D.E.L.V.E. Incubator - Dance Experience Lab for Vibrant Exchange
D.E.L.V.E. Incubator - Dance Experience Lab for Vibrant Exchange
Witness SIX new works by local choreographic forces:
Natalia Armacanqui, José Cruz-Arzón, Krysten Hagedorn, Erica Pinigis, Edward Salas, & Liz Sexe
Dozens of local professional and pre-professional dancers perform in these new works, bridging aesthetic, demographic, and geographic divides by working outside their comfort zones in new forms. IDC’s DELVE Incubator provides an opportunity for dancers and choreographers to create and explore artistically, while making new connections and performing for local audiences.
This is the Isthmus Dance Collective's newest move in its mission to nurture dance in the Madison area this May. Come through and be part of this beautiful cross-pollination of Madison Community through DANCE.
In true IDC form, these works highlight the incredible and often unseen diversity of contemporary dance in Madison -. It's Global Contemporary - an expression of our current moment from the perspectives of Madison’s rich diversity in dance.
Throughout history, dance visionaries have charted new roads by thinking and exploring beyond the tradition and disciplines of the past and from finding inspiration in other forms of dance and art. In true IDC form, the DELVE (Dance Experience Lab for Vibrant Exchange) Incubator will highlight the incredible and often unseen diversity of contemporary dance in Madison. Dancers and Choreographers alike, will be expected to expand beyond their current domains and learn from each other as they explore in new styles and forms. This Global Contemporary dance is not limited to the concept of contemporary dance as regarded in the Western Hemisphere but includes contemporary tendencies from other cultures and disciplines.
Special thanks to the Wisconsin Arts Board via the Madison Arts Commission and Dane Arts for their generous support of this project!
About the Choreographers:
José Cruz-Arzón
José (He/They) was born and raised in Puerto Rico and has been dancing since he was 12 years old. José started in classical styles like ballet, jazz, contemporary and modern, but quickly found a love for street styles of dancing like hip hop, fusion styles like jazz funk, reggaeton, and more. When he moved to Madison, WI to pursue his Master’s degree in Biochemistry, he further his dance training at Barrio Dance, where he continued to develop his skills in hip hop, afro, house, jazz funk, heels, Latin styles, and more. His dance journey, with Barrio Dance Factory, has taken him to compete in World of Dance Chicago 2022, 2023 and 2024 where they obtained 1st place (2023) and 2nd place (2024). Furthermore, he had the opportunity to compete at the World of Dance World Summit, where alongside Barrio Dance Factory, they obtained 1st place in the US division and 22nd place worldwide. José teaches Latin dances at Madison Ballroom Company, hip hop and jazz funk at Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR), has worked for KLJ Movement as a hip hop/heels/jazz funk teacher and choreographer, and has taught at and choreographed for Barrio Dance as well. José enjoys being on stage, performing, and teaching others how to live their best experiences on stage and bring out the best performance quality in his students. José values diverse perspectives and ideas from students, inclusivity, confidence, freedom of expression, and the value of trusting the process.
Edward Salas
(Covina, California) began dancing at the age of 19 while earning his AA in Theater Arts at Mt. San Antonio College. He later earned his B.A. in Dance from California State University, Fullerton (2018). He trained in classical ballet and classical modern techniques such as Horton, Graham, and Limón under Muriel Joyce, Alvin Rangel-Alvarado, Lisa D. Long, and Debra Noble. While at University, Edward performed down Main Street USA in various Disneyland Parades. Edward worked as a company member with Re:borN Dance Interactive and FUSE Dance Company in Southern California. In 2022, Edward joined Kanopy Dance Company. He has performed works by Tadej Brdnik, Colin Connor, Daniel Fetecua-Soto, Lloyd Knight, Pascal Rioult, and Martha Graham. Edward is an emerging choreographer that is rooted in Limón and Graham techniques and is influenced by themes such as: cultural identity, environmental sustainability, and the romanticization of the West Coast. Though he has been dancing professionally since graduating, he is still in the early stages of his choreographic career. Since moving to Wisconsin, he has pursued choreographic opportunities that have led him to work with students from Central Midwest Ballet, Kanopy Dance Academy. Most recently, he created a 30 minute work in collaboration with the Unincorporated Dance Lab in Madison.
