HISTORY OF THE FUTURE
December 1-2 7:30 pm
December 3 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm
UWM Mitchell Hall Studio 254 3203 North Downer Avenue
History of the Future is a four-chapter dance about memory, presence, connection and our collective capacity to embrace time’s relentless pace. In consort, four choreographers chase a dance that awaits beyond dancers. “Now” hovers at the edge of uncertainty, expectant of change.
Tableaus repeat as phrases loop and evolve while a podcast plays. A last-chance table offers “feel-good-about-tomorrow” messages, a dancer disappears, a tango entangles. Five-second actions flash moments from the past; dancers perform “maps” of their movement history. Each chapter is a history for the next as each dance holds the future of its past, propelling dancers head-long in a quest for the self they were long ago.
Choreographers: Debra Loewen, Dan Schuchart, Katelyn Altmann, Jenni Reinke.
Dancers: Katelyn Altmann, Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro, Alex Dougherty, Ashley Garcia, Zoe Glise, Gina Laurenzi, Ida Lucchesi, Jessica Lueck, Shannon Stanczak, Jasmine Uras
Guest Performers: John Schneider, Flora Coker, Simone Ferro
"Electronic Dance No. One" (1975)
Choreographers
Dan Schuchart
Schuchart is an interdisciplinary artist and teacher. Schuchart earned BFA degrees in Dance and Painting/Drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, an MFA in Experimental Choreography from the University of California-Riverside, and a Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis at Columbia College Chicago. Since 2002, he has worked with Wild Space Dance Company as a company member, choreographer, Associate Artistic Director, and now Co-Artistic Director. Dan is currently a Senior Lecturer at UW-Milwaukee Department of Dance. Outside of dance, Schuchart has worked as a scenic painter, including for the movie Public Enemies, and scenic charge for the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Florentine Opera, and Skylight Music Theatre.
Chapter 1 “Perfectly Irreverent ” : Ashley Garcia, Zoe Glise, Ida Lucchesi, Jasmine Uras.
Debra Loewen
Loewen founded Wild Space Dance Company in 1986 following a career as an independent choreographer and solo performer. Loewen has created more than 120 works for the company, which have been performed to critical acclaim throughout Wisconsin and in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Japan, and South Korea. Featured in Dance Magazine, her site-specific work has brought renewed interest and recognition to Milwaukee landmarks, such as Historic Turner Ballroom, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Villa Terrace and both the Schlitz and Pabst Brewery. Loewen has earned fellowships from Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2011, she was selected by the Milwaukee Arts Board as an Artist of the Year. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MFA in dance from UW-Milwaukee. She is a Senior Lecture at UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts.
Chapter 1 “Together Again At Last For the First Time” : Deb Loewen, John Schneider, Flora Coker, Simone Ferro.
Katelyn Altmann
Altmann (she/her) is a movement-based artist, choreographer, and improvisor currently residing in Milwaukee, WI. She received her BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. During this time Altmann performed in works of Joe Goode, Maria Gillespie, Esmé Boyce, Simone Ferro, Daniel Burkholder, Mair Culbreth, Melanie George, Esther Baker-Tarpaga and worked with artists such as Ishmael Huston-Jones, Kathleen Hermesdorf, and Irene Dowd, among others. She is a current performance and collaborative artist with Wild Space Dance Company, Hyperlocal MKE, Danceworks, and Li Chiao-Ping Dance. Katelyn has presented both her solo and collaborative work throughout Milwaukee, at Seattle Festival for Dance Improvisation, Dance Masters of Wisconsin, Bates Dance Festival/Gibney Connect NYC, Chicago National Association of Dance Masters, MKE Fringe, Danceworks Get it Out There, and her work was selected to be presented at the American College Dance Association’s North Central Conference.
Chapter 3 “Last Tree Standing; Newspapers Mourn"”: Katelyn Altmann, Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro, Ashley Garcia, Jessica Lueck.
Jenni Reinke
Reinke is a multidisciplinary performing artist working between dance and theater. She has danced with Wild Space since 2018 and has served as managing director since 2020. A founding member of Quasimondo Physical Theatre, she has worked with the company to devise more than 20 original projects since 2012. Credits include creator, co-director, choreographer, and performance ensemble. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel critic Mike Fischer lauded her work as “always mesmerizing,” “ravishingly beautiful” and “riveting,” and consistently included it his annual “Best Of Wisconsin Theatre” list. Jenni also has worked with Danceworks, DanceCircus, Esmé Boyce, Daniel Burkholder, Simone Ferro, and others. Beyond Milwaukee, she has performed her work in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Vermont. Most recently, she toured her original solo dance theater production Mrs. Wrights, inspired by the five women closest to architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Jenni holds an MFA in Dance/Choreography from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a BA with a music major and philosophy minor from Beloit College. She has taught movement and music to students of all ages, inspiring wholeness, sharing joy, and strengthening community through creativity and self-expression.
Chapter 4 “now together again for the first time”: Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro, Alex Dougherty, Gina Laurenzi, Shannon Stanczak.