Claire Bataille
Photo: Todd Rosenberg
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Born: November 6, 1952
Died: December 30, 2018 Claire Bataille was a founding member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the director of the Lou Conte Dance Studio. For Hubbard Street, she was a leading dancer from 1977-1992, performing works created by Lou Conte, Twyla Tharp, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Daniel Ezralow, John McFall and Margo Sappington. She received the Ruth Page Award for Outstanding Dancer in 1992. As a dancer, teacher, choreographer, Pilates instructor and studio director, she was at the forefront of the Chicago dance scene for more than 40 years. Claire toured nationally and internationally with HSDC. As Sid Smith described her in a phone interview for the Chicago Tribune, “She was a much-beloved figure, mainly because of the quality of her work. On top of that, she was just a lovely, graceful person. Obviously, she was a beautiful and terrific dancer, but she was really an important figure in the early phases of the dance explosion in Chicago.” Claire was born in Elmhurst and began dancing as a young child in Barrington. Her relationship with Lou Conte began in October 1973, when she took one of his classes and made an immediate impression – teaching at the Lou Conte Dance Studio beginning in 1975, and in 1977 she becoming a founding member of Conte’s company: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She died in her home in Oak Park, surrounded by her sons. In her memory, the Claire Bataille Memorial Fund at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has been created to support training for dancers ages 17-23 on the cusp of professional careers. photo info – from Chicago Tribune: Claire Bataille at Lou Conte Dance Studio in 2015. Bataille was a founding member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. |