By Megan Williamson, Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association

Erica Pingis admits that she’s not a stereotypical female dancer. She’s less of the smaller, fast twitch, ballerina-type dancer, and often finds herself in the role of partner to that type of dancer. She said it was very difficult to find someone or a dance company that made her feel comfortable as she pursued her passion for dance.

Pingis became a professional dancer in her late teens, then left in 2007 to obtain her degree in dance from the University of Minnesota. She eventually made her way to the Bay Area. While there, she went to Oakland-based Mills College, where she obtained her master’s in dance performance and choreography. The written component for her advanced degree became the springboard for Madison’s innovative Isthmus Dance Company.

“Competition and scarcity in professional dance troupes (make) it extremely hard to enter,” Pingis said.

Since she did not have a stereotypical dancers frame, she realized then that if she wanted to see opportunities in dance, she had to create them. That inspired the idea of a democratically run dance organization like IDC. Part of the company’s mission is to “work cooperatively in a non-hierarchical manner to provide accessible and inclusive dance education and outreach, performances, and promote dance dialogue in the community.”

That sounds like a pretty lofty goal. And indeed, according to Pingis, there are only a handful of groups nationally that subscribe to it. Her humility is admirable. In fact, what she and her colleagues have created open the traditional mold of how dancers join dance companies, about how their voices are heard as to what they dance and as to how they are taught. Pingis further describes IDC as an “advocacy dance organization” comprised of around 20 members. Some are advocates of dance, some are professionals looking for community and some are people excited to learn. The group shares expenses (music rights, rent and infrastructure) and
all have an equal vote.

IDC just moved into a new space at 2709 E. Washington Ave., next to Hawthorne Library.

The group has two productions a year that are aimed at helping dancers. Erica herself organizes Shifting Gears, an annual Madison event held on Labor Day. It features free dance performances at three Madison parks, including Wirth Court (Hippo) Park.

The other production is D.E.L.V.E. — Dance Experience Lab for Vibrant Exchange — where dozens of local professional and pre-professional dancers perform in six new works, bridging aesthetic, demographic and geographic divides by working in new forms outside their comfort zones.

“IDC’s D.E.L.V.E. provides an opportunity for dancers and choreographers to create and explore artistically, while making new connections and performing for local audiences,” Pingis said.

Until next time, be a good neighbor.

For more information, visit isthmusdancecollective.org.

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