Beth Skogen
Sexe has convened a who’s who of female choreographers.
At Kanopy Dance studio, dancers Liz Sexe, Alyssa Jendusa and Alaina Keller work through a phrase in artistic director Lisa Thurrell’s new piece for Sexe’s upcoming dance concert, TWO: exploring duos.
After agreeing on which count to accent with a sweeping movement, Sexe says she’s having some “brain glitches.” Co-artistic director Robert Cleary quips from across the studio, “I don’t know why; you’re only doing 17 different pieces of choreography!”
Seventeen might be hyberbole, but Sexe’s new project proves she’s got stamina. Sexe performs in seven of the eight dances that make up TWO, and she is choreographing the eighth.
Sexe has presented several dance concerts over the years, including One: An Evening of Solos in January, so this show of duets, which plays at Madison Circus Space on Oct. 15, is a logical progression.
Last winter, Sexe began approaching her “Madison dance crushes,” asking them to choreograph duets. The resulting program represents a who’s who of female choreographers in Madison: Kate Corby, Maureen Janson, Heidi Krause, Li Chiao-Ping, Marlene Skog, Collette Stewart and Thurrell.
Her collaborators generously donated their work and their time, and in some cases found dancers for Sexe to perform with. Several are brand-new works, while others have been re-jiggered for this occasion.
Growing up in Deerfield, Sexe studied dance at Studio 3-D before majoring in dance and biology at St. Olaf College. She then earned an MFA in dance from Mills College in Oakland, California, right as the recession hit, precipitating her return to Madison. Sexe, who joined Li Chiao-Ping Dance in 2009 and is one of the company’s most riveting performers, is now a lecturer at UW-Madison’s dance department, where she teaches ballet and Pilates. She also moonlights at Pilates Central.
TWO will be demanding for even the most physically (and mentally) fit performer. When asked about the order of the program, Sexe whips out orange Post-Its from her journal and moves them around a coffee shop table, sharing the ins and outs of each piece’s placement in the show and what excites her about each of them.
Listening to her precise questions in rehearsals, it’s obvious that Sexe’s a type A personality who, by her own admission, “strives for it to be perfect.” However, she’s not afraid of things getting messy. When rehearsing dancers Lauren Gibbs and Emily Schultz for her own piece, she reassures them, “I want you to know if you fall, I’d be happy, because you took a risk.”
Self-producing such an ambitious show might be a risky proposition, but the community-building spirit propelling this project means that Madison gets an excellent glimpse into the modern dance scene, with choreography and dancing from some of the city’s biggest talents.
Editor's note: This article was changed to correct the title of Sexe's show to TWO: exploring duos.
