2016 Dance

Debra Loewen, choreographer, THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE OF LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS

Debra Loewen earned a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MFA in dance from UW-Milwaukee. She formed the New Space Company while teaching at the University of Delaware, where her interest in site-specific work was first recognized in the early 1970's. She lived in Colombia and Peru, where she taught, choreographed and performed with Ballet Moderno and the National Ballet of Peru. As a solo performer and independent choreographer, she performed her work in Canada, California, Philadelphia, Chicago and throughout the Midwest. She also toured with Interface Inc. wearing a movement-sensitive costume interfaced with a computer/sound system. Her work with modern dance pioneer Robert Ellis Dunn began in the late 70's continued until his death in 1994. In 1987, she founded Wild Space Dance Company, creating more than 100 works for the company while performing to critical acclaim throughout Wisconsin and in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Japan and Korea. Over the past two decades, Loewen has earned multiple choreographic fellowships from Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently teaches at UW-Milwaukee and Lawrence University and leads Wild Space's residencies at Lincoln Middle School of the Arts. She has consulted with K-12 educators to help design dance residencies and promote arts-in-education projects and conducted choreography and contact improvisation workshops throughout the Midwest.

Susan Rethorst, choreographer, THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE OF LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS

Susan Rethorst, born in 1951 in Washington D.C., began modern dance studies at an early age. Tutorials with Judith Dunn at Bennington College laid the groundwork for Rethorst's artistic sensibility. Since 1975, Rethorst has steadily created dances out of New York City. Since 1995, she has divided her time between New York and Amsterdam, teaching choreography throughout Europe and Scandinavia and continuing to make work in both Europe and America.

Rethorst's work has been presented by The Museum of Modern Art; The Kitchen Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Marks, The Downtown Whitney Museum, among others, as well as at various dance theaters, universities, and festivals throughout the U.S. Internationally her work has been produced by The Holland Festival, Spazio Zero Rome, The Kunsthalle Basel, The Aix-en-Provence Festival, Jerusalem's Room Festival, among others.