Out of This World
Former Joffrey Star, Evanston Dance Ensemble Launch 'Space Odyssey'

By Victoria Scott

Béa Rashid (left), founder and artistic director of the Evanston Dance Ensemble, gives young dancers the chance to collaborate with proffessionals such as Ariel Cisneros (right) of Evanston.

Though he has spent a good part of his 38 years honing his ballet technique, it is not the secret of the perfect pirouette Ariel Cisneros wants to pass along to young dancers.

"I want to share my passion," says the Cuban-born ballet star, a former dancer with the National Ballet of Cuba and the Joffrey Ballet.
Audiences and dancers alike will get a glimpse of that excitement when Mr. Cisneros appears as Mercury in the Evanston Dance Ensemble (EDE) production of "Space Odyssey: The New Solar System in Dance," March 16-18.

Two moons of Uranus rest in the graceful hands of a young EDE company member.

In rehearsals the 33 young members of EDE have had a chance to interact with, as well as observe, Mr. Cisneros. Such collaboration is one of her reasons for staging such productions, says Béa Rashid, EDE founder and artistic director.

Julia Denardo, a nine-year veteran of EDE at age 18, says her exposure to professionals over the years has given her a "rounded perspective on dance." As for Mr. Cisneros, she says, the company was "smitten by how passionate he was."

Not only is he a "beautiful dancer," she says, "but he has an infectious energy. He is a great influence on us."

EDE, now celebrating its 10th season, is a company of 12- to 18-year-old dancers selected from among the hundreds who attend Ms. Rashid’s Dance Center Evanston (DCE). Chosen at spring auditions, EDE members commit to both a rigorous class schedule and, from August through the end of March, rehearsals for two productions.

A former Joffrey performer who trained in his native Cuba, Ariel Cisneros portrays the planet Mercury in EDE's production of "Space Odyssey," March 16-18.

Most company members take classes - ballet, jazz and modern dance are required - five or six days a week. Instruction and rehearsals keep EDE members dancing 15 hours a week, says Ms. Rashid.
The result, says Mr. Cisneros, is a group of dancers who "show very professional behavior."

Their dedication must look familiar to the dancer who was chosen at age 10 to enter the arts school in his hometown of Santiago, Cuba. By 14 he had moved to the Professional School of the Arts in Camaguey,

Cuba’s "second most important city for art," he says, and the destination for arts students from eastern Cuba, as Havana is for students from the western part of the island.

Before graduating at 17, Mr. Cisneros had studied not just ballet, but art history, music (including piano performance), French and such dance forms as character, historical and folk. "It is like a college," says Mr. Cisneros of his education.

He practiced every day of the week. "I was in the studio even on Sunday," he says, "working on strength and flexibility." He went on to dance with the National Ballet of Cuba and then in Brazil (where he married his wife, Graça).

He came to the United States in 1996 on contract with the Cleveland Ballet, having been rejected for a visa six times previously. From 2004 till 2006, he danced in Chicago with the Joffrey.

Now an Evanston resident, Mr. Cisneros finds his new schedule as dance teacher and guest artist allows him more family time. He takes classes Monday through Friday with his wife, Graça Sales, ballet mistress for Luna Negra and a teacher at Ballet Chicago.

As director of a Racine, Wis., ballet school, Mr. Cisneros tells his students, "You aren’t necessarily born with talent; you have to want [to dance]. Then nothing is impossible." He adds, "I tell kids who say, ‘I don’t have the flexibility,’ I was like that."

The role of Mercury promises to showcase Mr. Cisneros’ skills. Choreographed by former San Francisco Ballet dancer Roberta Pfeil-Begley, the dance features what Mr. Cisneros calls "very intense jumps and turns." Ms. Rashid describes it as "stamina-challenging." As in other "Space Odyssey" dances, science meets mythology in this portrait of Mercury, swift-footed messenger to the gods.

The myths on which so many famous ballets are based figured large in Mr. Cisneros’ Cuban education. He still recalls the thrill of traveling outside his country for the first time, dancing in Greece in an outdoor arena overlooking the sea that inspired the original "Odyssey" by Homer.

"Space Odyssey" transports the audience even farther. First performed, appropriately, in 2001, the show employs props and dramatic lighting to bring the nine planets - still including Pluto - to life.

Balls of different sizes become the 15 moons of Uranus; giant elastic bands, the rings of Saturn; dry ice, the sea from which the goddess Venus arises. Ms. Rashid’s husband, Steve, composed the original score. The photos of Chris Ash, shot from the Hubbell telescope and projected onto a large screen, further enhance the production.

