and curious of why choices 
were 
made. 
I 
specifically 
remember, as a dancer, you’re 
very 
consumed 
with 
your 
individual 
performance 
or 
role. I wanted to expand 
my mindset but stay in the 
same art form. Directing is 
something I’ve always wanted 
to do; as a child, I was putting 
on shows in my garage and 
selling tickets for a quarter. 
Putting on a performance is 
something I’ve always done.
TMD: 
One 
of 
the 
choreographers you highlight 
in this fall program is Ohad 
Naharin, 
an 
artist 
you’ve 
worked with frequently. What 
has it been like working with 
him all these years?
GE: I’ve known Ohad for 
30 years and it gives me great 
satisfaction to have my dancers 
take part in such significant 
work. ‘Decadence Chicago,’ 
the 
piece 
choreographed 
especially for our company, 
is a wonderful journey from 
beginning to end.
TMD: Do you think it has 

become easier for your dancers 
to work with Naharin’s style 
over the years?
GE: 
Absolutely. 
We’ve 
performed so many of his 
works, between ‘Minus 16’ in 
2000 and ‘Decadence Chicago’ 
in 2018. In those 18 years, we’ve 
had a new work from Ohad 
every two or three years. That 
development and investment is 
wonderful to see.
TMD: 
Your 
second 
performance includes Emma 
Portner; what has it been 
like working with such an 
emerging artist?
GE: 
She’s 
incredibly 
imaginative. 
She’s 
recently 
got into a whole concept 
of 
environmental 
issues, 
so her participation in this 
evening includes her feelings 
towards the Earth, how to 
make it sustainable and how 
we treat each other through 
our 
connection 
with 
the 
Earth. I love finding new 
choreographers that are just 
at the brink of starting their 
career. Emma is now booming 
and is being sought after all 
over; she (has) dabbled in so 
many 
different 
areas already at 
such a young age.
TMD: 
Movement 
Art Is is also 
focused on our 
relationship with 
the environment. 
Would you say 
the combination 
of Emma Portner 
and 
Movement 
Art Is has made 
Saturday’s 
performance 
take 
on 
an 
environmental 
theme?
GE: Yes, it has. 
Movement 
Art 
Is 
participated 
in the Standing 
Rock Pipeline Protest, and 
they’re depicting the narrative 
they learned from an Indian 
tribe in North Dakota through 
their dance. It’s unusual to 
see these hip-hop artists (Jon 
Boogz and Lil Buck), known 

for their style of juking and 
popping and locking, to go into 
a creative narrative piece.
TMD: Do you think Third 
Coast Percussion has fit well 
with your company’s style?
GE: I’ve wanted to work with 
them for many years. We’re of 
like mind: We’re both open-
minded 
and 
collaborative. 
We’re flexible and can go with 
ideas that have been thrown 
out and enhance them instead.
TMD: 
As 
an 
artistic 
director, 
where 
does 
your 
inspiration come from?
GE: It comes from all over. 
It can be from a conversation, 
something I’ve read, a video, 
a movie. My intent artistically 
is 
to 
keep 
the 
company 
relevant. ‘What’s going on 
in the moment?’ is always 
something 
I 
ask 
myself. 
We’re forever evolving and 
changing — sometimes you hit 
the mark and sometimes you 
don’t. We’re an experimental 
company and we’re always 
going to be exploring what’s 
next.
TMD: 
What 
are 
you 
expecting from this Ann Arbor 
crowd?
GE: 
I’d 
like 
the 
public 
to 
walk away and 
still be thinking 
about the piece. 
I want them to 
feel 
something 
beyond just that 
moment. I don’t 
want 
them 
to 
leave and hear 
someone 
saying 
to their friend, 
‘What 
do 
you 
want to eat for 
dinner?’ 
They 
should 
still 
resonate with the 
work days after 
the performance.
***
“Two 
Different 
Programs” 
will 
run at the Power Center this 
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 
p.m. A free Q&A will follow 
both performances (you must 
have a ticket to the show to 
attend).

