For the City Times

STEVENS POINT — The newest work by the artistic director of Visceral Dance Chicago will debut at Danstage 2018 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, staged April 13-15 and 19-21.

Performances will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 13-14, and Thursday to Saturday, April 19-21, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, April 15. The UW-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance production will be held in Jenkins Theatre in the Noel Fine Arts Center. It features works by Chicago choreographer Nick Pupillo and professors Michael Estanich, Jeannie Hill and Joan Karlen.

The April 15 matinee includes an optional 1 p.m. pre-show talk with the choreographers in Noel Fine Arts Center Room 290.

Pupillo’s “Everything Breaks” features 13 dance majors who worked with the artist during a four-day residency in February. He challenged the students to push themselves, be fully committed, and he motivated them to expand their technique, stamina and artistic embodiment, said Karlen.

“Working with renowned guest artists makes a significant impact on dance students,” she said, “inspiring them to follow their dreams of pursuing a life in the arts whether it be through performance, teaching, choreography or administration.”

Danstage 2018 also features “What Love Looks Like,” a new narrative work by Estanich that explores relationships and identity in current culture. In a series of vignettes, the dancers revel in a utopian dreamscape where love conquers despair. Estanich also is restaging his 2013 graceful environmental work, “Hokkaido Sanctuary, Japan 7:21 a.m.” with a new cast.

“Toll,” Karlen’s soulful work for nine dancers, has athletic partnering that investigates what takes a toll in our lives. The piece features a varied musical score by composers Henryk Gorecki, Nico Muhley, Lamb and Phil Kline.

Set to five classic jazz tunes from a newly released recording of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Live at Zardi’s,” Hill’s suite of dances marks the end of a yearlong international celebration of Fitzgerald’s 100^th birthday. “Swingin’ Ella” is about the relationship of bodies to the beat and people to one another. The piece also pays homage to great movie musicals of the 1930s and ‘40s.

Danstage 2018 tickets are $24 for adults and seniors, $14 for youth and $10 for students with UW-Stevens Point ID. Tickets are available at Information and Tickets in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, at 715-346-4100 or http://tickets.uwsp.edu.