Premiering: Kerrie Korzatkowski-- 

Artistic Director, Korzatkowski Contemporary Dance

In the quiet of St. Gregory the Great’s auditorium, the oversized boom box appears to threaten her petite frame.  “I’ve tried the standard sized boom boxes and they just don’t work in big spaces like this,”  explains Kerrie Korzatkowski as she handles the stereo with ease. Company class has just ended and it’s the beginning of a long night coming off of a long day for Kerrie.  “I’ve been in meetings all day.  We’re in the process of taking over another dance studio.” She delivers the news with an easy smile and she is refreshingly upbeat.  By her looks, one would never know the juggling act she pulls off daily:  actor, choreographer, artistic director, teacher, studio owner, wife and business partner.

Kerrie gives last minute directions to her dancers before the dress-tech rehearsal for  KCD’s new work, Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts.  Klausen Hall is an intimate performance space in Chicago’s trendy Andersonville neighborhood and the home of Quest Theatre Ensemble, of which she is also a member.  “Quest is very supportive. It’s great to have a stage, but it’s also a lot of work.  Everything that you see here--the sets, the chairs the floor—comes down every Monday night for Tuesday Bingo.  It takes 6 hours for the change over crew of  6 to get it done, but if everyone in the show lent a hand, it only takes 2 to 3 hours.”

David Leef, dancer, comes to Kerrie for a costume check.  He will wear a black coat to make it evident that he is a preacher.   Kerrie gives her thumbs up.   “But really,” she turns to me, “back then no one wore anything special.  They were really everyday people.  Anybody could be a preacher.  Anybody could be a doctor.  The guy who could take and needle and thread and sew someone up would be the doctor.” 

Amid the clamoring of sound checks for music, microphones and the ruckus of fight scenes, Kerrie and I settle into a corner. We have a lovely chat, among other things, about life in dance,  pioneers and prisoners, “dance-dance” in Chicago, acquiring other people’s stuff and Santaland at Macy’s.

On owning dance studios:

“It’s kind of this weird thing.  I keep acquiring other people’s stuff.    Someone offered me their studio in Iowa so I ran it for four years while I was at the University of Iowa.  Someone offered me their studio after I taught a master class in Oregon.  And when I decided to move back to Chicago from New York, it happened again.  The first time it happened I thought, this is the most amazing thing that could ever happen.  Now, it’s just ridiculous! I just have this weird magnetism to people who want me to take over!”  Kerrie is in the midst of taking over yet another dance studio in Elmwood Park.

On pioneers and prisoners:

“Part of my fascination with this project is that I did a lot of work in women’s prisons.  I was so moved by the universality and the humanity or lack of humanity sometimes and how we’re really all the same.  I wanted to do something about women.  As a little girl I always wanted to be an explorer.  I thought, what an amazing thing, to have wide open land and just explore.  And I started reading this book of journal entries by pioneer women.  It was history that you couldn’t put down.  It all clicked.  We made a story about these people.  And the project didn’t end up being what I researched necessarily, or intended.  It evolved into its own thing.  And I’m very, very happy it’s taken its own life.”  Will the dance live on past this moment?  Or will it be like many dance pieces, kind of a thing that happens and just goes away.  “That’s what makes me happy about this work.  I wanted to make something meaty, that you can hold on to.  I’m hoping it will be able to tour to public schools with a curriculum.  It’s real life and the music is such American music.  The fact that it’s only 35 minutes is perfect for school programming.”

On making her own way:

“When I was growing up, I always thought, why aren’t I getting that special treatment that the best dancer always gets in class?  But I didn’t feel sorry for myself.  I did my own lyrical dances.  I guess I was doing modern dance before I knew I was doing modern dance.”  Kerrie grew up in Chicago and received a BFA in Theater Arts with an Emphasis in Dance at Northern Illinois University, but dance has taken her to Paris, Iowa City and New York City among others.  “My last not-normal job in NYC was being the manager at Santaland at Macy’s.  Did you ever read David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries?  That was my life.”  She met her now husband David in NYC.  “Forevermore actually started off, before we ever had a dance studio, as a theater company.  I had a friend who was getting married in Southern Texas and I knew I couldn’t afford any airfare.  David and I were getting serious and he wanted to introduce me to his family who lived all over the country.  Here’s where we started brainstorming.  Let’s make a show and tour!  I can teach workshops!  And we can make it happen!  We pushed and it wasn’t exactly what we imagined, but we made it happen.”

