SueMo: A Dance Experience Presents “Emergence”

The dancer and choreographer Morgan “Mo” Williams, co-founder with dancer and choreographer Melissa Sue Anderson of Milwaukee’s SueMo: A Dance Experience, explained their winter concert’s title, Emergence. “Most of it is from our repertory. Every show we’ve done for the four years that we’ve existed has been pretty much all new work,” he says. “We’ve done two shows every year in Milwaukee and also traveled with the pieces. We’ve got 50-some works now that we can draw on to make a cohesive show. So this is our senior thesis of sorts: Here we come, we’re really ready, we have this repertory and we’re emerging from whatever you want to call it.”

Williams calls SueMo’s style “contemporary fusion,” meaning a joining of contemporary ballet, postmodern and street dance-inspired commercial dance. That’s a good description, and at its best the company’s performances are both heart pounding and thought provoking. Emergence will include works by Williams, Anderson, Kam Saunders and Birane Moore and will also feature new pieces by Associate Artistic Director Christa Smutek, one for the young SueMo II company, winners of last summer’s Marcus Center citywide dance competition, and one for the powerful adult company which in its very make-up stands for equality of gender and race.