6 minute read
Program
Amy Slater
has lived in the Madison area since 2011. An Iowan by birth, she earned her undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and her Master of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Between her degrees, she spent 8 years in Minneapolis performing, choreographing, and teaching dance. She performed with the Christopher Watson Dance Company for seven seasons as well as with several independent choreographers in the Twin Ci+es. Her work has been shown at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a part of the American College Dance Associa+on’s na+onal conference. Amy has been a guest ar+st at the University of Texas at El Paso, New Mexico State University, and St. Olaf College. She has also presented work in the Minnesota Fringe Fes+val and the Dances at the Lakes Fes+val in Minneapolis, MN, and with DanceWorks and Dane Arts Dance Arts in Wisconsin. Amy has been a dance educator since 2006 and currently teaches dance technique and composi+on at UW-Whitewater in the Theatre/Dance department.
Advertisement
Performers
Cynthia Bachhuber has been around the Madison dance scene long enough to have performed the Nutcracker in the Oscar Mayer theater at the Civic Center. She later earned a degree in Dance Performance & Choreography from Hope College. In New York, Cynthia worked for the Trisha Brown Dance Company while dancing and choreographing for the Metro Movement Project and cultivating her love of libraries through volunteering at the New York Library for the Performing Arts. Cynthia returned to Madison to pursue a Master’s in Library and Information Studies and danced with Kanopy Dance and Li Chiao Ping. Now she's working on adding "dancer" back into her roles in addition to librarian, wife, and mom.
Lily Edgar began her dance training at the Beaver Dam Dance Academy. In 2010 she transferred to the School of Madison Ballet, and was promoted to company apprentice in 2018, and officially joined Madison Ballet’s professional company during the 2019/2020 season. Lily has performed in many productions with Madison Ballet, some of her favorite featured roles being Ballerina Doll Soloist and Mirlitions Duet in The Nutcracker. She has also attended summer programs on merit scholarships at Ballet Chicago and Milwaukee Ballet.
Nicole Golownia is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and trained in jazz and contemporary at Impact Performing Arts Center. She recently graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and Certificate in Dance from the University of WisconsinMadison, studying under faculty including Li Chiao-Ping, Collette Stewart, and Michelle Ramos. Nicole performed in Aubry Dalley’s piece for the Isthmus Dance Collective’s 2021 Shifting Gears Bike Path Dance Festival as well as Dalley’s dance film “Un/fixing Perspectives (again)”.
Alyssa Jendusa. Alyssa comes from the small town of Stone Bank, Wisconsin where she started dancing at the age of four. She trained at the Milwaukee Ballet School for twelve years and attended their summer intensive program where she performed original works by a variety of choreographers including Karl Von Rabenau, Nadia Thompson, and Denis Malinkine. Alyssa received her BA in dance from Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. At Point Park, she performed original contemporary works by the likes of Judith Leifer-Bentz and Nicholas Petrov. Alyssa has worked with Kanopy Dance Company, Scratch Dance, and Liz Sexe Dance in the Madison area. She has performed works by Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Martin Lofsnes, Sandra Kaufmann, and many others while dancing in Madison. This is her first season as a member of the Isthmus Dance Collective.
Jenna Mao is a board certified dance/movement therapist and licensed professional counselor in Madison. She attended the University of Wisconsin and obtained her degree in psychology and a certificate in dance. Jenna connected with choreographer Liz Sexe through weekly classes and is grateful for the opportunity to perform tonight.
Sarah Minton is an Ohio native, who began dancing at BalletMet Columbus as a student. She was able to continue her training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School in their high school division. After high school, she went on to dance with Charlotte Ballet as a trainee and Richmond Ballet as a trainee.
In Richmond, Sarah she got the opportunity to dance in the corps de ballet with the company in repertoire such as The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Who Cares?. She also enjoyed choreographing for the trainee showcase and hopes to choreograph again in the future. In 2019, Sarah joined Madison Ballet as an apprentice and is excited to continue dancing as a company member this season.
Shannon Quirk. A California native, Shannon began her training with Orange County Regional Ballet and continued her studies at UC, Irvine earning a BFA in Dance Performance. Ms. Quirk has performed lead roles in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Donizetti Variations, Elegié, Four Temperaments, Serenade, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux, Who Cares?, Diana and Acteon Pas De Deux, Christopher Wheeldon’s The American, This Bitter Earth, and W. Earle Smith’s Cinderella, Dracula, and The Nutcracker.
She has had the pleasure to be a performer with Avant Chamber Ballet, Ballet Tucson, Detroit Dance City Festival, UW Madison’s Dance Department 90th Anniversary Celebration and Summer Solstice Invitational, and ICMOVEMENT Project based in Washington D.C. Shannon is a dancer as well as Ballet Master and Repetiteur for Madison Ballet.
Emily Shelton is from Cincinnati, OH where she trained at the Otto M Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. She received her BA in dance and BS in physics from Case Western Reserve University, where she performed works by Larry Keigwin, Mark Morris, and Pascal Rioult. Additionally, she attended summer programs at BalletMet Columbus, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Paul Taylor Dance Company. She performed with Verb Ballets and Ohio Dance Theatre in their production of “The Nutcracker” in December 2015.
Yu-Jhe Sun. Originally from Taiwan, Yu-Jhe Sun began his ballet training at the age of 14 in The HARID Conservatory, Boca Raton, FL. After graduating the school he began his professional career with Columbia Classical Ballet as a company artist. In Columbia, Yu-Jhe got the opportunity to dance in repertoires such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, The Wizard of Oz, Coppelia, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Le Corsaire. This is his second year with Madison Ballet.
Alex Vrba. Wisconsin native Alex Vrba, began dancing at the age of 15 at MainStage Academy of Dance. After completing high school, he joined The BrayBallet as an apprentice. His performance highlights with MainStage Academy/ The BrayBallet include Jonathan Harker in Bray’s Dracula and the Rat King, and Cavalier in The Nutcracker. This is his second year with Madison Ballet.
PROGRAM
Bask
Choreography: Erica Pinigis Music: Andrew Bird (with edits by Erica Pinigis) Down Under the Hyperion Bridge The Green Heron Lazuli Buntin Dancers: Alyssa Jendusa, Luella Shapiro, and Emily Shelton Costumes: Erica Pinigis
Program Note: This piece is inspired by and dedicated to my three beautiful children. It’s filled with the hope and dreams I carry for their futures, and the joy that I try to find as many moments as possible to bask in, even if those moments are only a few seconds long
She Who Plants
Choreography: Jacob Brooks El Composer: Sergey Cheremisinov Song: Seven Lights Dancer: Sarah Minton
Getting Progressively More Complicated
Choreography: Liz Sexe Music: “The Hustle” by Van McCoy Dancers: Cynthia Bachhuber, Haley Johnson, Jenna Mao, Brooke Schroder Music credit: Sound Score by Amy Slater Dancer: Amy Slater
Dance Diary
Danses sur la Terre
Choreography: Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez Music: Olafur Arnalds, René Aubry Dancers: Shannon Quirk, Sarah Minton, Lily Edgar, Sun Yu-Jhe, Alex Vrba Costumes: Karen Brown-Larimore, Amy Panganiban
