Who We Are - TO DONATE
Dance Wisconsin is a regional dance company that promotes excellence in the art of dance. The company presents high-quality productions featuring dancers from all over southern and central Wisconsin and distinguished guest artists from companies around the world. These productions not only offer the opportunity for young people to explore new heights, but also to learn teamwork, commitment and a sense of pride in accomplishing something truly extraordinary. Dance Wisconsin is the state’s only Honor Company in Midstates Regional Dance America.
Dance Wisconsin provides the vehicle for young dancers to go beyond their studio dance experience and learn more about their art form while making valuable connections in the dance world at a professional and collegiate level. Dance Wisconsin offers dedicated dancers the opportunity to train at a high level to achieve their goals whether they are simply to be the best dancer they can be or if they wish to pursue dancing beyond High School. Dance Wisconsin offers them the training and opportunities to help make anything happen.
Dance Wisconsin also opens the door for youngsters who may never have the opportunity to learn about dance. Artistic director Jo Jean Retrum has successfully pioneered the Dance in the Schools program, which reaches students who may not have been exposed to the art of classical ballet or other genres of dance. She and her staff of professional teachers teach dance classes in some of Dane County’s largest student populations serving free and reduced lunch. The Dance in the Schools program taught in two to three week residencies during Physical Education Classes meets the State of Wisconsin’s criteria for the dance unit in elementary schools. Almost entirely self funded by grants written by a team of volunteers, the program introduces multiple forms of dance including ballet, jazz, hip hop as well as the mindfulness of yoga to elementary classes grades 1 - 5. Since the beginning of the Dance in the Schools program Ms. Retrum has discovered multiple dancers that have gone on to dance on full scholarship at her dance studio Monona Academy of Dance and advanced to dancing with Dance Wisconsin and even on to professional dancing careers or teaching dance. Most importantly they have become well rounded individuals giving back to their communities.
OUTREACH
Dance Wisconsin visited Waterloo Elementary in Waterloo Wisconsin on December 10, 2021 to take part in the 3rd grade unit on the Nutcracker Story. Students had read the story and learned about its many versions from book to film and stage. Artistic Director, JoJean Retrum talked to the students about the history of the ballet and had members of the cast dance some of the more well known dances. TO DONATE
They learned about pantomimes in the ballet and met Fritz and learned about the trouble he causes. They learned about the choreography that makes up the battle scene between the Nutcracker and the Rat King. And some Dance Wisconsin company dancers performed the Sugar Plum and Marzipan dances.
The children had some great questions. Thank you again to Ms. Wagner and the Waterloo 3rd graders!.
Dance in the Schools - TO DONATE
Dance Wisconsin’s purpose is to promote and foster dance in Wisconsin and cultivate an appreciation of the arts among people of all ages. Dance Wisconsin’s Dance in the Schools programming has the goal of reaching upwards of 1000 Dane County elementary students, each year, and exposing them to dance education through the physical education program in their schools. These three-week residency programs meet the education requirement of the State of Wisconsin in dance. Allowing students to receive dance instruction from professional educators versed in the classical art forms of ballet, jazz and the more modern forms of contemporary and hip-hop.
During the residency the Dance Wisconsin professional dance instructors provide small group instruction to students in the schools during their physical education classes. For the first, second and third graders ballet is the focus of instruction with stretching and learning positions and basic movement across the floor. Combinations of the steps learned are put together for a presentation at the end of the three weeks. These combinations are designed by the professional staff to serve two functions: provide a showcase of steps learned but also provide an outlet for the student to use later for physical activity. The fourth and fifth graders will focus on the styles of jazz and hip-hop as their focus while continuing to empathize stretching and isolations of different body parts while moving across the gymnasium floor. They also learn combinations to showcase and utilize on their own for physical activity. At each grade level we can also include a section on mindfulness which introduces the students to basic yoga.
The Dance Wisconsin Dance in the Schools Programming, attempting to be self-funding, seeks grants to cover preparation and teaching costs so that our educators can enter under resourced schools, that are close to or over fifty percent free and reduced lunch participants. Each elementary school is approximately 400 to 500 students K-5 and we work with grades first through fifth. In 2020 we worked with Kindergartners for the first time. In a typical academic year Dance Wisconsin will receive requests from four to five elementary schools meeting the above criteria seeking residencies. In 2019 Dance Wisconsin provided three-week residency instruction in two elementary schools in Sun Prairie, Creekside Elementary and Westside Elementary, introducing approximately 650 students to dance as a life-long skill and entertainment option. Unable to secure adequate funding we had to deny the other two requesting schools their residencies, Lowell Elementary in Madison WI and Northside Elementary in Sun Prairie WI.
The Dance Wisconsin Dance in the Schools Programming provides students with multiple positive outcomes. First, the opportunity to learn about dance styles and the movement of an individual’s body to music. For some, it may be the first time they learn about connecting discipline between their minds and their bodies. For many it may also be the first time they experience teamwork through physical expression as combinations may require one student to combine movement together. Something they will continue to do in their physical education classes when playing team sports. Secondly, they can begin the development of an appreciation of classical and modern dance forms that the school community is not regularly exposed to with the hope that the exposure will create additional interest. Additional interest can simply be the opening of the mind to watching, participating in or supporting dance into adulthood.
Below is video from our three-week residency at Royal Oaks Elementary in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. February 2020
Dance Wisconsin Company
Our Dance Wisconsin dance company consists of dancers ranging in age from 12 to adult. They are the only group in the state awarded the National Dance America Honor Company by Regional Dance America, an organization that provides a vital link for dancers into the professional and/or collegian world. Dance Wisconsin dancers train year round, attending workshops and programs at some of the most prestigious professional dance companies, including Bolshoi Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, BalletMet, Alonzo King Lines, Joffrey Ballet and many more. They are consistently recognized each year for being among the top young dancers in the nation.
Company dancers are the ballet de corps for Dance Wisconsin, providing the foundation for our annual productions. They also work with nationally recognized choreographers who come to Madison to set dance pieces for the annual Regional Dance America Midstates Dance Festival. It is a process that takes nearly a year beginning with learning the steps from choreographers during the summer months to working for nine months to perfect their moves and ending with the annual Dance Festival in Spring. Dancers showcase their works in the winter to a visiting Midstates’ adjudicator. The adjudication involves a full ballet class conducted by the artistic director and a performance of selected pieces, including those choreographed by Dance Wisconsin dancers. Final selections are featured at the annual Dance Festival. The festival offers exposure and opportunities, including dance workshops, summer intensive scholarships, college scholarships and cash scholarships as well, with some of the nation’s top names in the dance industry attend or provide instruction during the event.
Come meet us! Check out our upcoming visits to local businesses and youth programs around the Madison area. Do you have a business or educational program that would like to collaborate with Dance Wisconsin on an event? Contact us at dancewisconsin@gmail.com.