But the most compelling feature of the performance should be the dancers themselves. Among the company members are six graduating seniors. Julia is looking to double-major in dance and humanities in college. But whether or not they choose a dance major, Ms. Rashid predicts "all of them are likely to have dance as part of their lives."

And while Mr. Cisneros appreciates the opportunity to work with the young dancers of the EDE in his second guest role (he was Aslan in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"), Ms. Rashid waxes emotional about her long-term relationship with many of them. "We get to experience them for years," she says.

Tickets for "Space Odyssey: The New Solar System in Dance" are available for $15 for children under 18 and $21 for adults at Skokie’s North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 847-673-6300.

Dawes Students Celebrate Black History Month With Artist in Residence

Evanston resident and theatre educator/artist Lynne Pace Green (pictured) has just completed a drama residency with Dawes School's second-grade classrooms funded through a grant received by the Evanston Arts Council. In honor of Black History Month the residency focused on African folktales and culminated with performances March 1 and 2. Students Isiah Walker and Sara Herrera take part in their performance of African folktales, music and dance. The project was developed by drama director Ms. Pace Green and music teacher Stephanie Abudeyeh.
Photo by Nancy Snyder

'The Thirteenth Tale'

A Book Review By Sue Brooke

"The Thirteenth Tale," by Diane Setterfield, is a fast-paced, entertaining, slightly gothic novel set in contemporary times. The author lives in Yorkshire, England and writes descriptively of the moors.

In this story twin girls grew up in a large manor house with rich but neglectful and then absent parents. Their only guidance came from a loyal, aging housekeeper who stayed on even after all the rest of the staff left. She could barely keep up with the essentials, such as cooking, so the house began to fall apart. The only other adult around was the gardener, who was a bit younger, but he too had his hands full with the huge gardens. The twin girls were always a bit odd and mostly just talked to each other in a strange, invented twin language.

When they were 15 years old, there was a fire and things changed.

As this story begins, an aging, famous author who has been a recluse all of her life, never divulging anything about her past, has asked Maggie, a young spinster woman to come to her home and write her biography. Maggie's father owns and runs a small rare book store and Maggie spends her days in the shop reading and shelving the books. She and her father are very close but she keeps a distance from her mother.

Maggie has recently discovered by accident that she was born one of a set of twins conjoined at the chest, and in order to save her life the doctors terminated the life of her twin. Maggie resents that her mother never told her the truth. Now she understands why she has always felt that something was missing - like a part of her own self. So when she is told that she will be writing about Miss Winters' life and that Miss Winters was one of these twins, she agrees to come live with her and hear her story.

Miss Winters begins her story thus:

"I shall start at the beginning. Though of course the beginning is never where you think it is. Our lives are so important to us that we tend to think the story of them begins with our birth. First there was nothing, then I was born.... Yet that is not so. Human lives are not pieces of string that can be separated out from a knot of others and laid out straight. Families are webs. Impossible to touch one part of it without setting the rest vibrating. Impossible to understand one part without having a sense of the whole."

This book is beautifully written and will keep the reader enthralled to the end.

Connect With Evanston's Arts Community

Anyone interested in volunteering with Evanston's dynamic arts community is invited to gather at the Piccolo Theatre, 600 Main St., from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 15 to meet Evanston's arts leaders and learn how volunteering can be satisfying and surprisingly painless. Participants will hear candid stories from local board members and volunteers, assess their relevant skills and roll up their sleeves in a lively drumming session with local favorite, S.O.U.L. Creations.

The evening will culminate with informal networking between potential volunteers and representatives from local nonprofit arts organizations.The evening is presented by the Evanston Community Foundation; R.S.V.P. by calling the Evanston Community Foundation at 847-492-0990. The entry to the Piccolo Theatre is on Washington Street, one block south of Main Street.

Children's Choir Fundraiser

The Evanston Children's Choir will present its third annual Fundraiser Feast from noon to 2 p.m. on March 24 at MacLeish Hall of Lake Street Church, 607 Lake St. There will be a potluck for the entire family and live music by both the ECC main and junior choirs, a silent auction, a raffle and more. Admission is $15 for adults; $10 for students/seniors; $5 for kids 12-17 and free for kids under 12. For tickets, contact Gary Geiger at 847-733-0814 or gary@evanstonchildrenschoir.org. The event is wheelchair accessible. A portion of all proceeds will be sent to New Orleans to benefit child victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Eye on Evanston

A Wasted Opportunity

By John Macsai

The strongest criticism ever expressed in this column was the article "Seen Everything," Sept. 8, 2004, when I reviewed the apartment building proposed for 1567 Maple Ave. Mine was one of many objections, including that of Design Evanston, an organization of design professionals. The architects, FitzGerald Associates, changed the design of this historical "smorgasbord" to a more palatable, but still poor, modern facade.

