A Note from the Artistic Director:
Dear Friends, Family, and Community Members,
It is an honor to welcome you to my Dance MFA Thesis Concert, | Out of Place |. This day marks a significant milestone in my graduate school journey, and I am truly excited to be sharing this special project with you.
As a second-year graduate student in the Master of Fine Arts in Dance Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the culmination and continuation of my graduate research work for this project explores how transracial Asian American adoptees express their stories of identity and personal experiences through the realm of contemporary dance performance. Through my artistic vision of | Out of Place |, I am creating the first Transracial Asian American Adoptee Dance Project in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mission of this project creates a platform for adoptees to have a space to be visible in the fullness of their identity and authenticity while centering their voices, personal narratives, histories, movement experiences through adoptee autoethnography, and fostering a sense of radical belonging and community. Through self-discovery and storytelling through movement, the dancers and I are pursuing to tell our truths that come from our embodied subjectivity while discovering reclamation and adoptee sovereignty for ourselves, being with our own complexities, and unearthing who we are along our personal journeys through the vessel of dance.
Throughout my graduate school experiences, I have been on the path of self-discovery to learn more about who I am as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and director while finding my artistic voice, trusting the unknown, and further excavating my personal story through my research and embodied dance scholarship. Bringing in my own narrative and personal experiences as a transracial and transnational adoptee from South Korea, I am utilizing dance as a vehicle to reclaim my Korean identity while performing in predominantly white dance spaces and finding my sense of place between two cultures. The artistic vision of my choreographic work is inspired by a mission to advance social justice and diversity of experiences while empowering and elevating the voices of others within the field of dance studies, performance, and higher academia.
I would like to thank the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance Faculty, Daniel Burkholder, Maria Gillespie, Dan Schuchart, and Mair Culbreth. I express my gratitude for my MFA Thesis Committee Members, Daniel Burkholder, Mair Culbreth, and Li Chiao-Ping. I am forever grateful for your guidance and support in helping me discover more about who I am as a Korean American Dance Artist through my personal research in the MFA in Dance Program.
To the Collaborating Dance Artists, Zoe Mei Glise, Maree ReMalia, and Ailie Snyder, I deeply thank you for being a part of this project. Thank you for sharing your powerful story of identity, your inspiring artistry, and your authentic, beautiful selves. There are not enough words for me to express how appreciative I am that you have trusted me to be a part of your journey. Thank you for the special bonds and community that we have created together. Thank you, Colin Gawronski, for creating such beautiful lighting designs for this project.
A special thank you to Christal Wagner, Gina Laurenzi, Monica Rodero, Katelyn Altmann, Halle Sivertson, Amy Kelly, Larry Kelly, Tim Kelly, and Attitude Dance Company for providing your kind support for this project.
To my UWM Dance MFA Cohort, Ari Christopher, Samuel Hanson, Sarah Woolverton Holmes, Erica Isakower, and Juan Enrique Roque Irizarry Jr., I am deeply grateful for our friendships and artistic collaborations throughout our time in grad school together.
Thank you to the proud supporters, AMASIAN, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance, and the individual donors who have generously supported this project.
This project is created in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Dance in partial fulfillment of work towards an M.F.A. in Dance. Partial financial support provided by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts Department of Dance.
With gratitude,
Elisabeth Roskopf 이지영
Program Info:
| Out of Place | is an evening-length dance performance that is a culmination of the graduate research work of Elisabeth Roskopf, an MFA Candidate in Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (@uwmdance) and Milwaukee-based dance artist and choreographer. Her research explores how transracial Asian American adoptees express their stories of identity and personal experiences through the realm of contemporary dance performance. Through Elisabeth’s artistic vision of this project, she is creating the first Transracial Asian American Adoptee Dance Project in the city of Milwaukee.
The mission of this project creates a platform for adoptees to have a space to be visible in the fullness of their identity and authenticity while centering their voices, personal narratives, histories, movement experiences through adoptee autoethnography, and fostering a sense of radical belonging and community. Through self-discovery and storytelling through movement, Elisabeth and the dancers are pursuing to tell their truths that come from their embodied subjectivity while discovering reclamation and adoptee sovereignty for themselves, being with their own complexities, and unearthing who they are along their personal journeys through the vessel of dance.
To learn more information about Elisabeth Roskopf and the collaborating dancers, purchase tickets, and donate to this project, visit jeeyeongdance.com.
