As the mother of four,choreographer Dani Kuepper has learned to value the absurd as a bond andsilliness as a language. In her decade-plus with Danceworks PerformanceCompany, she’s created a body of original work that has helped her define apersonal, “seriously silly” aesthetic. Four of these dances and one new workwill be performed by company dancers in a program for all ages called“Monsters, Mayhem & Mac ’n Cheese” at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center fromApril 16-18 and the Oconomowoc Arts Center from April 30-May 1.
Only the new piece wasoriginally conceived for all ages. Three dances (“Wild Things,” “Frogs” and“Potluck”) were made in collaboration with Present Music at the behest of itsimaginative director, Kevin Stalheim, and another (“When the Bough Breaks”) wasfeatured in a 2009 Danceworks program, all for adults.
But Kuepper wants tobring the generations together. She recognizes that each benefits frominteraction with the others: adults can learn from children how to play, takerisks and savor illogic. Thus, parts of the new “Maestro” will be rehearsed andperformed with adults and children who arrive an hour early to join Kuepper ina monster-making workshop. I’ll reveal more soon!
Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W.Walnut St.: April 16, workshop at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m.; April 17, workshopsat 2 and 6 p.m., shows at 3 and 7 p.m.; April 18, workshop at noon, show at 1p.m.
Oconomowoc Arts Center, 641 E. ForestSt.: April 30-May 1, workshop at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m.
