Dance Companies
Milwaukee Ballet creates a rich and diverse community through its inspiring dance performance, education and outreach.
The company approaches movement as a process of investigation, rather than thinking of dance as a vocabulary of actions. While MamLuft&Co. Dance works to make Modern Dance accessible to the general population, ML&Co. also challenges pre-conceived notions of what dance is by searching for authentic, organic, and original movement. MamLuft&Co. Dance’s explorations are led by director Jeanne Sopanha Mam-Luft, whose personal history informs the company processes, as an immigrant and refugee of the Khmer Rouge genocide, as well as an interdisciplinarian of design, architecture, photography, and video.
Madison Ballet is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional performing arts organization which holds as its mission to promote appreciation and access to ballet by providing training and performing opportunities through professionally produced productions and educational initiatives.Originally founded in 1981 as The Wisconsin Dance Ensemble, the organization’s primary purpose was the production The Nutcracker, an annual community event. In 1999, the organization changed its name to Madison Ballet and embarked on an ambitious plan to become a professional performing arts organization, offering quality arts experiences for youth throughout South Central Wisconsin.
The Madison Bellydance Alliance is a loose confederation of fans and practitioners of Middle Eastern Dance in the Madison, Wisconsin area. Whether you are a professional dancer, an enthusiastic student, a musician, or simply someone who enjoys watching bellydance—from raqs sharqi to Tribal styles, from folkloric to gothic—you are welcome to join us. Our community shows offer performance opportunities to dancers of all levels in a relaxed atmosphere.
Lucky Plush Productions is an ensemble dance-theater company based in Chicago, led by founder and Artistic Director Julia Rhoads. The company is committed to provoking and supporting an immediacy of presence—a palpable live-ness—shared by performers in real time with audiences. A unique hybrid of high-level dance and theater, Lucky Plush’s work is recognized for its layered choreography, nuanced dialogue, surprising humor, and socially relevant content.
Limanya Drum and Dance Ensemble, under the direction of Mandjou Mara and Maya Kadakia, performs traditional music and dance from Guinea and Mali, West Africa. By incorporating song, dance, drum and theatre, Limanya’s performances are high-energy entertainment for all audiences. Perfect for schools and community events, Limanya’s shows create cultural connections and provide engaging educational experiences. Limanya is composed of a diverse group of dancers and drummers who share a love of African tradition, celebration, and culture.
Li Chiao-Ping Dance creates and presents concerts of contemporary postmodern dance, featuring highly physical, elegant and inventive works. LCPD was founded in 1990 and had its first concert in Madison in 1995. It is a resident company of the Overture Center for the Arts and works hard to spread the benefits of dance.
Reflecting and supporting the artistic vision of choreographer Li Chiao-Ping, Li Chiao-Ping Dance produces and presents original performance works, provides mentorship, education and training, offers opportunities for residencies and collaborations, and promotes tolerance and respect.
Kanopy Dance Theatre, Inc. was organized to: “promote, encourage, and increase the public’s knowledge of and appreciation for the arts, including the art of dance; to coordinate and provide services to the arts to foster their growth and practice; and, to engage in activities relating to the aforementioned purposes.” (Articles of Incorporation, 1976)
The Joel Hall Dancers express contemporary urban life through dance while educating, entertaining, and inspiring their audience. The signature dance style of JHD incorporates ballet, jazz, modern, funk, and “street dance” using contemporary jazz and house music to create an innovative and continuously evolving dance style that is appealing, relevant, and approachable for those frequently underserved by the arts.
The Joel Hall Dancers maintain a citywide, national, and international reputation, not only for their diversity and innovation, but also for their substantive sociological content and engaging aesthetic style. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Joel Hall, the Joel Hall Dancers have carried their unique yet universally accessible voice to venues that span the world.
Both JHD and its audience exhibit a rare diversified spectrum of cultural, ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the artistic leadership of Glenn Edgerton, celebrates its 39th season in 2016 and 2017. Among the world’s top contemporary dance companies and a global cultural ambassador, Hubbard Street demonstrates fluency in a wide range of techniques and forms, and deep comprehension of abstract artistry and emotional nuance. The company is critically acclaimed for its exuberant and innovative repertoire, featuring works by master American and international choreographers. Hubbard Street’s artists hail from four countries and 12 U.S. states, and comprise a superlative ensemble of virtuosity and versatility. Since its founding by Lou Conte in 1977, Hubbard Street has grown through the establishment of multiple platforms. Each is dedicated to the support and advancement of dance as an art form, as a practice, and as a method for generating and sustaining communities of all kinds.