The same architectural firm designed two additional, equally controversial, high-rises; both were unanimously rejected by Design Evanston. The first, at the corner of Emerson Street and Oak Avenue, was criticized for its bulk as well as lack of affordable units. (The developer offered to donate to the City's affordable housing fund but not nearly enough in dollars).

The other building, to the east on Emerson Street, was also criticized for its bulk. Neither building, in the opinion of Design Evanston, had redeeming aesthetic merit. They lacked elegance and design quality.

At a recent meeting of Design Evanston, we listened to a presentation by the City of the proposed design guidelines for West Evanston, an urban development strip to replace the abandoned rail line from Greenleaf to Simpson streets. These guidelines are an excellent idea that needs to be finalized quickly so that developers can know what is expected of them.

After this presentation, Design Evanston reviewed a proposal by Cyrus Homes for the section of West Evanston between Foster and Emerson streets. This includes townhouses, three-story walk-ups (six-flats) and a five-story mid-rise with commercial space on the first floor; a total of 139 units.

This is a great idea and Cyrus should be encouraged. The problem is again the design quality, and the architects are once more the FitzGerald firm.

The site plan is unimaginative, awkward and full of unsolved problems. It has major traffic difficulties; it puts too many townhouses in a row without solving the problem of garbage removal; it attempts rigid symmetry but then violates that symmetry; it attempts to resuscitate obsolete housing types such as six-flats with narrow alleyways. To summarize, the site plan is poorly thought out.

For Design Evanston members, it was most frustrating that there was no one from FitzGerald at the meeting. Because we work with clients, we know that there are underlying compromises and decisions on every project.

The purpose of Design Evanston is not to be adversarial, but to encourage and support, and, as much as possible, ensure, projects that Evanstonians can live with comfortably after the builder and architects leave town.

To be able to discuss problems, hear why some issues were decided as they were, and to have the back-and-forth exchange that might solve some of the problems, benefits everyone.

No architect wants to leave a bad reputation behind them, if for no other reason than that there may well be another project down the road.

Whatever the arrangement is between FitzGerald and Cyrus, it is hard to accept what seems to be a lack of interest on the side of the architect. It is hard to believe that Cyrus has purposely kept them away to save money or that Cyrus wants to play designer.

Ultimately, unfortunately, it is the City of Evanston that is shortchanged, as another great opportunity is wasted.

'Reno 911: Miami'

A Film Review By Brian Murphy

As a fan of the Comedy Central show "Reno 911," a faux send-up of the long-running reality show "Cops," I wish I could recommend the film, "Reno 911: Miami." Unfortunately, the comedy is less inventive - less "Borat" - than required to justify a full-length feature-film, as opposed to a straight-to-video product or, better, watching four episodes of the hilarious spoof back to back.

Co-created by members of the underrated 1994 MTV sketch comedy series, "The State," including Ben Garant (Deputy Travis Junior), Kerri Kenney (Deputy Trudy Wiegel) and Thomas Lennon (Lieutenant Jim Dangle) "Reno 911: Miami" has most of the elements of the television show, a few of the elements of a movie (slightly higher production values, including bigger explosions and some non-digital video cameras), and a jumbled, inane plot with which to connect the assembled skits.

The hapless "Police Academy"-like squad is invited to Miami for the American Police Convention, but are unable to attend due to a scheduling error. After a bio-terrorist attack renders the 2000-plus law enforcement officials attending the Miami convention, including the entire Miami PD, quarantined, the clueless Reno Keystone Cops are forced into duty.

Inept though they are, suave Deputy Jones (Cedric Yarbrough), ornery Deputy Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui), oversexed Deputy Johnson (Wendi McLendon-Covey), no-nonsense Deputy Williams (Niecy Nash), possible lesbian Deputy Kimball (Mary Birdsong), et al., are put in charge of finding the terrorists responsible, an antidote for the afflicted officers, and patrolling the streets and beaches of Miami - an impossible task for a squad that could barely patrol the streets of Reno.

Mr. Garant's uneven direction, along with a suspect plot structure (or lack of one altogether) written by Garant, Lennon and Kenney, results in a disjointed narrative more suited to a continuing television series.

Cameos by stars The Rock and Danny DeVito are wasted, while bit parts by an array of improvisational and stand-up comics, including David Koechner ("Anchorman"), Patton Oswalt, Paul Rudd ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and former members of "The State" add a much-needed diversion from the pointless narrative.

