Young Milwaukee dance artist Zach Schorsch, so good in recent Danceworks shows, struggled after graduating UW-Milwaukee’s dance program in 2016. “My emotional and physical health was fluctuating drastically,” he said, “and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to participate in dance again. But making art is a way for me to curate otherwise incomprehensible experiences, so creating Wisdom Teeth was my only option.” He constructed an autobiographical solo, creating movement “that helped me find my body,” and incorporating journal entries he’d written in childhood.
He tested his solo in Danceworks DanceLAB’s Get It Out There and Cooperative Performance’s One Act Festival. Then, “It was time for the piece to grow. We all have wisdom teeth. We’ve all evolved based on our growing pains.” He asked established dance artists Joëlle Worm, Posy Knight and Emily Bennett, and UWM dance students Chelsey Becher, Kelsey Lee, Annie Peterson and Megan Vélez, to undertake a similar process. The result is a full-length choreographic work, his first, incorporating eight “open and raw” personal stories about the journey to adulthood.
Performances are Saturday, March 31 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Danceworks Studio Theater, 1661 N. Water St. $17 general admission, $12 artists. Call or visit danceworksmke.org.
