Charlie Vernon’s Dances

While catching up with Links Hall cofounder Charlie Vernon for an interview with Laura Molzahn, the subject turned to some of the earlier dances he created at Links Hall. Too good to leave out, we’re turning it into a Page.

“Rat Parade,” set to Frank Sinatra songs, was my Chicago choreographic debut, at MoMing in 1977. Billy Petersen [now William Petersen, Steppenwolf ensemble member and star of the TV series CSI] and Donald Moffat (can’t recall the name of their theater company—Defiant something?) were in residence at MoMing and watched rehearsals from the balcony.

Early works that I developed at Links Hall include:

• “Snowy Evening Variations”—performed at Columbia College with [Amy] Osgood and [Wendy] Taucher, 1979, and again at MoMing in 1980.
• “Slumber Party” 1980—to my recollection, one of the first performances at Links. The seats were set up against the three doors, and the stage backdrop was the opposite wall with two windows, set with curtains and lamps, and featuring the “chance” el train noise.
• A favorite Links Hall memory is when Rhoda Grauer (Dance Chair of the NEA) and Bonnie Brooks came to the studio in 1980 with David White of New York’s Dance Theater Workshop. They watched me perform the bench solo from “Slumber Party,” which launched our involvement with the National Performance Network and many other granting opportunities.
• Shirley Mordine, I think, asked Bob, Carol and I to perform each other’s works at Columbia, which we also danced at Links—I am not sure which came first. I created “Dances of Necessity,” my first work using signatures.
• Developing “That Fall” at Links is still one of the “miracle” moments. One day, I literally prayed for inspiration, and miraculously, “That Fall” was born. It debuted in 1981, I believe, at Columbia College and was performed alongside Mark Morris’ work in New York.
• “Dances of Many Lands” debuted in 1981 and was created at Links Hall.

The works that I created at Links Hall were performed in Portland, New York City, Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, Montréal, the American Dance Festival and at various Chicago venues.