Art is a valuable source of 
individual expression, but it’s 
an equally important force 
for social change. Towering 
murals 
on 
the 
streets 
of 
Detroit, songs sung by political 
dissonants and defiant protest 
art 
painted 
onto 
cracked 
cardboard for the March for 
Our Lives are testaments to 
this. Hubbard Street Dance 
Chicago, in collaboration with 
the University Musical Society 
(UMS), returns to the Power 
Center this fall with “Two 
Different Programs,” to use 
contemporary dance as their 
personal appeal for action.
Hubbard 
Street 
Dance 
Chicago was founded in 1977 
and is in its 9th season under 
the artistic direction of Glenn 
Edgerton. The modern dance 
company molds their dance 
around changing social issues 
and is known for providing 
collaborative 
opportunities 

with up-and-coming artists. 
“Two Different Programs” is 
no exception.
Oct. 
19 
presents 
“Decadance/Chicago,” 
a 
collaboration 
with 
iconic 
Israel-based 
choreographer 
Ohad Naharin, known for his 
distinct gaga style of dance 
and his famous piece “Minus 
16.” Oct. 20 brings 23-year-
old viral choreographer Emma 
Portner and Movement Art 
Is, an organization that aims 
to use movement as a form of 
social education. Live music 
from Grammy-winning group 
Third Coast Percussion and a 
composition by Devonté Hynes 
adds an innovative touch to 
Saturday’s performance.
In a phone interview with 
The Daily, Glenn Edgerton 
further 
illuminated 
on 
Hubbard 
Street 
Dance 
Chicago’s fall program and his 
time as an artistic director.
***
The Michigan Daily: What 
makes Hubbard Street Dance 
Chicago unlike other dance 

companies?
GE: 
The 
dancers 
are 
incredible. 
They 
bring 
a 
beautiful sense of movement 
quality and technical ability, 
mixed with great imagination 
and 
thought-provoking 
intention. 
We 
also 
give 
opportunities 
to 
emerging 
choreographers, 
and 
this, 
mixed 
with 
our 
dancers, 
gives a great opportunity for 
choreographers 
to 
improve 
their imagination. But we’re 
not just a dance company: 
We have a huge education 
program. We also teach to 
autistic children and people 
with 
Parkinson’s. 
They’re 
dancers in their own right. 
These 
classes 
make 
our 
mission very satisfying; we feel 
like we’re making a difference 
in the dance world.
TMD: 
Given 
your 
prior 
background as a professional 
dancer with the Nederlands 
Dans Theater, what drew you 
to directing?
GE: As a dancer, I was 
always aware of my directors 

Artistic director Glenn Edgerton 
on Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

TRINA PAL
Daily Arts Writer

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

COURTESY OF TOD ROSENBERG

DAILY COMEDY COLUMN

Sense of humor is a funny 
thing. What makes me giggle 
might not make you giggle, 
and vice-versa. But your sense 
of humor is more than your 
obsession with “The Office” or 
your weirdly erotic attraction 
to 
Conan 
O’Brien. 
Your 
sense of humor comes from a 
deeper, more personal place. 
It materializes when you first 
learn to laugh at yourself. I 
like to believe the emergence 
of one’s sense of humor as a 
parallel journey with puberty. 
When you become a man or 
woman is when your first sense 
of humor develops. But like 
your body, your sense of humor 
is always changing. What you 
found funny in middle school 
may or may not be funny to you 
anymore, but if booger and fart 
jokes still get you going, more 
power 
to 
you. 
Experiences 
and time change what we find 
funny. Maybe your humor has 
gotten darker with age or maybe 
you find solace from the world 
with mindless bathroom humor. 
The great thing about a sense 
of humor is that it’s yours, and 
with the ever-expanding sphere 
of 
comedic 
content, 
you’re 
bound to find your funny.
My sense of humor surfaced 
with my first period. I have 
three 
older 
brothers 
and 
growing up in a house of boys 
was an interesting experience, 
to say the least. They once told 
me that I was born a boy but the 
Rabbi accidentally chopped off 
my whole penis during the bris, 
so my parents just decided to 
tell me I was a girl. So for a very 
long time, I thought my genitals 
were the result of a botched 
circumcision. But they meant 
well; they’ve always been super 
protective. 
They 
constantly 
offered to beat people up for me. 
They never acted on it, but they 
always offered. Like if a boy 
picked on me: Want me to beat 
him up for you? Or some girl 
kicked me off the slide: Want me 
to beat her up for you? Or I got 
a bad grade on a test: Want me 
to beat him up for you? I mean 

