A new director for Cleveland's Repertory Project. (News).

The appointment of Hernando Cortez as new artistic director of the Repertory Project signals a sea change for Cleveland's fourteen-year-old modern dance repertory company. Under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Susan Miller, who resigned last fall, the ensemble of six women functioned as a collective. The dancers took turns teaching company class, and they chose repertoire by David Dorfman, Doug Varone, Terry Creach, Jose Luis Bustamante, and other postmodern choreographers.

Cortez, 37, comes to Cleveland this fall with a background in classical ballet and a new vision for the company. He plans to teach a daily ballet class open to the community, add male dancers to the ensemble (he envisions an ensemble of four women and three men) and expand the repertoire to include modern dance classics as well as commissioned works and his own choreography. In backing these changes, the company's board hopes, in part, to give its dancers--who often are hired right out of college--more incentives to stay with the troupe.

Born in the Philippines and raised in Canada, Cortez began his training at Pacific Ballet Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, and graduated with honors from the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance in 1985. He started his career with Feld Ballets/NY, performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1987 through 1996, and toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project in 1998. He served as founding director of Dancers Responding to AIDS from 1991 until last January, and he founded his own company, now called Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet, in 1995. The ten-member ensemble will present its sixth annual New York season in September. The dancers will be invited to audition for the Repertory Project.

"I will have a small company and a big vision," Cortez said. "I envision a modern version of what the Joffrey [Ballet, now based in Chicago] was in New York. I will bring major important work and works by emerging artists. I want to make the company a touring company. I want it to be nationally known."

The Repertory Project dancers divide their time between performing and teaching in public schools. Although Cortez shares the company's commitment to education, he plans to place more emphasis on performing.

Ann Ennis, president of the Repertory Project's board of trustees, said the company is "delighted to have an individual of Hernando's ability, reputation, and ambition." But she voiced concern about the size of the organization's annual budget (now $306,000). "Hernando has raised a lot of money for his company and for AIDS," she said. "He is charismatic and able to reach people. His forward-thinking vision of dance is an ideal match to ours."