"Reno 911," in both film and television, works best when the cops stick to patrolling the beat. The biggest laughs in the film occur during 911 calls - to a back yard with a seemingly dead alligator in a pool, an actual dead whale winding up on a beach, and whenever a recurring character, Terry (stand-up comic Nick Swardson, as a roller-skating male prostitute), agitates our flustered "heroes," prompting very unprofessional behavior.

Without the forced, movie-dictated narrative, the characters' sexual tension, madcap antics and the uneasy grasp of responsibility could have had more screen-time to flourish. Scenes that work while playing out in the context of a film, like the mutual "self-fulfillment" gag that works best as a long take, are rare. Instead, we get flaccid delivery, prolonged gags and not enough of the cops doing what they do worst (and funniest) - answering the calls of America's bizarre citizens.

Sketch comedy, more often than not, does not translate well to the big screen. "Reno 911: Miami" is proof of that. In fact, their improvised scenes of dialogue are some of the few aspects that do work. In contrast, improvisational actors such as Will Ferrell succeed because they begin with a concrete script on which they improvise while the cameras roll. Hopefully, Lennon, Kenney and Garant will either let the free-flow of comedy reign on their next attempt, or put the reins on it.

1 hr 24 min. Rated R for sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language and drug use.

Zodiac

A Film Review By Joe Linstroth

David Fincher's new thriller, "Zodiac," follows the case notes of the maddening investigation into a series of murders that may have been the work of the infamous serial killer who terrorized the Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Featuring gritty directing and a fine cast, "Zodiac" builds suspense in the early going. As the case goes cold, however, so does the film, and the momentum eventually slows to a trot by the end of its two-hour-and-forty-minute running time.

The film retraces the harrowing crimes of the Zodiac killer through the eyes of three men who become obsessed with finding him. Jake Gyllenhaal puts his wide-eyed look to good use as Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle whose meticulous book served as the guide for the film.

Robert's drawings take a backseat to solving the killer's coded messages, and he watches from the sidelines at first as the newspaper's ace investigative reporter, Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), picks up the trail. Leading the police investigation is Inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), a hardened veteran detective who was the real-life inspiration for Steve McQueen's "Bullitt."

The killer taunts them with coded messages, notes left at the crime scenes, and threatening phone calls. He forces a curfew on an entire metropolitan area and threatens to shoot out a school bus (inspiring "Dirty Harry"), saying he will "pick off the kiddies one by one." The three men step on each other's toes and slowly start to unravel as the leads turn into dead ends, the handwriting analyses prove inconclusive, and all correspondence from the killer stops.

The performances are solid. Robert Downey Jr. is brilliant as the pompous, ascot-wearing reporter who eventually drowns himself in booze, managing to fall from grace smoothly and subtly, as if his character had planned it. Jake Gyllenhaal's naive earnestness lends itself to his character, an obsessed former Eagle Scout who breathes life into the investigation after everyone else gives up, and Mark Ruffalo finally shows he can enunciate clearly and is capable of eye contact.

Mr. Fincher tells us at the beginning that the film is based on actual case notes. As he recreates the murders - first a couple in a car parked on lover's lane, then another couple on a picnic in Napa, and finally a cab driver in San Francisco - the knowledge that this is how his victims actually died adds a layer of frightening empathy to the suspense.

But this attention to detail also distances us from the characters. As the murders stop and the leads dry up, the documentary style Fincher employs leaves the film without much to invest in emotionally. By sticking to the facts, he avoids getting into the psychological motivations of the killer, and the motivations of his pursuers are not developed enough to carry the film through the meandering second half.

Without a definitive conclusion to the murders (the crimes are still unsolved), and with the main characters merely looking more stressed than when they began, "Zodiac" ends with a whimper, feeling more like a stylish, well-acted reenactment of real - life events than a movie.

2hrs 40min Rated R for violence, language, and adult themes.

Evanston Has a New Energy Code, But Will It Be Enforced?

A Guest Essay by Ellen Galland of Rockwell Associates

Since last May, all new construction and remodeling in Evanston has had to comply with two new building codes: the State of Illinois Energy Conservation Code and the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code.

Along with the previously adopted International Residential Code and the International Building Code, they are consolidated as Evanston's Energy Code.

This new code, rather than addressing traditional life-safety items, focuses on energy efficiency.

Though the new code provides a good framework for Evanston's aspirations toward sustainability, as yet the City is lagging in means of enforcement. It is at present a code with no teeth.

