Danceworks! And it's even better with live music played by Present Music. Just as the relationship between these exciting organizations expands, we've decided to explore the universal experience of growing. Composers under consideration include Steve Reich, Sofia Guibaidulina, Qu Xiao-song, Steven Mackey, David Lang, and Kamran Ince. In April of 2000 the seeds for thei collaboration were planted. Come and pick the fruit in June 2001. Two of Milwaukee's best with a post-concert party for the price of one. Beat that!

Growing marks the third intstallment in the artistic collaboration between Milwaukee's premiere new dance and music groups, the Danceworks Performance Company and Present Music. Artistic Directors Sarah Wilbur (DPC) and Kevin Stalheim (PM) have joined forces to create an evening-length piece that uses live dance and music to explore the experiences and impulses that shape individual growth. The piece, which takes place in a theatrical context far removed from the traditional concert, is a departure for Wilbur and Stalheim. "We had taken the original choreography-performed-to-live-music formula far enough with the first two concerts," according to Wilbur. "We were fortunate to have two shots at the more obvious sort of collaboration in order to become familiar with each other. By last spring, we had become interested in combining our resources to create something new, to take the collaboration to a new level."

The concert, which involves eleven musicians, seven dancers, and over twenty additional performers, is performed without intermission. Wilbur, who is choreographing the piece, uses the entire physical space–on and off stage- to build a landscape of images that connects the audience to their surroundings. Stalheim has chosen works by seven composers, including Arvo Pärt, Lou Harrison, Annie Gosfield, and Steve Martland, to create a musical landscape that complements this intimate geography.

Wilbur draws a parallel between the choreographic process she uses in building this piece and the evolution of human character. "There are some images that repeat," notes Wilbur, "and other images that move the audience toward the next 'obstacle.’ Some of these obstacles are literal, others are metaphorical. The images themselves emerge from the layers that lie beneath the surface of who we are as individuals and they suggest that we, as people, are the result of millions of single moments–some fleeting, some that we barely survive. And just as all the images and dances merge into a larger, culminating work, our character is the summation of all those moments we have enjoyed or endured."