Little mortal jump
Music
Beirut (“A Call to Arms” and “La Banlieue”), Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire (“Beware”), Alexandre Desplat (“See How They Fall—Dans Les Champs De Ble” and “A Self-made Hero—Theme de Heroes”), Philip Glass (“Glassworks/Analog: Orange Mountain Music Archive: Closing”), Hans Otte (“Wassermannmusik), Max Richter (“The Haunted Ocean 5” and “November”), Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan (“Fawn”)
Choreography
Alejandro Cerrudo
Staging
Ana Lopez & Pablo Piantino
Scenic Design
Alejandro Cerrudo
Costume Design
Branimira Ivanova
Lighting Design
Michael Korsch
Duration
26 minutes
Premiere
March 15, 2012; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere
March 18, 2016
The 2016 Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere of Alejandro Cerrudo’s Little mortal jump was generously underwritten by Jeffrey and Susan Brotman
Program Notes
Little mortal jump, resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo’s tenth piece for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, is a bubbling blend of different styles and genres that distills into a fluid, cohesive whole. As a dance, it fuses the technicality of movement, the theatricality of the stage, and the dark humor inherent in relationships. As an experience, Cerrudo aims to transport his audience—to “make them forget what they did today, and what they will do tomorrow,” he says. From cubes that serve as frames and obstructions to diversely characterized couples to vastly contrasting music, Little mortal jump is layered with unexpected twists and turns. This work is a step in the evolution of Cerrudo’s choreographic style, of which he says, “I challenge myself to create more complex works and to do things that I haven’t done before.”
Notes courtesy of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Artist Biographies
Branimira Ivanova
Costume Designer
Branimira Ivanova is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (MFA in Theater Design- Costume Design) and the International Academy of Design and Technology (BFA in Fashion Design). She is a Chicago-based designer working with local, national, and international companies such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Breakbone Dance Company, National Portuguese Ballet, and Introdans, NI, among others. She has worked with distinguished choreographers, including Lucas Crandall, Toru Shimazaki, Margueritte Donlon, Lauri Stallings, and Gustavo Ramirez Sansano. Ms. Ivanova was a 2010 Jeff Award nominee for best costume design in Lifeline Theater’s production of Wuthering Heights and, in 2009, for Treasure Island. Her work was part of the United States National Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial World Stage Expo in 2007. In addition to her work as a costume designer, she also runs a minimalist contemporary sportswear clothing company, HOI Clothing.
Michael Korsch
Lighting Designer
Michael Korsch is a lighting, projection, and scenic designer based in Philadelphia, where he earned his BA in theater at Temple University. He has created hundreds of visual designs for dance, theater, and other live performances around the world. Mr. Korsch has been the resident lighting designer and technical director for Complexions Contemporary Ballet since 1998, the resident lighting designer for Ballet Arizona since 2001, and the lighting and technical director for the Laguna Dance Festival since 2005. He has also designed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, BalletMet, BalletX, Charlotte Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Disney Creative Entertainment, English National Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, and Washington Ballet, among others.
Ana Lopez
Stager
Ana Lopez began her formal training at Conservatorio de Danza Diputacion de A Coruña. Upon graduating Isaac Diaz Pardo High School, she continued her training at Centro Internacional de Danza Carmen Roche. Lopez danced with Joven Ballet Carmen Roche, with Compañía Nacional de Danza 2 in works by Nacho Duato and Tony Fabre, and at Ballet Theater Munich under the directorship of Philip Taylor. From 2008 to 2019 she danced with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago where she performed works by choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Jorma Elo, Alejandro Cerrudo, and many others. She was named one of Dance Magazineʼs “25 to Watch” in 2012, and in 2017 she was invited to perform in Daniil Simkinʼs Falls the Shadow, a site-specific work choreographed for the Guggenheim Rotunda and commissioned by Work & Process.
Pablo Piantino
Stager
Pablo Piantino began dancing at the age of 14. His training included private work with Hector Zaraspe and he also studied and performed at both the Colon Theatre School and The Julliard School, where he received his BFA. Mr. Piantino joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1999 and became a member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in August 2005.