Liz Sexe’s “Untitled: For the sake of progress” performance raised over $350 for Brighter Tomorrows in Sparta/Tomah, a human service agency dedicated to empowering survivors of domestic violence through the provision of safe housing, supportive counseling, and legal advocacy services.
Sexe is an associate lecturer with the UW-Madison School of Education’s Dance Department.
The work, which is an evening-length performance that explores liberty using the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution as inspiration, was performed in Tomah, Wisconsin, on Oct. 19 with the Marilyn School of Dance and was featured in the La Crosse Tribune online.
“The idea of liberty was the initial proposed idea … and what was really interesting to me when I was doing my research is that liberty was left ambiguous by the founding fathers,” Sexe told the LaCrosse Tribune. “They said everyone is guaranteed a liberty but they never actually defined what liberty was in a concrete way, like more of an abstract sensation or feeling.”
Sexe demonstrated individuals’ reflection of liberty in the performance by working collaboratively with the dancers, piecing together sections and featuring bits and pieces of what the dancers brought into their performances.
On Oct. 26, Sexe presented the work again in Madison at Gates of Heaven with all proceeds for this concert going to Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS), an organization that empowers those affected by domestic violence and advocates for social change through support, education, and outreach.
“Untitled: for the sake of progress” is support by funds from the UW-Madison Division of the Arts’ Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award.