Mission:

Valerie Alpert Dance Company produces high quality dance works that engage community members locally, nationally and internationally in the immediacy and imagination of contemporary dance as an art form.

The company affords audiences of all ages various presentations of contemporary dance that challenge the imagination. VADCO is committed to the continued effort of advancing the arts through her innovative choreography and her collaboration with other artists, including composers, artists, and animators. 

VADCO has touched thousands of people across the nation with its exciting choreographic programs and will continue to further excellence in dance in the Chicago area, as well as nationally and internationally.

Artistic Director Bio:

Valerie Alpert is a native of Chicago and received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, her MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. in Dance from Texas Woman's University. In between her school years Alpert performed, choreographed, and taught dance both nationally and internationally.

Since forming VADCO, Alpert’s choreography has drawn praise at many festivals across the United States and internationally as well. She is dedicated to bringing innovative choreography into the Chicago and surrounding area communities and has done extensive community outreach. Alpert’s works are sophisticated and diverse, defined by personal experience and imagination. In addition, her works often include collaborations with musicians, visual artists, and technology. Her work on the technology front began with an invitation to present her multimedia work "Wearing Me Out," a work which explores the act of integrating computer technology into live performance, at the 1999 International Dance and Technology Conference. Her dance video "Images of Women: Picture Perfect" was exhibited at the Puffin Room Gallery in New York City as part of the 2000 Dance for the Camera Festival. Today, she continues to explore various aspects of digital technology in relation to dance practice. Alpert’s contributions to the field of dance technology include the publishing of her technical manual for the notation software program, LabanWriter 4.0 under Lucy Venable and her doctoral research of digital technologies and dance in higher education. 

Company Members: Dianna Drummond, Alana Johnson, Matthew Kinney, Jeannine Potter, André Santiago, Luis Vazquez, and Lindsay Zavala

Pieces that VADCO is working on while in residence at Old Town School of Folk Music:

Notes from an Artist (2014)

Through digital media, painting, dance, and live performance a collaborative work entitled, Notes From An Artist was created and premiered at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts in Grayslake, Illinois in 2014. The performance included three sections of what will eventually be an evening length performance. Incorporating mixed media and collaborating with a variety of artists is at the core of VADCO and it will continue to be pursued in the exploration of this work in the future. The company was recently invited to perform Notes From An Artist at the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan this spring. In addition, the company is making plans to present the work in Chicago later this year.