing. … But there is a respect for those differences. There’s a mess, and that’s allowed.
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CHERYL MANN
Finding another passion
At age 34, Cheryl Mann closed the door on her 10-year gig with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago on Oct. 7 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. After taking up photography in 1999, she’s now shooting full time, focusing on dance companies and fine art.
The appeal of photography
It started out as a hobby and became a passion. When I’m shooting dancers, I feel like I’m dancing, almost like I’m choreographing.
The appeal of performing
Nothing really fills the void of being onstage. Nothing. The freedom you have out there, from the moment you hit the stage — it takes you to a different place, to enter that character, become that person. Still, I feel grateful, blessed, to have moved on without regrets or bitterness.
What’s next: I hope to do some performing with Sherry Zunker [former artistic director of River North Chicago Dance Company], who’s planning something she calls “the mature dance project” for retired dancers from several generations.
Most memorable performance: It would be my last performance of [Nacho Duato’s] “Rassemblement.” That piece proved me as a dancer in [former artistic director] Lou Conte’s eyes [back in 1999] — when I did it [then], it was the first time I’d ever seen tears in his eyes. On that last [performance] Oct. 7, I came out to do my first solo, I started, and the lights didn’t come on. There were no lights for 45 seconds, an eternity in dance. I had this moment to myself — I was dancing but nobody could see me. It was perfect and tragic all at the same time.
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MAIA WILKINS AND MICHAEL LEVINE
Joffrey couple have plans beyond dance
Signature Joffrey dancer Maia Wilkins, 38, and Michael Levine, 34, who are married, will be leaving the Joffrey Ballet after they perform in the “American Moderns” program May 14-25.
Wilkins, who has danced with the company for 18 years, has played such principal roles as Kate in John Cranko’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” Levine, a 15-year Joffrey veteran, began photographing his fellow Joffrey dancers six years ago.
When recently installed artistic director Ashley Wheater asked what they’d like to perform in May, they chose former artistic director Gerald Arpino’s first pas de deux, “Sea Shadow” (which they’ll do together), for both the May 9 company fundraising gala and the run’s final performance on May 25.
What’s next for Wilkins
We’re looking into guest artist gigs, and I’m interested in going back to school. My friends who’ve gone to college have said that the more you learn, the more you realize what’s out there. And I’d like to document Gerald Arpino’s ballets, both in writing and on videotape. The personal stories of [former Joffrey dancers] Francesca Corkle and Trinette Singleton have meant a lot to me.
What’s next for Levine
I’d like to continue photographing dance. But if I were Superman, I’d save the world. Really, I’d like to make changes in our consumption, take care of the planet.
Memorable performances for Wilkins
When I played Caroline in “Lilac Garden” [in February and March, during the Antony Tudor centennial performances], there was saying good-bye to the Lover. In [Tudor’s] “Dark Elegies,” each song has its breakdown, which lets other people know that they too can give way to their loss.
Memorable performances for Levine
Playing Death in [Kurt Jooss’] “The Green Table.” It’s a powerful role, every step means something. It’s death in its varied forms. At the end of the battle, you are taking the soldier, taking youth. But with the old woman, you’re gentle, she comes willingly.
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See also “Curtain to fall on this body of work,” On the Town section, Page 1
