Meet Our Members
Sarah Wolf
Sarah attended Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, for two years working on her BFA in dance. She attended Milwaukee Ballet School’s summer intensive for multiple years, as well as summer intensives at the Ailey School and Masterworks Dance Festival. While completing her BFA in dance with honors form UW-Milwaukee, she worked with a variety of choreographers including Simone Ferro, Ed Burgess, and Luc Vanier. Ms. Wolf danced one season with Danceworks Performance Company in Milwaukee before joining Kanopy in 2010 as a dancer and teacher. Ms. Wolf is an ABT Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 7, and has teaches at First Position Dance Studio, and Beloit College.
Marlene Skog
MARLENE SKOG’s career as a performer and award-winning choreographer spans over thirty years at home and abroad. She is the Artistic Director of Marlene Skog Dance, a passionate educator and advocate for the arts. As a choreographer, Marlene's work is recognized for its emotional range, brilliant technique, and intentional fluidity between classical ballet and contemporary dance. Her work unpacks the enduring question of what it means to be human and is purposeful in its strong synthesis of movement, music and message.
A native New Yorker, Marlene's experience as a performing artist, teacher, and choreographer is vast. Connecting to the energy and pulse of the times, she continued her work in Sweden for fourteen years, where she founded her international company, Marlene Skog & Dancers, as well as Uppsala Dansakedemi, an establishment for dance arts. During her tenure, Skog developed a professional dance curriculum that was approved by the Professional Dance Board of Sweden and supported by the State. Marlene's unique vision prompted a noteworthy collaboration with renowned Swedish choreographer, Birgit Cullberg. Skog was commissioned to choreograph for multiple cultural events in Sweden, including the International Arts Festival—Norway, Scandinavian Cultural Conference, and the International Women’s Convention. She was awarded several unique honors including the prestigious Folkuniversitet Cultural Prize, Gotsa Knutsson, and NordBanken’s Cultural Awards. Marlene received her MFA from the University of Arizona, where her tenure was recognized with the Creative Achievement Award and the Green Valley Concert Association Fellowship Award in Choreography. Her work has been performed nationally across the Midwest and in New York City, Hawaii, Florida and North Carolina and internationally at the King’s Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland and at the World Dance Alliance in Vancouver B.C.
Currently, Marlene is on faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor of Dance and the recipient of the Wisconsin Dance Council's Distinction Award.
Emily Shelton
Emily Shelton is from Cincinnati, OH where she trained at the Otto M Budig Academy of Cincinnati Ballet. She received her BA in dance and BS in physics from Case Western Reserve University, where she performed works by Larry Keigwin, Mark Morris, and Pascal Rioult. Additionally, she attended summer programs at BalletMet Columbus, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Paul Taylor Dance Company. She performed with Verb Ballets and Ohio Dance Theatre in their production of “The Nutcracker” in December 2015.
Liz Sexe
Liz Sexe is the choreographer/artistic director of Liz Sexe Dance Company established in 2014. She is described as a “clean and efficient mover,” and having “toughness under her grace.” In her processes, tasks inspire poetic movement, game theory finds logical, yet often unexpected phrasing, and athletic dancing is paired with deep intentionality. Her choreographic work has been featured at the World Dance Alliance Festival in Honolulu, Hawaii, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Danceworks in Milwaukee, WI, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. She was an artist in residence at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Bubbler at Madison’s Central Library. Most recently, Liz is interested in curating and creating more opportunities for Dance in the greater Madison area. She has collaborated with Dane Arts, LunArts, and various local dance companies and organizations in Madison to ensure moving artists have more opportunities to show their work.
She has performs both regionally and nationally with Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company, Marlene Skog and Dancers and other local choreographers. She received her M.F.A. in Performance and Choreography from Mills College in Oakland, CA. Currently, Sexe is a lecturer in UW-Madison’s Dance Department. When Sexe is not dancing, she is a Pilates instructor at Pilates Central right on the square in Madison, WI.
