Making human connections through dance

If you’ve been around for a while, you may have noticed the tagline on the back of our original Dance Uprising t-shirts: “Making human connections through dance.”

I take this ideal very seriously. When we teach classes and workshops, when we perform as guests or when we host other performers, when we talk to our audiences before, during, and after a performance — these are all opportunities to build community around art! Dance Uprising choreography is created in a collaborative manner where dancers who are cast in a piece are a vital part of the creative process. They know their voices will be heard. Their experiences and contributions are vital to the creation of our work.

Teaching

Whether students join us for our company class or we come to a studio to guest teach, I value the students’ experiences! I mold the class to dancers’ strengths and curiosities. I provide opportunities to try something new and push boundaries.

Hosting Performers

One of my biggest goals with Dance Uprising is to bridge dance communities in Southeast Michigan, Michigan more broadly, and the Midwest. We invite choreographers to present work in our Artists’ Showcase (an informal showing of work) in December each year. We hosted our first National Choreography Month dance concert in February, and we are excited to hold this event again in 2025! Choreographers from all around Michigan and beyond are invited to share performance pieces created during the National Choreography Month (NaChMo) project. We are always excited to see what our peers are doing and to build connections among us with these events.

Guest Performing

Dance Uprising creates a ton of new material each season! We are incredibly honored to guest perform with Ambo Dance Theatre, Deno Dance Company, Suttle Dance, the Detroit Circus, The Precipitants, and so much more! Additionally, we love to perform in festivals whenever we can! (We performed at Dancing in Summer, the Festival in June 2024. We’ll also perform at the Elgin Fringe Festival in September!)

Audience Experience

We truly value our supporters! The choreography we perform is based on our own personal stories and experiences, how we relate to the political and social environment where we exist — and we hope that these works speak to the experiences of our audiences as well. Dance is an amazing, ethereal art form: it’s gone almost as soon as it existed. If we can elicit emotion, thoughtful ideas, or curiosity among viewers, we are happy with our work. :)

Company Members’ Experiences

Dancers who work for Dance Uprising can be confident that their voices are heard through our work. Dancers are invited to collaborate with movement, thematic ideas, costume design, and all sorts of elements of dance creation and performance. Their dedication to this artform brings to life the amazing work our choreographers conceptualize. Dancers are the most important piece of the puzzle that is a professional dance company.