PERFORMANCE NEWS
DPMKE welcomes Peter Stathas Dance to the spotlight
2025.04.03 – Author, Co-Artistic Director, Christal Wagner
Peter Stathas is a bit like a cold front meeting a warm front. You notice the shift in temperature, and the wind picks up a bit. You have a feeling a storm might brew, but in the moment, you are taken aback by the pleasure of a breeze on your skin and the humidity in the air. And yet, in the possibility that the storm might pass, there is also potential for lightning to strike. That is Peter.
At the age of 60, Peter re-emerged on the dance scene to approach choreography once more after a long hiatus. In his early years, he studied with Gerri Houlihan, Lar Lubovitch, Mel Wong, Mark Morris, and his mentor, Maggie Black. Formerly a Limón dancer, Peter’s approach is poetic, and his work is speckled with nuances of the present moment. Utilizing the subtle and fleeting details of emotions and gestures that arise in real-time collaboration with his dancers, he amplifies these moments in his process to create humanly raw choreography that challenges the performers’ endurance and capacity for delicacy.
1 unique partnership + 2 unique shows
Peter and I have been talking for several years now about collaboration. He is always cooking up new ideas, and we sometimes meet monthly to talk about art, the art scene, and cooking up “things.”
In the summer of 2023, Peter hosted Danceworks Performance MKE at his summer series, The Barn Project—a space where newly drafted works emerge from a week-long residency for an intimate audience. Set in a quaint barn with a constructed dance floor, large barn doors that let in fresh air, and the soft chirping of crickets floating in on the breeze, it’s like a Wisconsin Jacob’s Pillow, if you will. Peter invites artists to share new ideas, and his company presents something hot off the press. He has produced The Barn Project for several summers, inviting artists from all over to present new explorations.
This time, we take a turn in presenting Peter to our audience. In late April, Danceworks welcomes him to the Danceworks Studio Theatre, where he brings an evening of work with his company on April 25th and 26th, presenting From Where We Ascend/Wake, described as “…a place where we shed our skins in order to expose the uncertain, embracing the new while recognizing what we have left behind in our wake.”
Additionally, Danceworks features a guest choreographer each season to work with the company, seeing this as a way for our artists to expand their skills, work with new voices, and absorb new ideas as they themselves emerge as choreographers and dance makers. In May, Peter will craft a brand-new work on the company that amplifies Aesop’s fable of The Wind and the Sun. This will premiere at our third and final concert of the season, Fables from the Wide Sky.
Why we invite you to see both concerts?
If the Danceworks mission is Joy, Health, and Creativity, then we firmly believe that Peter’s work will not only bring our audience to feel those things but also serve as a petri dish—a space where the environment and potential for something truly extraordinary can flourish. His choreography thrives in experimentation, embracing the beauty of humanity and the rawness of the present moment. Like a warm and cold front colliding to create the perfect storm, this collaboration is charged with energy, unpredictability, and the possibility of something remarkable taking shape. We know that the fusion of Peter’s artistry with Danceworks’ performers will spark conversation, curiosity, and wonder, both on stage and in the audience. I’ve loved getting to know Peter Stathas and his inquisitive mind, and I know you will too.
From Where We Ascend/Wake makes its Milwaukee debut April 25th–26th, and Fables from the Wide Sky premieres May 22nd–24th.
About the Concerts
From Where We Ascend/Wake
April 25 – 26, 8pm
This program recognizes and expresses our cumulative ascension as people, as artists, and as a collective- recognizing where we came from, reconciling with where we are, and taking a collective leap towards where we have to go. We are excited to bring this production to life and to bring people together sharing in an evening of reflection and aspiration.
“From Where We Ascend/Wake
suggests we are in a place of ascension, perhaps physically, or some conscious state of being. In this place we are offered and confronted with choices that lead to utter possibilities that flutter into an ascending moment, like birds taking flight. It is a place where we shed our skins in order to expose the uncertain, embracing the new while recognizing what we have left behind in our wake.
When this title came to me I had such a visceral inner certainty about its significance, and began a journey of trying to demystify it. This collection of dances/films seek to be the recognition and expression of this feeling. Quite simply, the force behind our ascension/wakes and the power of our creation generates from the ties that bind us as people, friends, and collaborators.” – Peter Stathas
Discover more about Peter Stathas Dance peterstathasdance.com
Fables from the Wide Sky
May 22 – 23, 7:30pm + May 24, 2:30pm
Familiar and unfamiliar anthropomorphic tales, known as fables, reflect the moral compass guiding us and shaping our perspectives of the world. DPMKE invites audiences to delve deep into the folklore that binds us viewed through the imaginative worlds curated by the company’s dancers and Co-Artistic Directors.
A special collaboration between Cuauhtli Ramírez Castro and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra brings the symphonic classic “Huapango,” by José Pablo Moncayo García to life, offering a vibrant investigation into folklore and fables of Mexican origin through song and dance. Additionally, Milwaukee native and guest choreographer Peter Stathas creates a world premiere piece developed for the company.
Moving performances from the Danceworks Intergenerational Performance Company and Danceworks Apprentice MKE round out an evening where myth, music, and movement converge and reveal the shared stories that define us all.