KAM Director Jon L. Seydl sat down with Pat Knowles—Professor Emerita of Dance at the University of Illinois and department chair from 1978 to 2001—at her home in Urbana.
JLS: How did you come to know Jack Baker?
PK: One of my first projects was a performance inspired by his [Jack Baker’s] incredible loft, which had the same integrity, harmony, and profound simplicity as the Margaret Erlanger House. When I came to campus to interview for a position in the Department of Dance in 1973, Margaret invited Jack over to her house and had me over to dinner. That’s how I first met the two of them. And, I’d never experienced architecture like that, being from the south. I graduated from Florida State University.
JLS: Florida State! You and the photographer Bea Nettles!
PK: Yes! My mentor was Nancy Smith Fichter, who developed the dance program at FSU. I was the first graduate student in that program. Her husband, Robert, was Bea’s professor at FSU. We’re all connected!
JLS: What can you tell me about the Margaret Erlanger House coming to the Dance Department?
Margaret Erlanger retired in 1974 and died two years later. Jack planned a memorial service for her in her home and courtyard. It was a beautiful fall day with golden leaves in the air and on the ground. We had the sliding glass doors to the back patio open. Our students processed slowly striking gongs. I seem to remember Beverly Blossom, a prominent member of the faculty who was hired by Margaret, performing a sparse solo. Beverly had performed here with the Alwin Nikolais Company as part of the Contemporary Arts Festivals in the 1950s and early 1960s. In addition to our dance students and university faculty, a few professional colleagues from other university dance programs were present. At the end of this moving tribute, Jack announced that Margaret had bequeathed her house to the university to be used by the Department of Dance for visiting artists and special events.
Our first guest artist was Lynda Davis, who had been a member of Bella Lewitzky’s company on the west coast and was teaching at Florida State. Jack Baker had just finished adding a performing space to his loft, and Lynda joined me and several faculty and graduate students to create the first performance—a site-specific event to initiate the new space.
JLS: In Jack Baker’s loft?
PK: In Jack’s loft. He was given the space building by his father. His family had lived there. Originally, I have heard, it had been a place for building carriages. I don’t know if his dad was actually involved in constructing the carriages. Later, his parents had a shop there. This [pointing to photograph] was a hoist that they used to lift heavy equipment into the construction area.
Unrecorded photographer, Dance performance in the Jack Baker Loft and Studio with hoist. Dancers clockwise from bottom center: Debra Riley, unidentified figure, Bonnie Schmidt, unidentified figure, and Patricia Knowles, 1974–75. Gelatin silver photograph. Courtesy of Patricia Knowles.
[PK gestures to another photograph] These are the performers from the Dance Department. There were three levels—a raised stage area, the main floor where the audience sat, and a lower area, underneath the stage area, like an orchestra pit. You can see all three areas utilized in this photo.
Unrecorded photographer, Dancers on upper platform in the loft of the Jack Baker Loft and Studio. Dancers left to right: Patricia Knowles, Meg Jolley, Bonnie Schmidt, Sarah Brumgart, and Debra Riley, 1974–75. Gelatin silver photograph. Courtesy of Patricia Knowles.
JLS: And I've been to the loft just recently so I have a sense of what that is and how that works. How incredible.
PK: Lynda Davis used this hoist “sculpture” for her solo. I used stairs going from the roof to the main floor area. My solo started at the top of the stairwell, and I slowly descended backwards. I never rehearsed at night. I would go in the day when Jack was gone, so he could keep his privacy.
But the actual performance was in the evening, and it was dark. I went to the top of the stairs and realized that the audience would see me waiting to begin unless I went out on the roof, which I did for the first time. The setting was magical—all of the lights of downtown Champaign and a full moon.
JLS: Oh, how wonderful!
PK: I breathed in all of that enchantment and took it with me as I slowly made my way down the stairs. I’ll never forget that feeling.
All of our dances were duets with the unique characteristics of that particular space and had to be rehearsed in the space.
And then the next year, Jack permitted us to use the loft in its entirety for my sophomore composition class to create site-specific studies in areas of their choosing, including the outside courtyard. He talked to the students about architecture as an art form and how the dancer enlivens the space and the space enlivens the dancer. All chose different parts of the loft—outside and inside—and each one made a solo. We had a showing where people walked through the space, like a house tour, and encountered the performers. Hopefully the students’ studies amplified elements of the architecture.
JLS: So it wasn’t simply in that the particular part of the loft where you performed?
PK: I don’t think we even used the actual performance space. There were so many other interesting areas. I remember several students moving in the courtyard, which was enclosed by a large fence. One dancer did something with the bottom of her shoes along the fence—Jack had a painter out the next morning! I should have talked to them beforehand about defacing the property. I don't think we were invited back, but Jack loved the whole idea of it when it happened.
JLS: I’m sure.
PK: And then many years later Jack and I were together at a Krannert Center performance and we met a dance alumna whose daughter was currently enrolled in our program. She told us that she remembered the composition class and performing in Jack’s loft. She said that it changed her way of thinking about movement and space. So that experience and Jack’s supportive presence and generosity did have a lasting impact on the students.