Luella Shapiro
Luella graduated with a BA in Theatre Arts (Dance) from Beloit College in 2006. Since then she has performed with Kanopy Dance, Agnieszka Laska Dancers, Frente de la Danza Independiente, and Li Chiao Ping Dance. She also performs and teaches on silks, trapeze and corde lisse through Swing State Aerial at the Madison Circus Space. When she's not dancing her heart out, you can find her adventuring with her three amazing kids.
Lily Rubin-Miller
Lily was born and raised in New York City, and grew up doing Modern and creative movement. She was a member of the Loco Motion Children’s Dance Theatre, and trained at Broadway Dance Center, Alvin Ailey, Mark Morris, and Steps on Broadway. She has learned from members of Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor’s companies, and performed with the Newcomb Dance Company at Tulane University during her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Public Health. She went to ACDA with the Newcomb Dance Company in 2016 and 2018.
Lily started a site specific children’s after school dance program in 2014, based out of the elementary school P.S.3 in Greenwich Village. The program takes children to different places throughout the city, and teaches them to creatively incorporate visual or historical aspects of the site into their choreography. The program is called Dance Adventure, and it has evolved into a summer camp program for the past four years as well. Lily continues to work for the program over the summer, and has a passion for sharing creative movement with children.
Carlos Ramirez-Araujo
Born in Mexico City, Carlos began dancing at the age of six at the Ballet Folklorico Vicente Guerrero school run by Marcial Cortez under the tutelage of Professor Jose Ramon Mendoza. After several years, he began to specialize in Mexican dances and traditions. He took courses of different choreographers like Lino Ortega, Antonio Baeza, Aaron Nolasco, Ana Maria Garza, Rafael Zamarripa, among others. At the age of 16, Mr. Ramirez-Araujo began to dance professionally with the "Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Mexico". At the same time, Carlos began his training in classical ballet and modern dance at the school of "Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez" as well as the "Ballet Teatro del Espacio" directed by Gladiola Orozco and "Ballet Independiente" under the direction of Magnolia Flores. In Mexico Carlos has worked professionally in different productions and dance companies as dancer, choreographer, costume designer, set design and technical assistance. In the United States, Mr. Ramirez-Araujo has had the privilege of dancing in dance companies such as Dance Wisconsin (Nutcraker Production) Call for Peace Dance & Drums Company as dancer, Madison Children's Theater as Choreographer and Kanopy Dance Company as Dancer and Choreographer. Carlos also participated as a guest artist in other companies such as Tania Tandias Flamenco Dance company and Madison Opera. Carlos also had the honor of working with renowned choreographers and directors such as Martin Løfsnes Director of 360 Dance Company (Martha Graham Dance Company former principal dancer) and Amit Lahav Director of Gecko Theater company (physical theater in England).
Carlos is director and choreographer of DanzTrad which promotes the fusion of culture, music and traditions of Mexico through the dance.
Erica Pinigis
Erica Pinigis is a Madison, native and started her dance career at the Kanopy School for Contemporary Dance and Choreography. Erica received her BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota. After graduating, she produced and choreographed “Ooh La Lounge: An Evening of Dance and Jazz” at the Suburban World Theater and the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. She was curated by the Red Eye Theater for her collaboration with Erinn Liebhard: Lulladreams and Insomnimares, and was an Artist in Residence at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Arts. Erica has performed in Madison and Minneapolis with the Kanopy Dance Company, Peel and Core Dance Company, University Dance Theater at the University of Minnesota, Zenon Block E performance group, the Eclectic Edge Ensemble, and Marylee Hardenbergh’s Global Site Performance. Erica migrated to the Bay Area in 2008 where she was a company member of several local groups including Facing East Dance & Music, Paco Gomes & Dancers, the Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble, Slick Babble Dance Project, H2O Dance, and Bianca Cabrera’s Blind Tiger Society. Erica completed her MFA in performance and choreography at Mills College where she was honored with the E.L Wiegand award for excellence in performance and choreography.
Heidi Krause
Heidi is a freelance artist, creative movement educator, performer, and choreographer. Formerly a soloist with Kanopy Dance Company, Krause’s research on creativity and movement has taken her around the world. She is currently studying at the Laban-Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York.
