Welcome to Kanopy Dance
Please join us for Kanopy’s 2026-27 Performance Season at the Overture Center for the Arts
Experience the Transformative Power of Kanopy Dance
Please Join us for our 50th Season of Creating Transformative and Impossibly Beautiful Dance
WITHOUT BORDERS
CELEBRATING THE DANCE LEGACY OF JOSÉ LIMÓN
October 15-18, 2026
Promenade Hall, Overture Center for the Arts
Kanopy’s Without Borders Celebrating the Dance Legacy of José Limón honors Mexican born José Limón who electrified the world as one of the 20th century’s most influential dance makers. In its 50th season, Kanopy is proud to recognize Limón, a stellar talent in the constellation of powerful immigrant voices that have shaped our cultural landscape.
Colin Connor
Colin Connor is the award-winning choreographer of over sixty works and was the Artistic Director of the American legacy Limón Dance Company from 2016 to 2020. His choreographies have been presented across the Americas, Europe and Africa, including New York’s Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Momment’Homme Festival in Montreal, The Holland Festival, and the Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporanea in Mexico. He was the winner of Sarasota Ballet’s International Choreography Competition, Charleston Ballet Theatre’s Fountainhead Choreography Competition, best experimental film at the California Womens’ Film Festival and best music video at Silent River Film Festival. His work draws from a large range of influences – musical, literary, social and scientific – all used to bring attention to the communicative power of the human body. Major collaborations include: Solea and the Winds, a radical Contemporary / Flamenco evening which toured to critical acclaim for three years across Europe and Secondhand Sofawith bluegrass band The Biscuit Boys for the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He has mounted works on the Limón Dance Company, Atlanta Ballet, Finland’s Damaru Dance Company, Hartford Ballet, The Juilliard School, Richmond Ballet, the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Kanopy Dance Company, sjDANCEco and Island Moving Company among many others. As Limón’s Artistic Director he revitalized the Company and School and nurtured a new generation of leaders in the tradition. Mr. Connor has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School, NYU, City College of New York, and the California Institute for the Arts, where he is a Professor Emeritus. He has also taught and choreographed at many major international dance centers including Rotterdamse Dansacademie, London’s The Place, Israel’s Rubin Academy, and Dresden’s Palluca Schule. colinconnor.org.
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Daniel Fetecua Soto, A New York based Colombian dancer, choreographer, educator and producer, Fetecua was soloist member of the Limón Dance Company for ten years, (2006-2016), dancing lead roles in Jose Limón’s master pieces and has appeared as guest artist in Pina Bausch’s “Rite of Spring” and “Tannhäuser”. Fetecua is a master teacher of the Limón technique, reconstructor of Limón’s repertory and Director of the Limón Professional Trainee Program. He is the founder and artistic director of two dance companies: Pajarillo Pinta’o, a dance company that preserves and promotes the Columbian traditional dances through dance performance, workshops and classes; and D-Moves, a contemporary dance project that combines Columbian traditions, Modern Dance and German TanzTheatre. Fetecua is a longtime collaborator of Columbian composer and musician Pablo Mayor. Together, they have created Amalgama and El Barrio Project, and the educational residency Cumbia for Kids/Cumbia for All. Since 2008, Fetecua has worked with Native Choreographer Daystar/Rosalie Jones for her work “Wolf: A Transformation”, from whom Fetecua has the rights to the piece for its performance, preservation and promotion. Fetecua is a member of Movement Migration an international collective of seasoned dance artists directed by Kim Jones. He is the producer and artistic director of Latitudes Dance Festival, a NYC based platform that promotes and presents Latin American and Indigenous companies and choreographers from around the world. His most recent project, C.A.V.E.S with world renowned dancer Blakeley White-McGuire, is touring internationally in collaboration with local dance companies and artists. Fetecua is currently resident choreographer and board member of ID Studio Theatre a not-for-profit organization led by Colombian actor German Jaramillo. Fetecua is also a resident choreographer at Teatro SEA directed by Manuel Moran for which he has choreographed “Sueno”, a Caribbean take on Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “La Gloria: A Latin Cabaret”. He won a HOLA award for Best Choreography and an ATI award for “The Crazy Adventures of Don Quixote”.
