Glenn Edgerton
Artistic Director
Edgerton joined HSDC after an international career as a dancer and director. He began his dancing career at The Joffrey Ballet where, mentored by Robert Joffrey, he performed leading roles in the company's contemporary and classical repertoire for 11 years. In 1989, Edgerton joined the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater, and after dancing for five years retired from performing to become artistic director of the main company, leading NDT1 for a decade and presenting the works of Jirí Kylián, Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, Johan Inger, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, among others. From 2006 to 2008, he directed The Colburn Dance Institute at The Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. In 2007, Edgerton initiated a series of collaborations between The Colburn School and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Glenn joined HSDC’s artistic leadership team full-time as associate artistic director in 2008 and now, as artistic director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, will guide the company forward, building on more than three decades of artistic leadership from both Lou Conte and Jim Vincent, whose extraordinary work has established the company as a leader in dance performance, education and appreciation.

Jason D. Palmquist
Executive Director
Palmquist joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in May 2007, after serving the arts community in Washington D.C. for nearly fifteen years. Palmquist began his career at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, most recently serving as Vice President of Dance Administration. During his tenure, he oversaw multiple world-premiere engagements of commissioned works in dance, the formation and growth of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and the inception in 1997 of the Millennium Stage—an award-winning, free daily performance series that has to date served over three million patrons. Deeply enriching the Kennedy Center’s artistic programming, he successfully presented engagements with many of the world’s most important dance companies including the Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Kirov Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. Palmquist also managed television initiatives of the Kennedy Center including the creation of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and a prime-time special on NBC memorializing the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In 2004, he accepted the position of executive director of the Washington Ballet. Under his leadership, the company presented full performance seasons annually at the Kennedy Center and the Warner Theater, as well as nurtured its world-renowned school and extensive education and outreach programs. Raised in Iowa, Palmquist is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa.

Taryn Kaschock Russell
Director, HS2 and Artistic Associate
Kaschock Russell was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1995 and spent seven years performing and touring extensively with the company. During that time, she expanded her artistry by dancing the principal roles in classic works by Agnes DeMille, George Balanchine, Martha Graham and John Cranko. She was also the first woman outside of David Parsons company to dance his signature solo Caught. Kaschock joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2002 and the following January was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” Her repertoire, while dancing with HSDC, included master works by Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato, William Forsythe and Ohad Naharin. Kaschock also found much growth and inspiration participating in numerous original creations while a member of the company. In 2007, Kaschock became a member of HSDC’s artistic staff and began teaching company class, conducting rehearsals and re-setting choreography. Recently named the  Director of Hubbard Street 2, she also now coordinates HSDC’s National Choreographic Competition as well as nurtures the growth of promising young artists.

Terence Marling
Rehearsal Director and Artistic Associate
From Chicago, Illinois, Marling began his ballet training in 1982 at the Ruth Page School of Dance under the direction of Larry Long. In 1994, he joined the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater directed by Patricia Wilde, where he performed leading roles in Don Quixote, Glen Tetley’s Le Sacre du Printemps, Balanchine’s Rubies, Ohad Naharin’s Tabula Rasa, Paul Taylor’s Airs and Jirí Kylián’s Return to the Strange Land. Marling also originated roles in ballets by Kevin O’Day, Dwight Rhoden, Ib Andersen, Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Robert Hill. Directors O’Day and Dominique Dumais invited him to join the Nationaltheater Mannheim in Germany in 2003, where he participated in the creation of ten works. Marling joined HSDC in April 2006 and is continuing to choreograph and teach in his spare time.

Alejandro Cerrudo
Resident Choreographer
Cerrudo is from Madrid, Spain and received his training at the Real Conservatorio Professional de Danza de Madrid and in 1998 joined the Victor Ullate Company where he danced for one year. From 1999 to 2002, Cerrudo danced with the Stuttgart Ballet and in 2002 he joined Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) II under the direction of Gerald Tibbs. Cerrudo danced with NDT II for three years before becoming an HSDC company member in August 2005.  Named an HSDC Choreographic Fellow in 2008, Cerrudo has created three works for the company: Lickety-Split, Extremely Close, commissioned by the Joyce Theater in New York, and Off Screen, premiered by the main company in 2009.  As the company’s first Resident Choreographer, he will present two World Premieres this season.

Claire Bataille
Director, Lou Conte Dance Studio
Bataille was a founding member of HSDC and, during her 15 years at HSDC, she served as an artistic assistant, ballet mistress, and choreographed five works for the company.  Claire oversees the nationally recognized LCDS Scholarship Program and manages day-to-day operations of the Lou Conte Dance Studio, which offers over 60 classes per week in several dance disciplines.

Lou Conte
HSDC Founder; Director, Lou Conte Dance Studio
After a performing career including Broadway musicals, Conte established the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago in 1974. In 1977, he founded what is now Hubbard Street Dance Chicago with four dancers performing at senior citizens homes in Chicago. Originally the company's sole choreographer, he developed relationships with emerging and world-renowned choreographers as the company began to grow, adding bodies of work by a variety of artists. These relationships transformed HSDC into the internationally acclaimed repertoire company it is today. In the 1980s, Conte commissioned several works by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Margo Sappington and Daniel Ezralow. He continued to build HSDC's repertoire by forging a key partnership with Twyla Tharp in the 1990s, acquiring seven of her works, including an original work for the company. Conte further expanded the company's repertoire to include European choreographers Jirí Kylián and Nacho Duato and Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.

These long-term relationships along with Conte's participation in selecting Jim Vincent as the company's new Artistic Director have paved the way for HSDC's future. Throughout his 23 years as the company's Artistic Director, Conte received numerous awards, including the Chicago Dance Coalition's inaugural Ruth Page Artistic Achievement Award in 1986, the Sidney R. Yates Arts Advocacy Award in 1995 and the Chicagoan of the Year award from Chicago magazine in 1999. In 2002, he was one of six individuals named Laureates of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois, the highest honor the state bestows upon Illinois residents. He has been credited by many for helping raise Chicago's international cultural profile and for creating a climate for dance in the city, where the art form now thrives.