The Danceworks Performance Company
"By a large margin the most intriguing and daring dance company in town."
~Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Photo: Dan Bishop
In
1997 a group of talented young dancer/choreographers spilled from the halls
of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dance program and onto the Milwaukee
dance scene. These dancers included Anina Bacon, Becky Blong, Cynthia Collins-Sinotte,
Joan Fernandez, Andrea Hill, Jen Moore, Laura Teska, and Sarah Wilbur, and
they shared three things. First, they had been trained by the faculty of the
UWM dance program-Marcia Ruth Parsons, Ed Burgess, Janet Lilly and Ferne Caulker-as
well as a series of stellar visitors to the program, including Brian Jeffery,
Heidi Latsky, Sean Curran, Bill Young, Kathryn Posin, Lonne Moreton, Zvi Gottheiner,
and the late Robert Ellis Dunn. They also shared an interest in staying in
Milwaukee to create and perform
their own work. Finally, they envisioned a company of dancer/choreographers, a highly trained ensemble that supported
several distinct voices within a shared aesthetic.
From the time it had opened its doors in 1992, Danceworks had operated as an umbrella organization, running a large studio, sponsoring outreach programs, providing services to the local dance community, and presenting a popular performance series featuring national, regional, and local dance artists. By 1997, Danceworks was ready for a change in direction, and after Sarah Wilbur produced and choreographed Our Side, the critically-acclaimed UWM alumni concert, the Danceworks board of directors invited Wilbur to become the artistic director of the Danceworks Performance Company (DPC), the first contemporary dance group to emerge in Milwaukee in over a decade.
Since that time, DPC has delighted audiences and critics with work that is vivid, entertaining, accessible and honest. The dancer/choreographers of DPC are committed to creating original work, and they keep it fresh by collaborating with guest artists-musicians, poets, visual artists and choreographers-and by taking their dancing and dancemaking into diverse communities throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Now in their eighth season, DPC has gained serious momentum through the committment and boundless energy of the current crew: Lee-Wei Chao, Melissa Anderson, Liz Hildebrandt, Kim Johnson-Rockafellow, Dani Kuepper, Catey Ott, Natasha Posey, Diana LeMense, Megan Licht and artistic director Sarah Wilbur. Resident choreographers Wilbur and Kupper contiunue to crank out concerts of brand new work each season, and the company has broken attendance records with each of its endeavors.