IG Handle: @elisabethroskopf
Chapter I: Being on Our Own Journeys
결코 잃지 않았다 (Never Lost)
Direction, Production, and Choreography: Li Chiao-Ping
Cinematography and Editing: Christal Wagner
Unscripted Interviews, Additional Choreography, and Performance: Elisabeth Anne (O’Keefe) Roskopf 이지영
Music: Bora Yoon and Kim So Ra
Arrival
Dancers: Zoe Mei Glise, Maree ReMalia, Elisabeth Roskopf, and Ailie Snyder
Choreography: Elisabeth Roskopf, in collaboration with the dancers
Music: Airport sounds and announcements; Ólafur Arnalds
Costume: Elisabeth Roskopf, in collaboration with the dancers
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Pieces
Choreography and Performance: Ailie Snyder, with direction and collaboration from Elisabeth Roskopf
Text: Ailie Snyder
Music: Ludovico Einaudi
Visual Projection: Ailie Snyder
Costume: Ailie Snyder
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
There are Matters Difficult to Tell
Choreography and Performance: Zoe Mei Glise, with direction and collaboration from Elisabeth Roskopf
Text: Zoe Mei Glise
Music: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Yuki Numata Resnick, Tarn Travers, Ben Russell, and Clarice Jensen
Costume: Zoe Mei Glise
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Fitting In to Belong
Dancers: Zoe Mei Glise and Ailie Snyder
Choreography: Elisabeth Roskopf
Text and Dialogue: Zoe Mei Glise and Ailie Snyder
Written Text on Boxes: Alexa Orndahl
Music: Rainfall sounds
Visual Projection: Elisabeth Roskopf
Costume: Elisabeth Roskopf
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Intermission
Chapter 2: Discovering Who We Are
time measured by breath
Choreography and Performance: Maree ReMalia, with direction and collaboration from Elisabeth Roskopf
Text: Maree ReMalia
Music: David Bernabo and Zoe Sorrell
Costume: Maree ReMalia
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
그 때 그곳의 나를 (Then, There, Me)
Choreography and Performance: Elisabeth Roskopf
Music: BTS, performed and recorded by Kody Kojima of Blue Ribbon Music Studios
Costume: Elisabeth Roskopf
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
The Third Space
Dancers: Maree ReMalia and Elisabeth Roskopf
Choreography and Spoken Text: Maree ReMalia and Elisabeth Roskopf
Music: Nature sounds recorded in Busan, Korea
Costume: Maree ReMalia and Elisabeth Roskopf
Bridge Design: Tim Kelly and Larry Kelly
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Reclamation
Dancers: Zoe Mei Glise, Maree ReMalia, Elisabeth Roskopf, and Ailie Snyder
Choreography: Zoe Mei Glise, Maree ReMalia, Elisabeth Roskopf, and Ailie Snyder
Text: Zoe Mei Glise, Maree ReMalia, Elisabeth Roskopf, and Ailie Snyder
Costume: Elisabeth Roskopf, in collaboration with the dancers
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Social Media Creative Content Filmed and Edited by Katelyn Altmann
Photography by Halle Sivertson
Cinematography by Christal Wagner
Collaborating Dancers:
Maree ReMalia
Maree ReMalia is a dance-maker, performer, and teaching artist. As an adoptee born in South Korea and raised in the Midwestern Rust Belt of Ohio, embodied and creative practices are part of her ongoing journey of self-discovery and expression. Honoring diverse backgrounds and physical interpretations, she welcomes seasoned dancers and newcomers into movement to create opportunities to grow our capacities for connecting with ourselves, each other, and our world. Her collaborative performance projects have been presented at venues such as Cleveland Public Theatre, Dance Place, Daegu International Dance Festival, Gibney DoublePlus Festival, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, and La MaMa Experimental Theater Club. Maree is currently cast in Ari Christopher’s STORM: Radical Togetherness in Public Dances, slowdanger’s STORY BALLET, and Lida Winfield’s Re-Imagined. She has performed in dance and interdisciplinary works directed by Heidee Lyn Aldorf, Alicia Chesser and Steve Liggett, Gabriel Forestieri, Bebe Miller, Christopher Williams, and Noa Zuk and was previously a member of MegLouise Dance, MorrisonDance, and STAYCEE PEARL dance project. From 2015 2017, she was selected as the Andrew W. Mellon Interdisciplinary Choreographer for Middlebury College Movement Matters Residency and has taught at institutions and organizations like Bates Dance Festival, Brown University, Dreams of Hope Queer Youth Arts, Point Park University, University of Florida, University of Oklahoma, and University of Wisconsin. Maree earned her MFA at The Ohio State University in 2011 and was a certified Gaga instructor from 2012-2024. She is grateful to be part of | Out of Place |.
http://www.mareeremalia.com | @ma_ma_lia
Photo by Halle Sivertson
Ailie Snyder
Ailie is so honored to be part of this project! They are currently studying at UW-Milwaukee for their Musical Theatre BFA and minor in Dance Performance. They are excited to get to help share the experience of being an Asian Adoptee through dance. Recently, they finished their run as The Captain in Dames at Sea on UWM’s Mainstage. Previous dance productions include: Winterdances 2025: Perfectly Wild and UpStart – MFA in Dance Research Concert. Special thanks to Elisabeth for including them in this beautiful concert!