Liz Sexe
Liz Sexe is a dance educator, choreographer, and movement artist. In her processes, tasks inspire poetic movement, game theory finds logical, yet often unexpected phrasing, and athletic dancing is paired with deep intentionality. As a performer, she is described in The Isthmus as a “clean and efficient mover,” and having “toughness under her grace.” Liz Sexe likes to challenge the expected and draw attention to the smallest details that exist within the moments. She grew up dancing at Dance Studio 3-D in Deerfield, WI and fell in love with the practice of movement. She went on to receive a BA from St. Olaf College in Dance and Biology and continued on to receive a MFA from Mills College focusing on Performance and Choreography. Most recently, Sexe is teaching at UW Madison in the Dance Department and is working on movement projects with various groups of dancers in the Madison Area.
Natalia Armacanqui
Integrating three universal elements of dance, Ang (grace), Taal (rhythm), and Abhinaya (emotion), Natalia creates her own original aesthetics by weaving the multiple global dance styles she has loved and learned in depth, including Kathak dance, Peruvian, Middle Eastern and others, into one tapestry which connects her and others to spirit, culture and ancestral wisdom. Guided by her Indigenous Andean roots and having lived within multiple communities throughout her life, Natalia now shares her art with audiences internationally, inspired by art’s ability to transcend binaries and borders and as a medium through which we can thrive despite historical trauma. As a life-long professional exponent of Kathak dance - the uniqueness in Natalia's movement, rhythm and storytelling practices are defined by her femme subtleness and sensitivity, as well as, by a traditional attention to detail, which are unconventional in an environment of superficiality, flashiness and violence. Blessed by her dance mentors Mekhala Devi Natavar, Smt. Sandhya Desai and others, in 2008, she was awarded a prestigious fellowship award as Senior Performing artist by the American Institute of Indian Studies and has performed solos at renowned international venues such as Kamani Theater in Delhi, India (2010) , Sadler's Wells in London UK (2013) and Edinburgh festival, Scotland (2016). As an M.A. graduate in dance from Roehampton University, Natalia now continues to perform, teach and choreograph in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin and abroad.
Krysten Hagedorn
Krysten is originally from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She likes to say she 'accidentally immigrated’ to the USA after falling in love with her husband Ryan, and getting stuck here during the pandemic. Back in Canada, she worked was a nurse, but her career quickly took a more artistic turn once she relocated. Krysten has loved dance since she can remember. Her first memory of a dance class was crying at a community center as a young child, because she didn’t want it to be over. She spent most of her childhood horseback riding, and didn’t reconnect with dance until she found hula hooping in 2015. Hula hooping somehow lead her to fire dancing, programming light shows, and performing professionally. Now, she runs a circus entertainment company with her husband called Cirque Du Cham, hiring a variety of entertainers throughout the MidWest. Her favorite part of the job is programming light shows and helping performers find authenticity in their performances. Since finding herself in Madison, WI a little over a year ago, Krysten has found her happy place at Barrio Dance Studio. She proudly cleans toilets and mops floors in exchange for being able to train a variety of dance styles with a community she cherishes.
Erica Pinigis
Erica started dancing as a teen in Madison then went on to receive 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, Zenon Block E performance group, the Eclectic Edge Ensemble, and Marylee Hardenbergh’s Global Site Performance. Erica migrated to the Bay Area where she was a company member of 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 and was honored with the E.L Wiegand award for excellence in performance and choreography. Since returning to Madison, Erica and several colleagues founded the Isthmus Dance Collective, a non-profit cooperatively run organization that supports dance artists.