they never could have actually 
beat anyone up, they’re three 
lanky, beta, Jewish boys whose 
athletic ability is limited to ping 
pong and “Legend of Zelda,” but 
it’s the thought that counts. I 
love my brothers. I just wanted 
to paint a picture, set the scene 
for my first encounter with 

womanhood. Anyway, my first 
period obviously occurred while 
I was sitting on the new, pristine 
white living room couch, the 
one my mom just bought. I was 
watching TV, probably “Drake 
& Josh,” with my brother, 
and when I got up from that 
goddamn living room couch I 
was greeted by a massive pool of 
blood shaped like a lotus where 
my ass had been and I swear I 
thought my kidneys fell out. My 
brother just gave me this look 
of surprised disgust, and all he 
said was, “let’s flip the cushion.” 
I swear to this day, that was 
the nicest thing a man has ever 
said to me. At that moment all 
we could do was laugh, and 
we just looked at each other 
and cackled our hearts out. 
Well, I was mostly crying, but 
then I started to laugh. So, I 
think that’s when my sense of 
humor developed. To this day, 
that cushion has never been 
flipped. Just kidding! I told my 
mom a few minutes later, and 
she sent it to the cleaners, but 
there is still an ass-shaped stain 
that never fully came out. My 
brothers like to remind me of its 
presence every Thanksgiving 

and Rosh Hashanah. So that is 
an integral part of my sense of 
humor, the kind of situations 
that elicit tearful laughter or 
cackled cries.
But my sense of humor is 
also the content I have ingested 
over years and years of binge-
watching VCRs of Mel Brooks 
movies and “Seinfeld.” I was 
binge-watching before it was 
even a thing. I remember sitting 
way too close to the TV, my eyes 
probably burning from the rays 
of 
entertainment, 
watching 
“Young Frankenstein,” neighing 
with the horse every time 
someone 
uttered 
the 
name 
“Frau Blucher.” In that way, 
I guess my sense of humor is 
also like that of an old Jewish 
man, 
one 
who 
appreciates 
clever word play and good 
herring. Over fall break I got 
to see that formative film, 
“Young Frankenstein,” in the 
Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 
L.A. with Daily alum Emily Bice. 
Before the film screened, a video 
appeared of dear old Mel in his 
office, a plethora of E.G.O.T.s 
behind him. He wished he 
could be in the cemetery with 
us, alive of course. He told 
delightful stories of the film’s 
Marty Feldman (Igor) and his 
excellent 
peripheral 
vision. 
My heart swelled as I saw one 
of my comedic icons on the 
screen before me, as if he was 
talking to me and only me. I was 
hysterical, crying as if I’d seen 
the ghost of Johnny Ramone 
(fun fact: He is buried in the 
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 
and his tombstone is very rock 
‘n’ roll). I wiped my tears aside 
in time to see Gene Wilder 
stab his own leg with a scalpel. 
Anyway, my point is that your 
sense of humor is personal and 
unique and pretty damn terrific. 
Therefore, dear reader, I wish 
you the best of luck in finding 
your funny, whether it be in this 
column (it better be), on a stand-
up stage or in a network sitcom. 
Regardless, your sense of humor 
is yours to discover, enjoy the 
process and keep laughing.

Finding your funny

BECKY 
PORTMAN

Hubbard 
Street Dance 
Chicago

‘Two Different 
Programs’

Fri. Oct. 19 @ 8 
pm

Sat. Oct. 20 @ 
8 pm

Power Center

GA $36-75, 
Student $12-20

6A — Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

