Simone Ferro - Research Leader
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Simone Ferro is a choreographer, educator and researcher. She joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2001 where she served as M.F.A. program director and department chair. After a professional career as soloist with dance companies in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Geneva, Switzerland, she completed her graduate work in dance at the University of Iowa. She is a Laban Certified Movement Analyst by the Columbia College of Chicago. Simone has collaborated extensively with local dance, theater and opera companies, including the Milwaukee Ballet, the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Florentine Opera, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Milwaukee Opera Theater, Danceworks Performance Company, Wild Space Dance Company and Theatre Gigante. She is a strong advocate for the Milwaukee and the Midwestern artistic community where she collaborates with visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and scholars of different fields. Her choreographic work encompasses a wide range of thematic approaches from social to environmental justice issues. Simone is recipient of several awards, including a UWM Graduate School Research Grant, an Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, a Research Growth Initiative (RGI) grant, Choreographic Fellowship from the Wisconsin Arts Board and was honored with a 2013 University of Iowa Alumni Fellowship. For the past 15 years, she travels to Brazil with her husband and research partner, Meredith W. Watts, to document and research popular culture and the traditional Bumba-meu-boi folk festivities in the Northeastern state of Maranhão. She has posted dozens of video-clips in her personal website (http://www.simoneferro.com/) where she has pioneered a repository of the Bumba-meu-boi. Simone is wrapping up a manuscript she is jointly writing with her husband on the Leadership of Women in the Popular Culture of Maranhão. Simone is currently in her second term as the president of the Wisconsin Dance Council. She is also on the board of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD).
Ashley Ray Garcia (Spring 2021-Present)
Ashley Ray Garcia is a Michigan native dancer. She is currently attending the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee where she is working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance and choreography. At UWM, she has received training from Melissa Anderson, Dani Kuepper, Maria Gillespie, Daniel Burkholder, Mair Culbreth, YNOT, and Simone Ferro. Since her first semester here, she has remained on the Dean’s List with a 3.9 GPA. Before moving to another state, Garcia choreographed for the Staff Dance Ensemble for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for two years. She worked with and obtained guidance from Rachel Miller, Patty Villanueva, Cory Goei, and Michael Parmelee. Ashley Ray Garcia also interned for the Midwest Regional Dance Festival (RAD Fest) in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ashley's focus is in ballet and modern contemporary. She has also had training in tap, jazz, hip hop, and Celtic dancing. Garcia enjoys choreographing, performing, and improvisation which she looks forward to gaining knowledge through both training and experience. Aside from dancing, Ashley also enjoys playing the piano, drums, and singing.
Jessica Lueck (Spring 2021-Present)
Jessica Lueck is a Milwaukee Native dancer attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is pursuing two degrees, one in Dance Performance and Choreography and the other in Information System and Technology. Through the duration of her time at UWM, she has studied Modern, Ballet, Jazz, Improvisation, Composition, Alexander Technique, Laban Movement Analysis, Applied Anatomy, and numerous other Master Classes. Through SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship), she has been able to research and expand her knowledge through embodied research in the Sherman Park area, furthering her understanding of the city she’s lived in from childhood.
Zoe Glise (Summer 2020-Present)
Zoe Glise is a student, performer, and movement-based artist located in Milwaukee, WI. Currently working towards her BFA in Contemporary Performance and Choreography at UWM, she has worked with Daniel Burkholder, Mair Culbreth, Simone Ferro, Maria Gillespie, Dani Kuepper, Gina Laurenzi, and Dan Schuchart, training in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Improvisation, Composition, and more. Throughout her years at UWM, Zoe has also had the opportunity to work with several guest artists in performances and masterclasses including, Joe Goode, Emma Draves, Yumelia Garcia, Tatiana Malinkine, and more. Since the summer and fall of 2020, Zoe has worked as a research student under the direction of Simone Ferro and Mair Culbreth, working on movement research in the Milwaukee area. Zoe has had the opportunity to perform with the Gina Laurenzi Dance Project, as well as other various film projects and music videos.
Throughout her time at UWM, she has received multiple dance department scholarships, including the Ed Burgess Legacy Scholarship and a Support for Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant. Through her SURF research, Zoe has learned an immense amount about the Sherman Park community, minority communities, as well as skateboarding and rock-climbing community, broadening her overall knowledge through ethnographic studies.
Maddie Westreich (Summer 2021-Present)
Maddie Westreich is a dancer attending the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance and choreography at UWM, training in Modern, African, ballet, improvisation, applied anatomy, composition and more as well as performing and collaborating in several student choreographies and the faculty choreographies of Maria Gillespe, Deb Lowen, and Mair Culbreth. Through SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship), she has been able to further her embodied research in the Sherman Park area, expanding upon her life experience through the lens of someone born and raised in the suburbs of Milwaukee, expanding her knowledge of the inequalities that exist in the city of Milwaukee as a whole.