Michael Estanich
Michael Estanich is a Professor of Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he teaches contemporary modern dance, composition, dance pedagogy, movement analysis, and dance history. He earned his MFA from The Ohio State University and his BFA from Denison University. Michael's creative research currently examines the intersection of dance and theatre as powerful tools for corporeal expression. His work asserts value in a multidisciplinary creative approach, relying on movement, voice, sculpture, and dramaturgy to create intimate works of human folly. He formed RE|dance group (redancegroup.org) in 2009 with Chicago artist Lucy Vurusic Riner as a means to explore long distance collaboration. RE|dance group has presented work regionally, nationally, and internationally, recently at the New Dance For Asia International Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Michael and Lucy have presented their research on the collaborative creative process at various conferences hosted by the National Dance Educator's Organization. Michael's performance credits include Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, Cerulean Dance Theatre, Rebecca Rosen, Melanie Bales, Bebe Miller, a reconstruction of Mark Morris' All Fours, and Susan Marshall's acclaimed ARMS. He is the resident choreographer and dance chair at Trollwood Performing Arts School in Moorhead, MN and serves on the Executive Board of the American College Dance Association (ACDA) as Vice President for Nominations and Elections.
Jeannie Hill
Arriving in New York in
the late 80s Jeannie discovered Bob Audy at Broadway Dance Center and in those
precious classes met Billy Siegenfeld. Attendance at her first tap festival in
1990 provided inspiration for her to audition for Manhattan Tap. During the
seven years of rehearsals and touring that followed, guided by artistic director
Heather Cornell, she was introduced to the ever-expanding international
community of rhythm tap dancers and jazz musicians. As a tap soloist, Jeannie
danced the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto with the Central Wisconsin Symphony
Orchestra in April 2018. Her performances at the Hoofer’s Weekend in New
Orleans with Brenda Bufalino and late tap masters James Buster Brown, Jimmy
Slyde and Jeni LeGon bring fond memories. Incredible opportunities to share the
stage with numerous tap and jazz greats at venues like Lincoln Center’s Alice
Tully Hall, New York’s Joyce and Duke Theatres, Sculler's Jazz Club, and
Theatre Comédie in Montpellier, France highlight her career. For over twenty
years she has enjoyed studying with, touring and teaching with Billy Siegenfeld,
artistic director of Jump Rhythm Jazz Project. Her varied performance career
includes Noh dancing in Robert Wilson and David Byrne’s the knee plays (Suzushi
Hanyagi, choreographer); originating the role of Clara in the world premiere of
Drika Overton’s jazz-tap Nutcracker Clara's Dream; touring with Mike
Gordon (Phish) as a tap dancing rock jam-band member; performing at The Supper
Club in New York in a five-month run of A 40s’ Review with the Tony
Corbiscello Big Band, and ten years with comic country band, The Chalks. While
in NYC Jeannie taught tap and Jump Rhythm ® Technique at Steps on Broadway and
Manhattanville College. In 2004 she joined the University of Wisconsin –
Stevens Point Theatre & Dance faculty where she teaches full-time and
choreographs for musicals and dance concerts. On campus, Jeannie is inspired by
collaborative endeavors with faculty of many disciplines (mathematics, art,
sign language, music, theatrical rigging) and introducing her students to the
life lessons jazz has to offer. For six summers she produced Point Tap
Festival (www.pointtap.wordpress.com)
a three-day summer workshop that brought master teachers from across the
country to teach and perform at UWSP. Jeannie holds a BA in Theatre from the
University of Vermont and an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin –
Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts.
Joan Karlen
Joan Karlen is
Department of Theatre & Dance Chair and Dance Program Coordinator at
University of Wisconsin-Stevens-Point where she teaches interdisciplinary
studies, camera dance and digital editing, dance composition and technique, and
Pilates. She earned dance degrees from The Juilliard School and New York
University, and participated in additional multimedia and telematics training
at The Ohio State University, New York University, and Arizona State
University, and The Banff Centre Interactive Screens 1.0. She was a Banff
Centre Film & Media Artist in Residence, faculty member at the Banff IDEA
Summit, and presented her research at the Convergence: An International Summit
On Art + Technology. Her research was featured in The Juilliard Journal's special
issue on Technology and the Arts. Joan's
choreography was awarded a Wisconsin Arts Board Choreography Fellowship; her
teaching has been recognized with the student-nominated University Leadership
Mentor Award, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Teaching Excellence Award
(twice), the Who's Who Among American Teachers Award, and the UW-System
Teaching Scholar Award.
Joan has presented her video and computer-generated dances
throughout the United States and internationally, including at the 5th
annual Movement
and Computing Conference (Italy 2018), and in Ireland, Portugal,
Germany, the UK, Egypt, Argentina and Canada. Multimedia collaborations include
Signal (2018) Zlatko Cosic,
video artist; Trace (2011) Travis Kirton software author, and Rafael Francisco
Salas and Andy Broomell, projections; Ringtone (2009); Lines of
Resolution (2008) John Little, animations/projections; Scars, a multimedia performance work based on
cross cultural relationships, composed and directed by Nahla Mattar, Cairo,
Egypt; and Zoom In, Look Out
(Ojo Al Zoom) Margarita Bali choreographer, at Teatro Presidente
Alvear, Buenos Aires, Argentina; a video version Zoom In, Look Out was also
screened at the Digital Cultures Lab, Nottingham, England.
As a performer Joan originated roles with New York-based
companies, throughout the US and in Argentina. For several years she was active
with the Dance Films
Association Dance on Camera Festival (Lincoln Center, NYC) as a
selection jury member, forum panelist and workshop presenter, and as a national
panelist on Designing Dance Video Courses and Multidisciplinary/Multimedia
Issues and Projects.
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