Go inside the costume shop as our wardrobe staff prepares for the Season 38 Spring Series.

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Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for The Impossible by Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. Photos by Todd Rosenberg.

Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for The Impossible by Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. Photos of The Impossible by Todd Rosenberg with, far left, Hubbard Street Dancer Ana Lopez and Jonathan Fredrickson; and far right, Hubbard Street Dancers Jessica Tong and Andrew Murdock.

Accent • Emphasis placed on one or more elements of dance


Accent invites you to get to know the artists of Season 38, through video, photography, essays, and additional resources. Our goal with these email publications is to bring you inside the work, with fun and insightful guides to the pieces we’re passionate about presenting at Hubbard Street. 

In this edition of Accent, get to know Jeff Award–winning designer and Chicago-based entrepreneur Branimira Ivanova — the creator of costumes for all three works featured in our Season 38 Spring Series.

Branimira Ivanova, Costume Designer

Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, left, and Costume Designer Branimira Ivanova meet onstage at the Harris Theater during dress rehearsal for the world premiere of Cerrudo’s work, The Impossible. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Hubbard Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, left, and Costume Designer Branimira Ivanova meet onstage at the Harris Theater during dress rehearsal for the world premiere of Cerrudo’s work, The Impossible. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Our Spring Series world premiere by Lucas Crandall marks 26 Hubbard Street productions with costumes by Chicago-based designer Branimira Ivanova. Her prolific partnership with the company began in 2002, when Crandall invited Ivanova to help him create a world half-classic and half-contemporary for his biographical work Atelier, inspired by the relationship between French sculptor Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. Over the 13 seasons since, Ivanova has gone on to collaborate with both guest choreographers and in-house Hubbard Street artists, including Marguerite Donlon, Brian Enos, Jonathan Fredrickson, Cheryl Mann, Terence Marling, Andrea Miller, Penny Saunders, Toru Shimazaki, and Robyn Mineko Williams, plus The Impossible and nine more of Alejandro Cerrudo’s premieres.

Left: Costume design rendering by Branimira Ivanova for Atelier. Right: Lauri Stallings in Atelier by Lucas Crandall. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Left: Costume design rendering by Branimira Ivanova for Atelier. Right: Lauri Stallings in Atelier by Lucas Crandall. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

A fruitful, fourteen-year creative collaboration

Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for The Set. Photo by Todd Rosenberg of Hubbard Street Dancers in The Set by Lucas Crandall. From left: Shannon Alvis, Terence Marling, and Alejandro Cerrudo.

Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for The Set. Photo by Todd Rosenberg of Hubbard Street Dancers in The Set by Lucas Crandall. From left: Shannon Alvis, Terence Marling, and Alejandro Cerrudo.

From the high-necked Victorian gowns and tailored suiting worn by the three characters in the rollicking spoof The Set (2008), to the mask-like turtlenecks and heavy boots currently being constructed for the Spring Series, Ivanova’s costumes have worked in perfect concert with Lucas Crandall’s choreographic concepts. Through their close-knit creative relationship and enduring friendship, these two artists have developed the ability to move quickly and decisively through the many twists and turns of mounting an all-new production of dance theater.

Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for the Season 38 Spring Series world premiere by Lucas Crandall.

Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for the Season 38 Spring Series world premiere by Lucas Crandall.

Ivanova has become a sought-after collaborator and valuable asset to many guest choreographers at Hubbard Street as well. In 2015, she joined forces with Gustavo Ramírez Sansano to update and streamline the signature jacket and ribbon tie worn often by George Balanchine in 1950s New York, for I am Mister B, Ramírez Sansano’s exuberant homage to the great ballet choreographer. In 2006, Ivanova combined loose-fitting trousers with layered, form-fitting tops, realized in earth tones and deep purples for Bardo, Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki’s first Hubbard Street commission. The two reunited in 2008 for Shimazaki’s encore production Fold — an origami-inspired dance for two couples, set to “Plaisirs d’Amour” by French composer René Aubry.

Left: Choreographer George Balanchine and composer Igor Stravinsky at Lincoln Center. Center: Costume design rendering by Branimira Ivanova for I am Mister B by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano. Right: Johnny McMillan in I am Mister B.

Left: Choreographer George Balanchine and composer Igor Stravinsky at Lincoln Center. Center: Costume design rendering by Branimira Ivanova for I am Mister B. Right: Johnny McMillan in I am Mister B by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Left: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Bardo by Toru Shimazaki. Photo by Todd Rosenberg. Right: Costume design renderings for Bardo by Branimira Ivanova.

Left: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Bardo by Toru Shimazaki. Photo by Todd Rosenberg. Right: Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for Bardo.

