In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Juilliard’s Dance Division, Juilliard alum and world-renowned choreographer Lar Lubovitch will be presenting a work on the February concert. Thus is All, set to music by Mozart, is a piece originally created in 1998 consisting of two duets, a solo, and several group sections.

Lar Lubovitch. (Photo by Jack Mitchell)

Born in Chicago, Lubovitch attended Iowa State University, focusing on becoming a painter. During this time he saw the José Limón Company perform and realized that he wanted to change his artistic focus. After a summer of dancing at Connecticut College, Lubovitch was accepted to The Juilliard School, where he was awarded a full scholarship. While he was still in school he danced with many companies in New York, including those of Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, and Glen Tetley, before going overseas to dance with the Harkness Ballet. It was during his time at Harkness when he realized that he “wanted to choreograph very seriously.” In 1968 he returned to New York and formed his own company.

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Lubovitch has created well over 50 dances for the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, as well as choreographed for several Broadway shows including The Red Shoes and The King and I, to name a few. His work has been seen on the stage and on screen, performed by his own company as well as others that have included the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, and Netherlands Dance Theater. This very talented artist also has experience in choreographing for ice dancing.

It was during my second year at Juilliard when I first worked with Mr. Lubovitch. He was setting another one of his works on the Juilliard Dance Ensemble for the February concert. From the very first phrase of movement we learned, I fell in love with his style. His work is always recognizable, with its distinctive seamless fluidity. I find his choreography to be a wonderful combination of classical cleanliness, with a great use of the torso and a focus on weighted moves. Huge sweeping, circular movements of one step flowing into the next make it a dream to dance. In fact, when watching his work, one often has the feeling that his dancers resemble figures skating on ice.

The Spring Dance concerts take place from Thursday, February 21 through Sunday, February 24 in the Juilliard Theater. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 at the Juilliard Box Office; TDF available.

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company members in Lubovitch's Concerto Six Twenty-Two. (Photo by Jack Mitchell)

Upon graduating from Juilliard last May, I was fortunate enough to join the Lubovitch company for its New York season at City Center. In fact, out of 14 dancers in the company, seven of us were Juilliard alumni! The combination of ballet and modern training that Juilliard provides produces versatile dancers who are generally just plain good movers. It is my experience that choreographers nowadays look for that versatility in dancers. In fact, Mr. Lubovitch had this to say about his company: “All of my dancers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and none of them resemble each other in technique. The important thing is that they’re all incredibly fine dancers. That’s where I start from as a choreographer. For me, it’s dancing first. I don’t call it modern and I don’t call it classical. I like dancing to be an experience.”

It is no wonder, then, that so many of his company members came from Juilliard. Juilliard is a sea of highly talented, unique individuals. Not a single dancer in the Division is the same as another. When put on stage, they look uniform when necessary, but you still see personalities. Make sure to come to this very special February concert to join in our 50th-anniversary celebration and experience the work of one of the most gifted and successful choreographers in the contemporary dance world.

Elisa Clark earned her B.F.A. from Juilliard  in  2001.

		Throughout this school year, The Juilliard Journal is running a series of articles in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Dance Division. Recent articles are available online. Juilliard Dances! Video clips from past Dance Division performances, including excerpts from Parsons Etude (David Parsons, choreographer); Intimate Voices (Igal Perry); and Rapture (Lila York), can be seen on the Juilliard Web site.