UDBHAV DESAI
Udbhav Desai (Desai), choreographer and performer, and analytics professional with experience at Meta, Alight Solutions, and Epic, was born in the heart of Gujarat in Western India. From a young age, Desai was immersed in a world of dance, specifically Garba and Raas, routinely participating in community events and festivals. This tradition carried on at Northwestern University, where Desai performed with the South Asian Students Association in predominantly Bollywood fusion pieces. After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in chemical engineering, Desai joined Madison Contemporary Dance, 2017-2018, and appeared as a guest artist in Kanopy Dance Company’s iconic production of “Love is Love” in the 2019-20 season. In 2022, Desai choreographed Chalo Ramiye for Kanopy as a love letter to Garba and the piece of him he left behind in India. Chalo Ramiye has since been featured annually in the Winter Fantasia production.
KIRO KOPULOS
Kiro Kopulos (Kopulos) is a dancer/choreographer/musician who has been doing performance art for over 50 years. Kopulos was coartistic director of Intersect Theatre Dance Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also performing with Nonce Dance Ensemble in Detroit. Kiro was also Executive director for Barrier Free Theatre in Ann Arbor. Kopulos has been a frequent guest artist and collaborator with Kanopy Dance since 1992. As a freelance choreographer and teacher, he has presented his work at the Edmonton, San Francisco, and Minnesota Fringe Festivals. At StudioFor in Oakland, California and at the White Church Theatre Project in Spring Green. Through his work, Kopulos has created a singular style of physical theater and vinyasa flow yoga. Kiro has taught therapeutic yoga in Madison for 33 years and currently teaches at his Studio, InfiniteFlow which is also an incubator space for his performance art.
DAVID QUINN
David Quinn is a fashion and costume designer working across a variety of mediums, from theatre, dance, and film to burlesque and red carpet. Quinn’s theatre work has appeared in numerous traditional and non-traditional venues across the United States and internationally. In 2017, his work on Jack was described as “jaw-dropping” (Travelance) and “glorious” (Time Out NY). In 2022, his costumes for Dick Rivington were hailed as “brilliantly inventive” by The New York Times. Quinn has designed dance costumes for the Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and Stanley Love Performance Group. Dance View Times wrote, “Quinn is cutting and draping and colouring the most beautiful dance costumes to be found in New York.”
Quinn’s wide-ranging group of collaborators has recently included music legend Debbie Harry, for whom he created a mirrored shroud for Coachella, as well as red carpet and press event gowns for actress and singer Bridget Everett. Iconic collaborations with performance artist Darrel Thorne include the cover look for the July 2025 issue of Wallpaper Magazine. Quinn continues to create costumes for burlesque superstar Miss Dirty Martini, most recently for her performances in Las Vegas and her European tours with Dita Von Teese. Follow on Instagram @quinndustry.
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Michael Bell. By day, Michael Bell is an author and professor of environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But by night, he is a composer, songwriter, and performer in both classical and grassroots traditions, often combining the two.
Michael’s composition sounds out a contemporary style that sings with melodies and dances with rhythms. His songwriting focuses on themes of social ecology, social justice, and social unity, drawing inspiration from old time, klezmer, jazz, and folk-rock. As a performer, he sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo as a soloist and with several groups – which these days include the indie klezmer group Tsuzamen, the folk-rock duo MaD Mentshn, the contradance band Thirsty Roots, and Elm Duo, a duet with his daughter Eleanor Mayerfeld.
Along with Eleanor, Michael composed and performed two “folk-ballets” with Kanopy Dance. In February of 2026, his symphony Regeneration was choreographed by Kanopy Dance as the ballet Renascence and performed with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra at Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts.
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Eleanor Mayerfeld is a vocalist and violinist from Madison, Wisconsin. She holds a B.A. in Music from Middlebury College and a M.M. in in Voice from the Longy School. Eleanor appears as a soprano soloist with Just Bach, Madison Bach Musicians, and in cantatas at Luther Memorial and Christ Presbyterian Church.
She received the Shinichi Suzuki Teacher Scholarship for violin at the American Suzuki Institute and has toured the upper Midwest as a teaching artist in the role of Pamina for Opera for the Young’s The Magic Flute.
Eleanor is passionate about both Americana and Yiddish folk music. She is a Wisconsin State Fair Fiddling Champion and was an Azrieli Scholar at KlezKanada. She is delighted to perform with Kanopy Dance once again after collaborating on the original folk ballets Enchantment and The Green Cousin (Fermentation Fest) as well as Piazzolla’s tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires (Madison Opera).
Experience the Joy of Dance at Kanopy’s Dance Academy
Official School of Kanopy Dance Company
Kanopy’s Dance Academy offers a comprehensive program of modern contemporary dance, creative process, choreography and ballet for dancers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Whether you are on a professional track, looking for a body strengthening workout, or simply exploring the pure joy of dance, Kanopy has a class just for you.
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