The Danceworks Performance Company
| Company Biographies | 2007-2008 Season |
"By a large margin the most intriguing and daring dance company in town."
~Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Danceworks Performance Company (DPC) is now in its 11th season - one of rebirth and expansion. Dani Kuepper has assumed the role of Artistic Director for the company and DPC's numbers have swelled to eleven - the largest ever!
Veteran company members Melissa Anderson, Liz Hildebrandt, Kim Johnson-Rockafellow, Dani Kuepper, Diana LeMense, Korey Olivier and Natasha Posey are joined by 
new members Kelly Anderson, Karly Hetebrueg, Ryan Rau and Christal Wagner in what is sure to be an exciting year!
DPC is a dynamic group of dancer/choreographers that is committed to creating and performing contemporary dance that is physical, virtuosic, entertaining and honest. Collaboration fuels the creative vision of the company members as they regularly work alongside guest artists including musicians, poets, visual artists, actors and choreographers. DPC strives to make its work relevant and accessible to a wide range of audience members by regularly performing and teaching workshops and residencies in diverse communities throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Danceworks Performance Company was founded in 1997 by a group of talented young dancer/choreographers who 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, Cynthis 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. 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. The Danceworks Inc board of directors invited Sarah Wilbur to become the artistic director of the Danceworks Performance Company, the first contemporary dance group to emerge in Milwaukee in over a decade.
Less than a year after DPC's debut, Dani Kuepper became a member of the new company, immediately establishing herself as an up and coming choreographic talent. After many years of collaboration, Sarah Wilbur and Dani Kuepper became Co-Artistic Directors in 2006, sharing choreographic responsibility and artistic vision. With the departing of Sarah Wilbur in 2007, Dani Kuepper has taken the reigns of leadership as the Artistic Director. Since its inception, the Danceworks Performance Company has been performing to critical acclaim. The new artistic leadership, along with the accomplished company dancers, promises to achieve new bounds of artistic achievement this season and into the coming years.
Photos By Rory Kurtz