Photo by Halle Sivertson
Zoe Mei Glise
Zoe Mei Glise (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, and movement-based artist born in China and located in Milwaukee, WI. She is currently a company member with Danceworks Performance Company (DPMKE), Wild Space Dance Company, and the Gina Laurenzi Dance Project (GLDP). Previously, Zoe danced as a company member with Madison Contemporary Dance, and was Nova Linea Contemporary Dance’s first company apprentice. Zoe received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Performance and Choreography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Throughout her years at UWM, Zoe worked with several guest artists and faculty members in performances and master classes including Mair Culbreth, Parijat Desai, Emma Draves, Yumelia Garcia, Marina Magalhães, Tatiana Malinkine, Dan Schuchart, and more. In 2019, with the help of the National Endowment for the Arts grant, Zoe collaborated with Joe Goode to create a dance film, “Real Words” presented at the North Central American College Dance Association (ACDA). Most recently, Zoe presented her debut evening length performance, “Uncommon Ground” held at Adventure Rock Milwaukee, as a way to blend her two passions—dance and rock climbing.
Photo by Halle Sivertson
Elisabeth Roskopf
Born in South Korea and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, Elisabeth Roskopf 이지영 is a dancer, performer, choreographer, educator, pianist, and a mother to her daughter, Alina. She is a company member of Li Chiao-Ping Dance, Danceworks Performance MKE, Wild Space Dance Company, and the Gina Laurenzi Dance Project. Elisabeth received her Bachelor of Arts in Piano and a minor in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She is currently earning her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) where she is honored to be a recipient of the Graduate Student Excellence Fellowship award. Her research explores how transracial Asian American adoptees express their stories of identity and personal experiences through the realm of contemporary dance performance. At UWM, she began her career in academia as a lecturer in the Department of Dance and became a graduate teaching assistant while she is also performing and studying under the distinguished professors and guest artists such as Daniel Burkholder, Maria Gillespie, Mair Culbreth, Dan Schuchart, Dawn Springer, Deb Loewen, Mauriah Donegan Kraker, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, Jan Erkert, Alexandra Beller, Kevin Williamson, Teresa VanDenend Sorge, and Sooyeon Lee.
Elisabeth co-produced and performed in “Provenance: A Letter to My Daughter”, an award-winning screendance work created with director/choreographer Li Chiao-Ping and cinematographer/editor Christal Wagner. This dance film has been selected to be screened in various film festivals nationally and internationally, such as the 2024 Incheon International Short Film Festival (Finalist for Best Short Film), 2024 Busan New Wave Short Film Festival (Best Editing Award), 2023 Experimental, Dance & Music Film Festival (Best Direction Award), 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival, to name a few.
Elisabeth is the Founder and Creative Director of Dance For Diversity, an annual screendance project that is made explicitly for Artists of Color to share their voices and stories of identity through their dance-making and performance work. Elisabeth’s choreographic work creates a platform for Adoptees and BIPOC Dance Artists to have a place to be visible in the fullness of their identity and authenticity while fostering a sense of belonging. Her research encompasses autoethnography in movement through storytelling that creates a path for her embodied subjectivity. She links her corporeal experiences through cultural studies, post-colonial studies, and embodied cultural memory. As she explores dance as an expressive form of self-discovery, creativity, and liberation, she investigates a form of scholarship writing to define movement as the inscription of linguistic text in the body within choreographic performance. As a transracial Korean adoptee, she utilizes dance as a vehicle to unearth her embodiment and reclaim her Korean identity while bridging the space to find her place between the Eastern and Western worlds through her ongoing personal journey.
Photo by Halle Sivertson
Colin Gawronski
Colin Gawronski is a lighting designer and theatrical technician native to Milwaukee who has worked extensively with Danceworks, Inc, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Sunstone Studios and Black Arts MKE/Bronzeville. They have worked with other local companies such as Renaissance Theaterworks, Wildspace, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Gina Laurenzi Dance Project, and In Tandem Theatre. Colin has also worked with Theatre Lila, Third Avenue Playworks and Forward Theater. Favorite productions include: Stew, Out of Many One, ‘Neath the Hills of Bastogne, /maskəˈrād/, Dutchman, Black Nativity, Romeo & Juliet: A Theatre Lila Invention, Secrets From the Wide Sky, Daddy Long Legs, Spalding Grey: Stories Left to Tell, Stories From a Life, The Glass Menagerie, Serendipity, Birds of North America, My Fair Lady, Lamps For My Family, and Vagabondare. Give Love Always.
Elisabeth Roskopf 이지영 