Traditionally building code enforcement tackles such life- safety items as emergency exits, structural conditions, light and ventilation, stair railings and mechanical systems. The climate- change crisis raises the importance of an energy code - and its enforcement - to the level of traditional concern with life safety.

Buildings in the United States annually consume more than 30 percent of the total energy and 60 percent of the electrical energy used in the country. They comprise the largest energy-consuming and greenhouse-gas-emitting sector of the economy.

The goal of the energy code is to achieve a tight, energy-efficient shell by mandating higher levels of insulation, among other things, and within the shell, to ensure that mechanical equipment provides heat or air conditioning in the most energy-efficient way.

Implementation of some of the code's requirements may cost more up front but will result in long-term cost savings. In the face of climate change and declining natural resources, the implementation of this code will ultimately benefit everyone.

Purchasers of buildings in Evanston assume that the buildings have been inspected to meet code requirements - that the construction work was done properly and in accordance with all applicable codes.

Homeowners and/or purchasers should be able to trust that if something is addressed in the code, it has been inspected. They do not expect to have problems later on. A building that does not perform well reflects poorly on the City.

However, the City's Building Division currently has no staff assigned to enforce the energy code. Although a building must be designed to comply, there is no one on site to ensure that compliance.

If Evanston is committed to sustainability, the City needs an energy code plan reviewer and an inspector to follow up in the field. Most suburbs already have full-time inspectors, especially for insulation.

Evanston is on its way to becoming a model sustainable community. Mayor Morton has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

A Sustainability Programs Coordinator, who will be appointed soon, will facilitate the City's commitment to sustainability.

The City should now take another step in that direction by providing the means to enforce its Energy Code.

A Primer on Insulation
The focus on increased energy efficiency has affected the insulation field in a big way.

In addition to batts, blown-in blanket systems and spray urethane foam are being used to achieve the higher insulation values required by the Energy Code.

For more insulation information see: www.eere.energy.gov, www.astroinsulation.com, www.bibca.org.

A Primer on Compliance Tools
What are Comcheck (commercial buildings) and Rescheck (residential buildings)?

They are computerized energy analyses developed by the Department of Energy and are used by building professionals and code enforcement officials to achieve compliance with the Energy Code. They take into account the overall building "envelope" and its systems when determining whether a project complies with the Energy Code. Trade-offs are possible using this approach, so that, for example, if the required amount of insulation in a roof will not fit in a cathedral ceiling, the high efficiency of the mechanical equipment used may be allowed to offset this. It is as though an overall efficiency value for the whole structure is determined.

www.energycodes.gov/rescheck

"Freedom Writer" Tells His Story at ETHS

At the age of 15 Manuel Scott dropped out of high school. He had a .6 GPA and no motivation to further his education. He returned to school in hopes of being the first person in his family to get a diploma. With the help of teacher Erin Gruwell, Mr. Scott graduated with a 3.9 GPA and went on to attend University of California, Berkely.

In 1998, 150 students at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Cal. began journaling their life stories. The "freedom writers" used their writing to help them change the way they lived and their ideas about education. Last Friday, writer Manuel Scott came to Evanston Township High School to share his own story and what it was like to see his story told in the 2007 film "Freedom Writers."

This success story is similar to that of all the "freedom writers" who kept anonymous diaries in Ms. Gruwell's classroom to tell about the crime, drug use, death and abandonment they had experienced in their young lives.

There are kids growing up with drug addicted parents, are involved in gangs or have seen their best friends killed, as he did. What some of them don't realize, he says, is that education can help them create a better life.

"I tell [my story] because I believe I had to go through it for somebody else," he says. "I got through it and you can, too. The key to success is going to be education. ...they can take away everything, but they can't take away what's in here [pointing to his head]."

Mr. Scott told the students stories of growing up in a dangerous neighborhood, saying that people were fighting over land that didn't belong to them.

"Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, out there killing each other," for what was never theirs, he says.

One female student said she sees the same "fight" in Evanston between the west side and south side "and they don't even own it," she says.

Mr. Scott encouraged the students to journal their own lives. "Writing can be therapeutic. It helped me process through some of the pain," he says.

On seeing his life on the big screen, Mr. Scott says, he was nervous that Hollywood would make it into "a great white hero story," where a white woman comes in and saves a group of minorities. After seeing "Freedom Writers," he felt that their story was told in a positive way, but, watching the film was "emotional" because it forced him to relive the "hard times."

His only complaint: "I wanted Denzel [Washington] to play me."

Mr. Scott lives in Chicago with his wife. He travels around the world telling the story of the "freedom writers" by himself and with his former teacher Erin Gruwell.