Left: Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for Out of Keeping. Right: Hubbard Street Dancers in Out of Keeping by Penny Saunders, from left: Jessica Tong, Emilie Leriche, Alice Klock, and Alicia Delgadillo. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Left: Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova for Out of Keeping. Right: Hubbard Street Dancers in Out of Keeping by Penny Saunders, from left: Jessica Tong, Emilie Leriche, Alice Klock, and Alicia Delgadillo. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Hubbard Street’s in-house choreographers and early-career dancemakers benefit greatly from easy access to Ivanova’s expertise. Among more than a dozen premieres, beginning in 2006 with Cheryl Mann’s Wabi Sabi and Diphthong by Brian Enos, are her designs for Out of Keeping (2015) by Penny Saunders — opening five of Hubbard Street’s domestic touring engagements this April — and Hubbard Street 2’s critically acclaimed collaboration for young audiences with shadow-puppetry company Manual Cinema, Mariko’s Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure.

Photos by Todd Rosenberg of, left, Hubbard Street 2 Dancer Natalie Leibert and, far right, Natalie Leibert and Zachary Enquist, in Hubbard Street 2 + Manual Cinema’s Mariko’s Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure. Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova.

Photos by Todd Rosenberg of, left, Hubbard Street 2 Dancer Natalie Leibert and, far right, Natalie Leibert and Zachary Enquist, in Hubbard Street 2 + Manual Cinema’s Mariko’s Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure. Costume design renderings by Branimira Ivanova.

We’re thrilled to celebrate Branimira Ivanova during our upcoming Spring Series — a perfect showcase for this local designer’s versatility, and talent for combining cutting-edge techniques in costume construction with a keen eye for traditional silhouettes and historical references.


Branimira Ivanova is a graduate of both the University of Connecticut (MFA, Costume Design) and of the International Academy of Design and Technology (BFA, Fashion Design). In 2009 and 2010, Ivanova received Jeff Award nominations for her work for Lifeline Theatre’s productions of Treasure Island and Wuthering Heights; her work for the Gift Theatre’s Cloud 9 received a Jeff Award for Best Costume Design (Equity Wing) in 2012. In 2007, Ivanova received a Certificate for Excellence in Theatre Design from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, and her designs were included in the United States’ National Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial World Stage Expo. In 2002, she received Fashion Group International’s “Design Your Future Award,” and the Driehaus Award for Fashion Excellence. Ivanova is also the founder of House of Idolatry Clothing.


Enhance your Spring Series experience with pre-performance programs!

Hubbard Street Dancers Jessica Tong, left, and Andrew Murdock in The Impossible by Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

Hubbard Street Dancers Jessica Tong, left, and Andrew Murdock in The Impossible by Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

The First Dance

Sunday, March 20 at 2pm, join Hubbard Street Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton and choreographer Lucas Crandall for wine, refreshments, and conversation about Crandall’s new work and creative partnership with Branimira Ivanova, Jeff Award–winning designer of 26 Hubbard Street premieres including I am Mister B and The Impossible. RSVP by phone at 312-850-9744. Space is strictly limited.

George Balanchine, left, and Igor Stravinsky at Lincoln Center.

Choreographer George Balanchine, left, at Lincoln Center with composer Igor Stravinsky and New York City Ballet dancers.

Pre-Performance Talk: George Balanchine, The Man Behind the Curtain

Friday, March 18 at 7pm, ticket-holders are welcome to attend a casual conversation in the Harris Theater balcony with Hubbard Street Artistic Director Glenn Edgerton on the legacy of George Balanchine, his lasting influence on ballet and contemporary dance, and I am Mister B

Admission is free and no advance reservations are required.


Enjoying a Hubbard Street performance is better together.

Hubbard Street’s mainstage performances at the Harris Theater are ideal opportunities to celebrate a special occasion, treat clients and coworkers, enrich student life — even lend a little luxury to a convention, class or family reunion. Best of all, booking your group of ten or more is easy, and you’ll save on every seat, so enjoy Hubbard Street together. Special event and merchandise packages are also available.


A stage-filling world premiere by choreographer and Rehearsal Director Lucas Crandall makes its debut during our Season 38 Spring SeriesMarch 17–20 at the Harris Theater, alongside The Impossible by Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, and I am Mister B by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano.

Thu Mar 17 at 7:30pm
Fri Mar 18 at 8pm
Sat Mar 19 at 8pm
Sun Mar 20 at 3pm

hubbardstreetdance.com/spring • 312-850-9744

Hubbard Street Ticket Office hours are Mon–Fri, 10am–4pm.

All performances at
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
205 E Randolph St [MAP]
Chicago, IL 60601

Hubbard Street thanks its Season 38 and Spring Series Sponsors.