""It's an enormous collection," Foulkes said. "What really struck me as I was going through the materials was the story was about the company. There are important people throughout, but the success and the dream of Joffrey was a company - and it's so unusual in ballet. Joffrey was a dancer and a choreographer. But as a very young person, he realized his real vision, talent and mission was going to be a dance company.""
"The show weaves a path along the perimeter of Wrightwood 659's second-floor gallery, beginning with a video scroll of every dancer who has ever been part of that company. A recreation of a panoramic image of the Joffrey company in their Wabash Avenue studios wraps the right wall, borrowed from a story in a 1996 issue of "Dance Magazine" about their move from New York to Chicago. A few aperitifs outside the main gallery lay out the exhibition's main priorities, presented as a series of questions as viewers get deeper in."
A retrospective drawn from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division brings the Joffrey Ballet archives to Wrightwood 659 in Chicago. Curator Julia Foulkes and former dancer Nicole Duffy reviewed more than 900 boxes and 5,000 reels of footage to identify central themes focused on the company rather than individuals. The exhibition traces company history with a video scroll of every dancer, a panoramic studio recreation, and introductory 'aperitifs' that pose core questions. The presentation highlights Joffrey's commitment to cultivating accessible ballet, restoring rarely seen 20th-century works, and taking bold artistic risks, including portraiture and historically informed costumes.
Read at Chicago Tribune
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