Tune In!

Tune in to UWSP's radio station 90fm on Tuesday, March 26th at 2:00 p.m. and Thursday, April 4th at 3:50 p.m! Listen to Danstage director Joan Karlen and guest choreographer Melinda Jean Myers talk about this year's Danstage!

Congratulations, Dancers of Danstage 2013!!

Alyssa Albers
Madelyn Mikelsen
Maruisz Kujawski

Erika Schock
Ashlyn Cianciolo
Kailey Field
Hannah Carlson
Maggie Zoeller
Alyssa Berube
Kristen Brockman
Alyssa Casey
Kayla Dziak
Emma Fitzsimmons
Thomas Jacobson
Amanda Knutson
Brittany Mlsna
Emilee Morton
Ariana Shank
Robert Soderstrom
Jacob Storer
Angelina Wilson
Claire Wyttenbach
Pierre Clark
Shane Donohue
Alyx Johnson
Christopher Patterson
Kellen Skidmore
Catie Smiley
Sarah Godlewski
Morgan McMahon

head and tail

Check out this article about guest choreographer Melinda Jean Myer's work, head and tail!!! head and tail will be performed at this year's production of Danstage, coming soon in April!

Danstage choreographers Jeannie Hill, Michael Estanich and Joan Karlen are excited to audition dancers for their new work on Thursday, January 24!

Director's Welcome

Thank you for joining us for Danstage 2012! This year’s concert displays five vastly different artistic and choreographic approaches, yet each is linked by the common thread of collaboration.

The dance faculty is proud to be members of a college that supports collaboration. We welcome the creative additions of guest artist Luc Vanier, Associate Professor at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, and UWSP colleagues Sean Connors, Assistant Professor and UWSP Percussion Ensemble Director, Cindy McCabe, Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach Diane Hawkins.

Universities continue to be important innovative centers whose leadership and resources make possible the range of artistic experimentation and contemporary inquiry that prepare our students to communicate, contribute and lead as global citizen artists. Thank you to UWSP’s administration for continuing to support the arts and for recognizing creative endeavors as professional academic research.

In Danstage 2012 the dancers are collaborating with faculty in crafting original research. While in residence from February 19-24 Luc Vanier restaged his intricate and compelling 2008 choreography, “Triptych”, a work that has been performed by Milwaukee Ballet II and Your Mother Dances in Milwaukee, and at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.

Associate Professor Michael Estanich’s “Inhabitants of Tall Grass” is danced within an installation of tall prairie grasses where the dancers explore the sophisticated relationships between lines, curves and patterns through space. In Michael’s ensemble work “Homeland” the ensemble investigates memory, nostalgia and wonder, through physical, emotional and intellectual notions of home.

Associate Professor Jeannie Hill’s “The Sum is Greater” is a danced basketball game that blurs the line between athlete and dancer. Rhythmic sequences reflect Jeannie’s research with Mathematics Professor Cindy McCabe of repetitive patterns in the Fibonacci numbers.

And, in my new work “Round the Corner”, a collaboration with Sean Connors and Percussion Ensemble members, you’ll hear seven movements of Paul Lansky’s lyrical and forceful score “Threads.” The dancers’ interpretation of the score and choreography weaves and merges movement theme “threads” in a meditation on life’s beauty and mysteries.

Thank you to our outstanding technical and design team, stage managers and production crew for their vision, enthusiasm and dedication. Thank you, too, to all who support the dancers behind the scenes.

We hope you enjoy Danstage 2012 as we celebrate the deepening artistry, stylistic range and full expression of our dancers.

Joan Karlen, Director 

Danstage 2012

New Triptych Video Previews Posted

Click on the Videos link to see new videos about the rehearsal process for Triptych.

Meet the Dancers

Please check out our Meet the Dancers page. It has been updated with information about the seniors involved in Danstage this year.

New Triptych photos posted 3.1

Click on the Production Photos link to see pictures from the Triptych rehearsal process and informal studio showing.

Studio Preview of Luc Vanier's "Triptych"

UWSP's Department of Theatre & Dance invites you to a Danstage 2012 studio preview of guest choreographer Luc Vanier's 

Triptych

Thursday, 2/23/12

7:00-7:30

Noel Fine Arts Center 130 Dance Studio

Dancers 

Corey Lugo | Pierre Clark

Maggie Zoeller | Mariusz Kujawski

Molly Anderson

Kristen Brockman

Olivia Hoffman

Sarah Johnson

Madelyn Mickelsen 

Emily Nowak

Emilee Morton

Claire Wyttenbach

"Triptych"

"Triptych" / Luc Vanier Coreographer / Original score by Chris Burns.  This work is more contemporary than "classical."  The partnering is difficult ballet partnering and fast paced.  Vanier recently reset this work on Milwaukee Ballet II, then finalized it to this version to bring it to the Minnesota Fringe Festival.