Background

Li Chiao-Ping in "Fall" by David Dorfman
( Photograph by Jay Daniel)

Li Chiao-Ping Dance (LCPD) was founded in 1990 and has made Madison, Wisconsin its home since 1993. We are a resident company of Overture Center for the Arts, and produce three major performances each year. We also offer workshops and touring programs throughout North America.

The company is dedicated to offering programs of emotionally charged and athletic works, with striking visual design and the music of contemporary composers.

We also are committed to making dance accessible to a variety of people—as audience members and participants. LCPD collaborates with K-12 schools to offer performances as residencies, and we continue to teach movement workshops at senior center communities.

As a choreographer/director, Li Chiao-Ping has created, produced and performed over 130 works for the stage and screen. She has received recognition for her evening-length solos, such as "Yellow River" and "Entombed Warrior", as well as "The Men's Project", a concert of six solos choreographed by Mark Dendy, Daniel Nagrin, Mel Wong, Gus Solomons jr., Joe Goode and David Dorfman, and performed by Ms. Li. In 2009, Ms. Li answered "The Men's Project" with "Women Dancing," a concerts of 7 solos choreographed by Cynthia Adams, Molissa Fenley, Heidi Latsky, Victoria Marks, Bebe Miller, Elizabeth Streb and June Watanabe.

Ms. Li has collaborated with many artists, including her long-time creative work with visual artist Douglas Rosenberg. Their evening-length multi-media "ODYSSEY", piece based on Homer's work of the same title, was presented as a work-in-progress at the Cleveland Experimental Choreographers Festival, The Yard, and the International Video and Dance Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1997. “ODYSSEY” made its premiere in Madison, Wisconsin in October of 1998. Their latest collaboration is “VENOUS FLOW: STATES OF GRACE”, a meditative journey through healing of the spirit and the body, incorporating the stories of struggle, perseverance and triumph from individuals from our community.

Ms. Li has received numerous grants, honors, commissions, residencies and awards. Most recently, she has received the Wisconsin Arts Board's Choreographer's Fellowship and the University of Wisconsin's Vilas Award. The Asian Pacific Women's Network and the National Arts Association have given her awards and she has been nominated twice for a Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund North American Award. She also received first place awards in Choreography and in Performance from the Los Angeles Arts Council in consecutive years. In 1996, Ms. Li was invited to be a U.S. Representative in the International Choreographers Program at the American Dance Festival.

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