These dancers don’t take the summer off

Dance marches on over the summer. Just so the parade doesn’t pass you by, here is the rundown.

Koma (left) and Eiko in “Raven.” Danny Ardiono photo, courtesy of the artists’ website.

The biggest and most surprising dance event of the summer is Eiko & Koma, coming to the Lynden Sculpture Garden at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 23, under the Alverno Presents banner. I saw this duo at the American Dance Festival way back in 1984. They are earthy and surreal; watching them was like being in a dream. They are among the most celebrated of Butoh-influenced dancers. They will perform Raven, which changes with its environment, at the Lynden Garden. Here is part of their description of it:

“Using a hand crafted, burned and scorched floor and a similar backdrop, Eiko & Koma hope to present the actual or metaphorical ‘smell’ and ‘residue’ of living and dying, something readily profound in their upbringing in postwar Japan and still very much so in many parts of the world. Raven meditates on how land, though often assaulted by humans, perseveres while also remembering its past. By evoking the image of a raven, an animal recognized in many cultures as a source of power and myth, the work will take on new meaning—both individual and universal—at each performance site.”

Click here for video (warning, partial nudity).

Tickets are $15, $12.75 for Lynden members. Order through Alverno Presents. And here’s the kicker: You can hang around and picnic with Eiko & Koma after the performance! Brown bag it or order through the garden for $15.

UWM

UWM MFA candidate Daniel Burkholder, to be featured at Danceworks.

Every summer, seasoned dance professionals, many from New York, converge in Milwaukee for the summer intensive of the UWM MFA program in dance. UWM attracts such people because its program was designed for professionals; dancers can continue their careers as they complete their academics. Each summer, these very advanced students show a mix of works in progress and more polished dances at Dancemakers concerts at the UWM Main Stage Theater. This summer, six dancer-choreographers will present new works at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 29-30. Tickets are a bargain: $12, $10 for seniors, faculty and alumni, $8 for students, at the Peck School of the Arts box office, 414 229-4308.

The provocative Amii LeGendre and Carey Foster are collaborating on their UWM MFA thesis show, The Museum of Narrow Places. They’re presenting site-adapted versions of it in five locales around the country, including the Inova gallery on the UWM campus. That pay-what-you-can event is set for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday July 8 and 9. Here’s how the artists describe it, in part: “This is an interdisciplinary work that tampers with structure in order to offer watching and participating options for its spectators. There are hip hop artists, modern dancers, musicians, golfers, tree climbers, composers, visual artists, and massage therapists in the cast.”

For several summers now, UWM has granted one graduating MFA student a special concert at Danceworks. The honor comes with a little bit of a budget to bring in guest dancers — typically from the dancer’s own company — if desired. This year, the faculty chose Daniel Burkholder. You can see him moving — and apparently having lots of fun doing it — right here. (Watch the video; you’ll like this guy.) He calls his company “Playground.” I like that. Daniel Burkholder and Playground will perform his The Chemistry of Lime Trees at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 15-16, at the Danceworks Studio Theater, 1661 N. Water St.   Tickets are $25 and $20, $15 for students and seniors, at the Danceworks website.

One more UWM pay-what-you-can: at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, July 22-23, Christina Briggs Winslow and Olasebikan Freeman will present Deconstructing the Stage and the Self. What’s it about? “As artists, and as humans living in the world, we erect and inherit boundaries that make sense of the world around us and our place in it. These boundaries offer comfort and a place of beginning. Nevertheless, growth happens.”

The Burkholder concert is also part of the Danceworks Dance Lab series, which has two other components. In Danceworks on Tap, in which Amy Brinkman-Sustache and her tap proteges show their stuff, is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 12-13, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14. $20 and $15, $10 for students and seniors.

Choreographers and artists from other disciplines draw lots to pair up in Art to Art, an annual summer Danceworks event with a barrel-of-monkeys vibe. The 2011 edition is coming at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday August 19-20 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday Aug. 21. $20/$15/$10.

Here are the Art-to-Art pairings:

Choreographer Simon Eichinger with flutist/dancer Joseph Pikalek; choreographer Molly Mingey with composer Jas Mchugh; choreographer Steven Moses with writer Justin Spaller; choreographer Liz Sexe with composer/musician Timothy Russell; choreographers Andrew Zanoni and Megan Zintek, with painter Mary Adamson and musician Scott Rousch.

Milwaukee Ballet

Hundreds of intermediate to pre-professional dancers gather at the Milwaukee Ballet School’s summer sessions each year. The rigorous run of classes and workshops attract budding dancers from all over the country. Some of them occasionally land in the Milwaukee Ballet II or even in the big company. The summer school culminates in Emergence concerts at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center, in Brookfield. These programs tend to be grab bags of academic and exploratory dances. You never know what you’ll get, which is a reason to check it out.

This year’s Emergence concerts are at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 29. All seats are $25 at the Wilson Center website and box office, 262 781-9470.