Regional Dance America
Dance Wisconsin is an honor company with Regional Dance America’s Midstates region. Through RDA, our company members have the opportunity to travel to annual dance festivals, receive feedback from professional instructors, scholarship, and summer programming with internationaly renowned faculty.
Festival 2025
Our 24-25 season concluded in Kansas City, Kansas at the Regional Dance America MidStates Festival. Before attending Festival, member companies of RDA go through an adjudication process where a piece (or pieces) from their season’s repertoire is selected be performed at the Festival in front of 100s of dancers, directors, college educators, professional company directors and recruiters.
In February 2025 we had the pleasure of having adjudicator, Charlie Martin visit us in Madison to teach class and provide feedback to our company dancers. Alongside our company works, dancers had the chance to be a part of RDA’s Outstanding Soloist program. Soloists received feedback from Mx. Martin and the company gathered as a whole group at the end. Following adjuducation we had two pieces and one soloist selected for Festival.
Dancers, instructors, and artistic director JoJean Retrum, traveled to Kansas City in May 2025 for Regional Dance America’s Midstates Fesitval. The weekend included classes with talented faculty, nightly performances, scholarship opportunities and more. Many company directors and faculty members are RDA alumni.
In April of 2026 dancers will attend Festival in St. Louis, MO.
Summer studies
Our dancers have the opportunity to attend the National Choreography Intensive (NCI) each summer. This two week program offers morning classes for dancers, followed by afternoon rehearsals for choreographic prompts that are then performed each evening in front of peers. Dancers are challenged to work with a new choreographer every day, picking up material and then performing it hours later.
Dancers can be 13 years or older, and those interested in attending as a choreographer must be 16 years or older. Dance Wisconsin has often had company members and choreographers attend NCI on scholarship. Visit RDA’s website to learn more about NCI’s history and details.
National choreography intensive
Started in 2023, the National Training Program, or NTP, is a two week intensive with focus on daily technique and repertory classes. Dancers participate in rigourous classwork with professional faculty in a full day of classes. First directed by Ashley Bouder, the program is now under the direction of former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Sarah Lane.
The intensive culminates with a showcase performance from the NTP students. Learn more about the National Training Program on RDA’s website.