On classical modern dance:

“I’ve been feeling a little isolated in the Chicagoland dance community.  Some of the smaller festivals didn’t accept me because I’m too established.  I’m like, I’m not established.  I’m a brand new company!  I’ve been told by another woman that she didn’t think that her audience would appreciate my type of movement…although she can appreciate the technical lyricism of it.  So feeling like there isn’t a place for me in Chicago.  And yet, there’s that other part of me saying, you don’t have to have someone hold your hand.  You can do it.   This piece for me is ironic, I guess.  Pioneer women doing the type of dance early modern dance companies did.  I would be flattered to be recognized for this type of movement.  I studied this in college because it’s beautiful and part of our history and I think it’s OK to make classical work.  And yet it’s really not because it’s coming from me and it’s my own movement and technique that I’m teaching.  Part of modern dance is that it’s supposed to be different and I feel like here, in Chicago,  it’s becoming a lot of the same.  And yet I don’t fit in because I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing.”  She smiles.  “But what I’m doing is more traditional.”

On “dance-dance” and the future of KCD:

“Something that was said last year by the curator of Around the Coyote was “it seems like people are now starting to do dance-dance”.  She considers what my company is doing is dance-dance, but in a respectful way.  To me that’s a compliment.  It’s really hard to take class and to stand on one leg and to jump and move through space.  To not get to share that with an audience?  Well, that’s what makes it an art form.  But that’s also opening up a whole other can of worms, because I do believe that anybody can do modern dance and that there is beauty in pedestrian movement.  But there’s also, when you get to the level of concert dance, they’re artists:  Highly trained professionals that need a chance to showcase their skills.  So that’s what I’m wanting to do.  And I see myself, at least for the first 10 years, as a launching pad for people who will move into bigger companies.  A place to step out into the world.  I’m very willing to work with people to help them get to the next level.  That’s the educator in me.  But my dream is to find a few people that click and make it happen with me.  I want a team collaboration and a group that can grow together.”

 

For more information on KDC go to http://www.kcdinfo.com

The Questival of New Works
Dance Theater. A Dramatic One Act. A One-Man Show.

July 20th-August 17th
Thursdays and Sundays @ 7:30pm
Klasen Hall
1609 West Gregory
Chicago, IL  60640
312-458-0895 or e-mail info@questensemble.org for reservations!

"Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts…"

Inspired by the music of Stephen Foster,  Traditional Hymns and autobiographical accounts written by pioneer women in the book Pioneer Women:  Voices from the Kansas Frontier, by Joanna L. Stratton.  This heartfelt dance-drama recounts the journey of a pioneer family coping with life in the wilderness while celebrating the love and friendships developed through building community.
Conceived by Kerrie Korzatkowski* & David Korzatkowski*
Choreography by Kerrie Korzatkowski*
Featuring: Candace Cavallaro, Steven Kellert, Maria Cancilla, Catherine Decker, Shawn A. Rawls, Christina Marie Beile, Jennifer De Muth, David Leef, David Korzatkowski*

"Funeral on a Friday"
By Andrew Behling
Directed by David M. Korzatkowski*
Featuring: Steven Kellert, Paul Fagen*, Richard Banden* & Kerrie Korzatkowski*

"Why, Stepmother?" A One-Man Show                  
By Josh Hoover*
Directed by Tony Noice
Featuring Josh Hoover*

*Denotes Quest Ensemble Member

AND ALSO...
If you haven't already seen Pinocchio! 
We encourage you to make it a QUEST WEEKEND!
The People's Pinocchio
Running now until August 20th
Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm
Sundays @ 2:00pm
questensemble.org

 

Leni@ChicagoDanceSupply.com

07/24/06