Brienna
Kemmeter
Brienna Kemmeter began her dance training at the Makaroff School of Ballet in Appleton, WI. At age 16, she attended the North Carolina School of the Arts to rigorously study ballet under renowned instructors. She received her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Oklahoma on scholarship, where she was a member of Oklahoma Festival Ballet and Contemporary Dance Oklahoma. She had the opportunity to study under Austin Hartel, Derrick Minter, Dudley Williams, Betty Jones, Nancy Allison, Fritz Ludin, and others. Additionally, she attended summer programs at the Milwaukee Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, Ballet Magnificat!, and Ad Deum. She joined Kanopy Dance Company from 2010 to 2019 and is currently a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant in Madison, WI.
Jessica Hoyt
Jessica trained at the National Ballet School of Canada and Interlochen Arts Academy, graduating with academic and artistic honors. She received her BFA in dance and her BA in political science from the University of Michigan, where she danced works by Peter Sparling, Lucinda Childs, Merce Cunningham, and others. Jessica is a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, specializing in orthopedic outpatient rehab and sports medicine.
Alyssa Jendusa
Alyssa comes from the small town of Stone Bank, Wisconsin where she started dancing at the age of four. She trained at the Milwaukee Ballet School for twelve years and attended their summer intensive program where she performed original works by a variety of choreographers including Karl Von Rabenau, Nadia Thompson, and Denis Malinkine. Alyssa received her BA in dance from Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. At Point Park, she performed original contemporary works by the likes of Judith Leifer-Bentz and Nicholas Petrov. Alyssa has worked with Kanopy Dance Company, Scratch Dance, and Liz Sexe Dance in the Madison area. She has performed works by Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Martin Lofsnes, Sandra Kaufmann, and many others while dancing in Madison. This is her first season as a member of the Isthmus Dance Collective.
Maritess
Escueta
Maritess Escueta began her dance training at the Academy of Dance Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey under the instruction of Viorica Stampfel, Jennifer James Church, Nicholas and Shayne Mishoe, and Bridget Denise Trochiano. While in high school, she was a Trainee at the Joffrey Ballet Chicago and performed works by Stefanie Batten Bland, Gerald Arpino, and Alexei Kremnev. She continued her dance studies at Case Western Reserve University and graduated with degrees in dance and sociology. Her awards include Top 12 at Youth America Grand Prix Semi Finals, the Creative Arts Achievement Award in Dance, and the Lily Dreyfuss award in dance. Most recently, her research on professional dancers of color won awards at the Research ShowCASE at CWRU and the Northeast Ohio Undergraduate Sociology Symposium.
Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez
Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez began his dance training in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he studied under several teachers including Carmen Sandoval, Lucila Arce, Helen Hoth, and Alex Zybin. He later studied at the San Francisco and Pacific Northwest Ballet schools and was offered an apprenticeship with the American Festival Ballet at age 17. He then returned to Guadalajara where he danced with Ballet de Cámara de Jalisco before joining the Spokane Ballet as a soloist. In 1989, he joined the Eugene Ballet Company as a soloist and rose through the ranks to become a principal dancer. He has also performed as a principal dancer with Charleston Ballet Theater, and Ballet Idaho. He has toured internationally throughout Mexico, United States, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and Taiwan. Juan Carlos has worked with renown artists including Christopher Aponte, Toni Pimble, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Lisa de Ribere, Elisa Monte, Beth Corning, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, David Berkey, Pascal Riult, and Martin Løfsnes.
In 1997, Juan Carlos returned to college to study physics and computer science at Boise State University while performing with Idaho Dance Theater. He later earned a Ph.D. in physics from University of Guadalajara and currently works for the Wisconsin IceCube Particle and Astrophysics Center at UW-Madison.
In 2007, Juan Carlos returned to the stage, exploring modern dance, including works by Martha Graham with Kanopy Dance, and flamenco with Tania Tandias Flamenco & Spanish Dance. Juan Carlos has danced in several productions by the Madison Opera including their most recent staging of La Traviata.