UW–Madison’s Dance Department delivered a remarkable showing at the 2025 American College Dance Association (ACDA) North-Central Conference, held March 14-18 at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point.
Both UW–Madison works submitted for adjudication were featured in the festival’s Gala Concert — with one also selected as an alternate to advance to the National Festival in Washington, D.C. An additional work, choreographed by UW–Madison students, was performed in an informal concert.
“Earth,” choreographed by Li Chiao-Ping, the Sally Banes Professor of Dance and a Vilas Research Professor in the Dance Department, was the first adjudicated work from UW–Madison featured in the Gala Concert.
Created in collaboration with the dancers and set to music by Byron Au Yong, the piece explores “the range of yin, or feminine energy,” according to a Nov. 2024 review in The Capital Times. Performed by Kylie Buedel, Reagan Coussens, Harper Deeken, Sarina Simonelli, Erin Steers, and Pa Ying Thao, the six dancers “move with relentless rigor through exciting shifts between fluidity and percussiveness.”
The second adjudicated work, “Hold On a Little Bit Longer,” was also featured in the Gala Concert — and selected as an alternate to advance to the National Festival.
Choreographed by undergraduate Emily Tlachac and set to an original composition by fellow UW–Madison student Bode Houston, the piece explores themes of lingering, unwavering support and a profound sense of belonging. Dancers Harley Blanchard, Whitney Bleick, Megan Moore, Meade Sames, and Marissa Stolt convey the strength of human bonds through intimate movement and shared moments of stillness.
Adjudicator remarks described the piece as: “A haiku that leaves you wanting more. The seamless ensemble moves as one breath, while emphasizing what’s left behind.”
Also representing UW–Madison at the festival was “Tenderness and Rot,” created and performed by students Whitney Bleick and Erin Steers. Presented in an informal concert, the duet began as a class composition assignment in spring 2024 and evolved into a piece exploring an unhealthy, consuming relationship. Originally composed of task-based movement phrases, the work developed through multiple drafts to form a distinct movement vocabulary and storyline. Throughout the dance, roles within the relationship shift and reverse as the dancers navigate an affair they have found themselves entangled in.