1. As Jeanne Ruddy Dance enters its 9th concert season with the presentation of Juxtapose, what differentiates your work for this year from past years?

For my new work, LARK, I worked without a narrative or a social issue at its core.  I invited Ellen Fishman-Johnson, with whom I’ve worked for the past two years, for an abstract, minimalist score.  I requested that she use Haydn’s  “The Lark” quartet as a base, and bring it into the current century with added sounds.  This was very different than the way we worked together in the past two years when she videoed the movement sections I’d already completed and made the music to underscore and fit the already completed choreography.

The work explores the idea of the space between us and the longing for connection.  It is more abstract than some of my other works and has humor as well as seriousness.

I owe much to our costume designer, Jeffrey Wirsing, for the beautiful steel grey costumes that finish the final effect I sought.

2. Can you tell us more about the upcoming new world premiere created by guest choreographer Martha Clarke?

We’re honored that Martha Clarke, creator of the highly successful recent New York production of Garden of Earthly Delights, has set a new work on our Company.  We’ve titled this year JUXTAPOSE as Martha and my choreographic styles couldn’t be more dissimilar; however, our backgrounds are both steeped in formal conservatory training, as Martha first worked with Graham disciple, Anna Sokolow, and I with Graham herself.  While the works seem wildly divergent, underneath the surface is a similar formal compositional structure that exists in both, perhaps attributable to Martha’s composition classes with Louis Horst at the Juilliard School and mine with Pauline Koner at NC School of the Arts in our formative years.

I’ve observed Martha’s sense of play and her ability to mine every ounce of creative resources of our Company dancers.  She has used the entire interior space of the Performance Garage imaginatively.  Martha keeps saying it is more theatre than dance.  I’ll let the reader decide after seeing the finished product. Carmella Vassor-Johnson has captured some of that process on video for an upcoming video documentary.

3. You’ve commissioned a wide range of choreographers to set new works on your company, such as Jane Comfort, Susanne Linke, and now Martha Clarke. How do you come to the decision to commission these particular choreographers?

There is no one answer. Each invitation has been extended because I’ve been drawn to the high level of choreography created in their own unique style that they’ve evolved throughout their careers.  I’ve been moved by the collective humanity found in their works and to the experimentation underlying their basic way of creating.  Also, that Comfort, Linke, Clarke, and I have similar classic backgrounds rooted in a deep understanding (and practice) of the pioneers of our art form, i.e. Graham/Cunningham, Wigman/Joos, and Graham/Sokolow, respectively.

In 2006, I began to formulate the hope of working with this particular series of woman choreographers, wondering what the work would reveal about a number of questions: 1. How would the choreographer’s maturity affect the choice of subjects of the new works?   2. Would their gender be apparent in their finished products? 3. How would the collective classic training show through in the three completed pieces?  4. How would a program of the three guest choreographers work when placed on one program if we were able to achieve this series?  5. And finally, how did being uprooted, living in Philadelphia and working with new dancers for a few months affect the final outcome?

4. Starting this fall, you will be rehearsing for your 10th Anniversary Season.  Can you tell us what’s in store?

Our next season is in the works.  We plan to celebrate our Tenth Anniversary with a variety of programs highlighting six of our repertory works.  If funding is secured we will present our last three guest choreographers’ works, Comfort, Linke and Clarke, all in one concert.  We also plan to restage three of my larger works and produce a world premiere.

5. As a former principal dancer of the Martha Graham Company who was fortunate to have worked with Martha herself for a decade, how much has Martha’s philosophy influenced the way you direct Jeanne Ruddy Dance?

Martha’s conflict-driven style of directing was legendary.  I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid that part of her style.  What I have maintained is the strong discipline she demanded of her dancers: the daily training class, the development of the company members’ performance levels, and their development as artists through the commitment to build quality new works.  Many of my daily decisions are influenced by my years with Graham, but sometimes I hear the voices and lessons of other important choreographers I worked with, such as Pauline Koner, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins.   An important benefit to having been a decade with Martha is that I participated in and witnessed many challenging situations in her studio in New York as well as all over the world as we toured and performed.  It helps keep things in perspective.

6. JRD acquired the Performance Garage, which was a run-down automobile garage and former horse stable, in 2001.  Since then, the community has gained more access to the Garage when funding was captured to make capital improvements to form a performance space, rehearsal studio, and administrative offices.  Is there more Performance Garage development you will be undertaking in the future?

The development of the Performance Garage has been a slow evolution and has taken longer than the JRD board or I had expected.

After eight years of development, Jeanne Ruddy Dance is pleased that we’ve recently been able to afford the purchase of our own lights, which are now illuminating more and more dance companies as they engage the Performance Garage for the presentation of their works.

Soon, we will announce a request for proposals to share the Performance Garage with another dance company who can share in the financial challenge to keep the building operating.  This is an important stabilizing factor so that the Performance Garage can continue to serve the dance community in Philadelphia.

7. Please elaborate more specifically what role the Performance Garage has played in the Philadelphia dance and Cultural community in the past few years.

Since we began to use the space for classes and rehearsals in 2003 over 110 independent local choreographers have rented the space to create new work, or conduct informal showings of their work.

Our classes have reached hundreds of school children K through adults, our free fifth grade matinees has exposed modern dance to kids from two charter schools, and we’ve conducted hundreds of free outreach classes to the disadvantaged kids in our surrounding neighborhood of Spring Garden.
The area surrounding the PG has become safe and developers have built houses, large condos projects, and plan to continue as soon as the economy makes it feasible.  Osteria Restaurant, voted number one in Philadelphia, has opened just two blocks away giving our audience a wonderful place to dine before or after performances.   I’m most pleased that our surrounding community of neighbors support us, both financially and emotionally as they exclaim how much they treasure having Jeanne Ruddy Dance and the Performance Garage in their neighborhood.

Jeanne Ruddy Dance 9th Concert Season
Opening Night
Wed, April 15, 7:30-Opening Night Gala to follow.*

Thurs, April 16, 8:00**
Fri, April 17, 8:00
Sat, April 18, 8:00
Sun Matinee, April 19, 2:00

Thurs. April 23, 8:00***
Fri, April 22, 11-12:00-Children’s Outreach Matinee,
Fri. April 24, 8:00
Sat. April 25, 8:00
Sun Matinee, April 26, 3:00

*April 15, Opening Night Gala at the Little Church Gallery with free valet parking ($175 per person for performance and following Gala)

** April 16, Post Performance Talk with choreographers, Jeanne Ruddy and Martha Clarke, moderated by Whit McLaughlin, Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories. (free with ticket)

*** April 23, Post Performance Dinner Call Rachel Iannotti, 215.569.4060, for reservations or more info, download invitation
(normal tickets for performance only may be purchased online)