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More History
Emma Lou Huckabay & Jenny McAllister started working together in 1984, dancing for Cliff Keuter, formerly of Paul Taylor Dance Company, in his critically acclaimed dance/theater work Cry Vietnam. Over the next five years, they danced for Mr. Keuter as well as other Bay Area choreographers including Candace Ammerman, Macfarland/Whistler DanceArtCompany, Gregg Lizenbery, and Cathleen McCarthy. They also appeared in Opera San Jose's productions of Die Fledermaus and Hansel and Gretel, in the unlikely roles of ballerina (Emma) and Hansel (Jenny).
In 1990 Emma gave birth to her son Hank and in 1991 co-produced the full-evening concert Life After Birth with Cathleen McCarthy and Barbara Susco, which was performed at Footwork and at San Jose State University. Her work was also presented in Summerfest at New Performance Gallery (now called ODC Performance Gallery), and in Footwork's (later Dancer's Group Studio Theater) Local 7.
Jenny spent 1990 and 1992 performing in the Bay Area with Dance for Two and finishing her dance degree at SJSU, studying with Fred Masters and Gary Matthews, Artistic Associate of the Limón Company in New York. In 1993 her group work Blood Wedding was presented at Dancers Group's Local 7, New Performance Gallery, and Danceworks.
In 1993 they began to work together in earnest, with Jenny dancing in Emma's first full-evening concert in Footwork's Bread and Butter Series. Over the next year they each presented numerous works at Footwork, New Performance Gallery, Danceworks, and the Noh Space. During this period, they realized they had enough history, commonality, and material to jointly audition and choreograph performances.
Before forming Huckabay McAllister Dance, Emma and Jenny produced and co-produced five Bay Area concerts and choreographed for The Magic Theater and San Jose Repertory Theatre. In addition, Emma's work had been by dRepSF, Macfarland/Whistler DanceArtCompany and the Ruth Rosenberg Dance Ensemble.
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