Choreographers

About the Isthmus Dance Collective

Mission Statement Isthmus Dance Collective (IDC) aims to provide greater access to dance opportunities on the individual, inter-organizational, and community levels in ways that are sustainable for the artists and high impact for the arts community in the Madison area and beyond. Members of IDC work cooperatively in a non-hierarchical manner to provide accessible and inclusive dance education and outreach, performances, and to promote dance dialogue in the community.

The IDC Model

The Isthmus Dance Collective is a cooperatively organized non-profit organization. Our collective is modeled on a hybrid of several types of cooperative or collective organizational structures, primarily a consumer and a worker cooperative. IDC members contribute to the operations of the organization, monetarily and through service work.The pooling of our resources allows us to provide our member artists with better access to rehearsal space, physical training, continued education, music, insurance, and more. It also creates a space for dance artists in our community to exchange ideas, learn from each other, and push the art of dance to develop in ways that serve the betterment of ourselves, the community, and the world.

As a democratically-run collective, all of our members have an equal say and an equal vote. We are dedicated to listening and to a mindset for continually re-evaluating whether all of our members are being seen and heard. This micro-culture is an important part of our decisionmaking, our commitment to diversity, and our desire to collaborate.

Featured Choreographers

Jacob Brooks El

A Chicago na+ve, began his dance training in 2002 at the Chicago Academy for the Arts under the instruc+on of Randy Duncan, Guillermo Leyva, Sandra Kaufmann, and the late Anna Paskevska. In 2006, he aFended Columbia College Chicago's modern dance program under the direc+on of Margi Cole, Jeff Hancock, Carrie Hanson, and Emily Stein. He later on became an appren+ce for Gus Giordano Dance and Luna Negra Dance Theater. He also aFended Ballet Chicago under the intense training of Daniel Duel and Patricia Blair. Jacob has been a guest ar+st for such companies as, the West Indian Folk Dance Company, Momenta, Ballet Chicago, Chicago Fes+val Ballet, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Les Ballet Grandiva, Madison Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and San Diego Opera. He is currently School Director of Madison Ballet.

Aubry Dalley

Aubry is an independent choreographer and dance teaching ar+st with a BA in Dance Educa+on from Brigham Young University (Magna Cum Laude). She is currently a member of Isthmus Dance Collec+ve in Madison, Wisconsin. Her teaching experience spans public and higher educa+on including Brigham Young University where she was the Assistant Director for Contemporary Dance Theatre. While working in K-12 educa+on, Aubry directed the dance program as well as chaired the Performing Arts Department at a public high school. Aubry has served as the associate director of Oquirrh West Project and has been honored to choreograph for the Utah Metropolitan Ballet, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia, Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company, BYU’s Contemporary Dance Theatre and danceEnsemble, ON SITE mobile dance series, UVU Summer Concert, the Young DanceMakers, the ACDA Gala, Li Chiao-Ping SEED Fes+val, Oquirrh West Project, and the Shi`ing Gears Dance Fes+val. Her work has won awards in the Rocky Mountain Choreography Fes+val, Utah's Shakespearean Fes+val, Provo’s Take Two Choreography Compe++on, Utah Regional Ballet’s Choreography Design Compe++on, and the Alfred Lambourne Prize. Grants awarded include a 2020 Li Chiao-Ping SEED Fes+val Grant and Art for Uncertain Times Grant through the Center for LDS Arts. Aubry’s freelance performance work includes Scratch Dance and interac+ve and site specific shows such as Dance Engine and ONSITE mobile dance series. Aubry was a presenter at the 2021 Na+onal Conference for the Na+onal Dance Educa+on Organiza+on.

Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez

Juan Carlos began his dance training in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he studied under several teachers including Carmen Sandoval, Lucila Arce, Helen Hoth, and Alex Zybin. He later studied at the San Francisco and Pacific Northwest Ballet schools and was offered an appren+ceship with the American Fes+val Ballet at age 17. He then returned to Guadalajara where he danced with Ballet de Cámara de Jalisco before joining the Spokane Ballet as a soloist. In 1989, he joined the Eugene Ballet Company as a soloist and rose through the ranks to become a principal dancer. He has also performed as a principal dancer with Charleston Ballet Theater, and Ballet Idaho. He has toured interna+onally throughout Mexico, United States, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and Taiwan. Juan Carlos has worked with renowned ar+sts including Christopher Aponte, Toni Pimble, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Lisa de Ribere, Elisa Monte, Beth Corning, Lynne Taylor-CorbeF, David Berkey, Pascal Riult, and Mar+n Løfsnes. In 1997, Juan Carlos returned to college to study physics and computer science at Boise State University while performing with Idaho Dance Theater. He later earned a Ph.D. in physics from University of Guadalajara and currently works for the Wisconsin IceCube Par+cle and Astrophysics Center at UW-Madison. In 2007, Juan Carlos returned to the stage, exploring other forms of dance including contemporary, modern, Mexican folklore, and flamenco, performing with a number of local groups including Tania Tandias Flamenco & Spanish Dance, Kanopy Dance, Marlene Skog Dance, Madison Ballet, and Madison Opera.”

Erica Pinigis

Erica started dancing as a teen then went on to receive her BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota. A`er gradua+ng, she produced and choreographed “Ooh La Lounge: An Evening of Dance and Jazz” at the Suburban World Theater and the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. She was curated by the Red Eye Theater for her collabora+on with Erinn Liebhard: Lulladreams and Insomnimares, and was an Ar+st in Residence at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Arts. Erica has performed in Madison and Minneapolis with the Kanopy Dance Company, Peel and Core Dance Company, University Dance Theater, Zenon Block E performance group, the Eclec+c Edge Ensemble, and Marylee Hardenbergh’s Global Site Performance. Erica migrated to the Bay Area where she was a company member of Facing East Dance & Music, Paco Gomes & Dancers, the Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble, Slick Babble Dance Project, H2O Dance, and Bianca Cabrera’s Blind Tiger Society. Erica completed her MFA in performance and choreography at Mills College and was honored with the E.L Wiegand award for excellence in performance and choreography. Since returning to Madison, Erica and several colleagues founded the Isthmus Dance Collec+ve, a non-profit coopera+vely run organiza+on that supports dance ar+sts.

Liz Sexe

Liz Sexe’s work as a movement ar+st is grounded in the belief that performance is a mode of sharing perspec+ve through embodied experience. In 2019 she received the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award where she produced Un+tled: for the sake of progress which was performed at Madison and Tomah. In 2016 Sexe self produced and performed in TWO: exploring duos where seven choreographers created works exploring the idea of duo. “Self-producing such an ambi+ous show might be a risky proposi+on, but the communitybuilding spirit propelling this project means that Madison (WI) gets an excellent glimpse into the modern dance scene.” (Isthmus) Sexe is grateful for this spirit in the Isthmus Dance Collec+ve! Her choreographic work has also been featured at Arts on Site in New York City, the World Dance Alliance Fes+val in Hawaii, UW-Madison, Danceworks in Milwaukee, WI, and UW-Eau Claire. She has toured both regionally and na+onally with Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company and Marlene Skog and Dancers. Find out more at lizsexedance.com or @lizsexedance

Marlene Skog

A na+ve New Yorker, holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Arizona, and is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked in Sweden for fourteen years as dancer, teacher and choreographer, directed an interna+onal dance company and founded and established Uppsala Dansakademi, for dance arts. Skog developed a professional dance program approved by the Professional Dance Board of Sweden and supported by the State. Her contemporary ballet work prompted collabora+on with prominent Swedish choreographer, Birgit Cullberg. Skog choreographed for several official cultural events including the Interna+onal Arts Fes+val – Norway, Scandinavian Cultural Conference, and Interna+onal Women’s Conven+on at Uppsala University. Her awards include the Peoples University Cultural Prize, Gosta Knutsson Cultural Award and NordBanken’s Cultural Award. At the University of Arizona she was recognized with the Crea+ve Achievement Award and Green Valley Concert Associa+on Fellowship Award in Choreography. She is recipient of the 2018 Dis+nc+on Award presented by Wisconsin Dance Council. Skog’s work has been performed na+onally and interna+onally, including King’s Palace Edinburgh Scotland, Guadalajara México, Vancouver B.C., Manoa HI, Chicago IL, CharloFe NC, Tallahassee FL, NYC, with Madison Ballet and across the Midwest. Her work addresses the enduring ques+on of what it means to be human and is purposeful in its strong synthesis of movement, music and message.