Gustavo Ramirez Sansano

I first met Sansano when I was hanging out at Lou Conte Dance Studio, teaching modern dance classes and sneaking in to company class in the mornings with the Hubbard Street dancers. One of the company dancers under Jim Vincent, Gustavo created a zone of easy grace and calm around himself, and it was always an inspiration to be in class with him and see the nonchalance with which he approached even the most technically difficult material.

Now Sansano, 31, is bringing his unmistakable hipness and grace back to Chicago, where he’s been named artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater, filling the capable shoes of founder Eduardo Vilaro, who went to lead Ballet Hispanico in NYC. Sansano had already made a couple of lovely works for Luna before leaving Hubbard and heading to his homeland in Spain to pursue his choreographic career; he’s definitely new-school, imaginatively unformulaic and exuberant.

In a city that tends to be conservative about leadership changes, Sansano’s appointment at Luna is one of the most fresh and exciting things that has happened in Chicago dance in a long time. It’s obvious that as an organization, Luna is just as vibrant in the boardroom as it is onstage. Bravo.