Commissioned Works

Kanopy Dance Company has earned a strong national reputation for its bold contributions to the evolution of Modern Dance, drawing frequent invitations to tour with the Company, guest choreography for significant cutting-edge productions, and to serve as artists in residence and dance faculty at a variety of institutions.

In 2013, Kanopy also formed an ongoing cultural partnership with NYC’s Martha Graham Dance Company. Lisa Thurrell, (Thurrell) Kanopy’s co-artistic director, danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company and alum of its prestigious training program.

Kanopy has performed commissioned works at Ailey Citigroup Theatre and Jazz at Lincoln Center for national showcases of dance. In 2018, the Kanopy Company danced in several invitational showcases: Next@Graham (Martha Graham Dance Company), NUVU Festival, (curator Miki Orihara), and Modern Rebels (Sokolow Dance Theatre) in NYC.

Between them, Kanopy’s co-artistic directors Robert E. Cleary (Cleary) and Thurrell, have served as faculty at Idrætshøjskole, Oure, Denmark, University of Nebraska, The Martha Graham School in NYC, Illinois State University, Southwest Texas State, Russian Ballet Academy, Denver, CO; California State University-Fullerton, Minnesota Ballet, among others.

In 2023, Thurrell was recruited as choreographer and artist in residence for the critically acclaimed Des Moines Metro Opera’s production of Bluebeard’ s Castle, staged by the noted opera director, Kristine McIntyre, for its celebrated 51^stSummer Festival. Thurrell first collaborated with McIntyre for Madison Opera’s Florencia en el Amazonas in 2018. Other projects that followed were the Des Moines Metro Opera Festival’s Wozzeck in 2019, and, spring or 2023, the Madison Opera’s highly praised Seven Deadly Sins, in which the Kanopy Dance Company also performed. This past summer Thurrell returned to the renowned Metro Des Moines Summer Opera Festival as a highly praised guest artist, choreographing for the critically acclaimed The Cunning Little Vixen, a whimsical opera that was part of the series.

Next spring in 2026, Thurrell’s ballet, Renascence created in partnership with Kanopy’s Robert E. Cleary, will be performed under the remarkable baton of Andrew Sewell in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Masterworks III, Regeneration.

Cleary’s choreography and commissioned works have been featured by numerous presenters… among them: several Arhus and Copenhagen Dance Festivals and in Chicago at the Ruth Page Center. His most recent commission was for the choreographic work, This is Not America, performed by the highly regarded Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble in New York City.

For serious inquiries about guest touring, choreography commissions, commissioned works, guest artist residencies, or master classes, please contact Kanopy’s Associate Director, Susanne Voeltz susivoeltzpr@gmail.com, call 608.284.0848, or email info@kanopydance.org.