POSITION PROFILE: Pianist
COMPANY OVERVIEW
The Ensemble Español is the premier Spanish dance company and center in the United States to have in-residence status at a university, making its home at Northeastern Illinois University. Founded by Dame Libby Komaiko in 1975, and incorporated in 1976, the company tours nationally and internationally, provides extensive arts education to young students, maintains a pre-professional training academy, offers university level dance courses for college credit, and conducts a wide range of community outreach programs and classes. The mission of the Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater is to preserve, promote, and present the Flamenco, Folkloric, Classical, Escuela Bolera and Contemporary Dance and Music traditions of Spain.
THE POSITION
Music in an integral part in the work of a professional dancer. The pianist plays a vital role by bringing the highest level of accompaniment into the ballet weekly classes. In this role, you will be asked to choose and play at a moment's notice appropriate music to match the tempo, meter, musicality, and length of various ballet exercises; and/or must be able to spontaneously improvise to the movement appropriately, most often in a classical style.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Communicates and collaborates effectively with the ballet teacher, making necessary adjustments in tempo or music choice upon instructor's request, either in real time or between exercises.
• Improvises regularly to accommodate short introductions to each exercise, extended endings and to edit/alter music in real time to meet phrasing needs of given exercises.
SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
• Experience in dance class accompaniment with basic classical piano technique.
• Experience of playing for ballet class and rehearsal, or working with dancers.
• Ability to choose (or improvise), within seconds' notice, appropriate music to support and inspire the given dance movement. Familiarity and experience with class structure, types of exercises and their typical order are essential to keep up with pace of class.
• Ability to provide a clear sense of beat/pulse/timing to ensure dancers feel confident about where they should be in relation to the music at any given moment.
• Knowledge of the classical ballet vocabulary is a plus but not required.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
• Bachelor's in music or equivalent experience.
• One to three years of demonstrated experience in providing accompaniment for ballet and/or modern dance classes.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS & WORK ENVIRONMENT
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to write, type, talk or hear.
• The employee is frequently required to sit on piano benches for long periods of time.
• The employee is frequently required to use hands and arms to finger, feel, handle and reach .
• Specific vision abilities is required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust and focus.
• Specific auditory requirements include the ability to hear and distinguish musical tones and sounds with extreme precision.
Work Location and Hours:
NEIU Campus 5500 N St Louis Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
Monday 7:00-8:00pm
Friday 7:00-8:00pm
Saturday 11:00am – 12:00pm
To apply please send your resume to hr@eesdt.org
The Ensemble Español is an equal opportunity employer, providing opportunities to candidates and employees without regard to race, religion, creed, age, sex, height, weight, marital status, disability unrelated to an individual’s ability to perform adequately, national origin citizenship, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected by law.