Destination downtown - University of Calgary

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DECID DYNA Toronto bassist George Koller and DJD dancer Kathryn Pollack explore the karmic interplay of cause and effect in Pivoting Echoes. Photos courtesy of DJD 8 OnCampus / University of Calgary
EDLY MIC U of C alumnae’s pastime marks two decades of success by Bob Blakey TWENTY YEARS AGO, it was a temporary, warm-weather pastime for three University of Calgary women. Now celebrating its 20th year with an ambitious season, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks is a staple of Calgary’s cultural scene. Indeed, DJD has come a long way from 1984, when U of C professor Vicki Adams Willis and former students Michèle Moss and Hannah Stilwell started rehearsing in borrowed quarters. “I thought it was a little summer project for students,” Willis recalls with laugh. Once the company took hold, Stilwell grew more optimistic – if only tentatively. “The three of us said, ‘Let’s give it 10 years,’ and in my mind I’m thinking, ‘Hah, we’ll be lucky if we last five.’” DJD now employs eight to 12 full-time professional dancers who perform two Calgary shows at the Max Bell Theatre each year and tour North America and abroad. It also operates Calgary’s largest dance school with more than 30 teachers and more than 1,000 students. But in that first summer, DJD had to settle for a more modest performance venue – the Dancers Studio West location at the old brewery building in Inglewood. Despite the modest beginning, Willis says the then-fledgling troupe “was absolutely blown away by the (patrons’) reception. We did 10 performances at the old DSW space and they were all sold out. We had such a good time doing it.” The creation of DJD in many ways filled a niche that was largely overlooked by the dance world. In the early 1980s, Willis – who had taught jazz courses at the U of C since 1978 – took a sabbatical to travel to the United States and Europe to research jazz history and contemporary interpretations. During the trip, however, she found little evidence of jazz dance. Soon after her return, she, Stilwell and Moss hatched their plan and began rehearsals on campus. Stilwell, like Willis, says DJD turned out to be an excellent example of the university putting something back into the community. “When we started the company, we used the rehearsal space there,” Stilwell says. “If we didn’t have that rehearsal space, we would have been hard-pressed to make anything happen. Vicki was able to do it as part of her role as a professor at the university. ” To this day, the U of C is the only university that offers a jazz program of dance in Canada and DJD remains strongly linked to the campus, Stilwell says. “The connection continues in many ways in that Michelle and I both teach at the university, and many of the U of C students also come to Decidedly Jazz and eventually become company members.” L to R: DJD dancer and choreographer Kimberley Cooper, DJD music director and pianist/percussionist Kristian Alexandrov, DJD dancer Ahmed Fernandez Hodelin, Canadian singing diva Julie Michels, Toronto bassist George Koller, and DJD dancer Kathryn Pollack March, 2004 9
Page 1 and 2: QUARTERLY Road warrior Second-gener
Page 3 and 4: DESTINATION DOWNTOWN Campus project
Page 5 and 6: A FINE BALANCE Course flexibility a
Page 7: RAISING THE BAR New plan will help
Page 11 and 12: Ludo Zanotto leans on a pile of asp
Page 13 and 14: Photo courtesy of the Faculty of Me
Page 15 and 16: SUICIDE SOLUTIONS Health workers ho

Destination downtown - University of Calgary

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