Dancers and Musicians to Tribute Louise Kloepper

A special concert of music and dance will honor the memory of Louise Kloepper, former chair of the University of Wisconsin- Madison Dance Program, on Jan. 19, what would have been her 87th birthday.

Kloepper died Dec. 15. She came to the UW in 1942 to study dance, after almost a decade teaching and dancing with the Hanya Holm School and Company.

According to Mary Alice Brennan, professor of dance, “Kloepper brought to the Dance Program the talent, experience and insight of a professional dancer. First as a student, then a professor and later as chair of the program, she was the next generation following in the footsteps of Margaret H’Doubler,” who founded UW’s Dance Program in 1926.

Kloepper earned her bachelor of science degree in dance from Wisconsin in 1946, and the same year became an assistant professor in the program. Until her retirement in 1975, Kloepper was a distinguished teacher of dance technique and composition. She served as artistic director and producer for many faculty-student presentations, and garnered a reputation as a mentor of student choreographers, performers and teachers. She co-chaired the program between 1954-62, and chaired it from 1963-70.

The memorial concert will feature choreography by Anna Nassif, professor of dance, with original music by Joseph Koykkar, associate professor of dance. Featured dancers will include dance faculty member Phyllis SanFilippo, and program alumni Gerri Gurman, Ellen Moore and Lisa Thurrell. Heidi Hauser Jasmin, whose late mother danced in the Hanya Holm Company, also will take part. Also performing will be School of Music professors Karlos Moser and Ilona Kombrink, and SOM alumnus Ellsworth Synder.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive. Donations are requested. Memorials may be made through the Louise O. Kloepper Dance Scholarship Fund or the Louise Kloepper Modern Dance Studio Fund at the UW Foundation.

CONTACT: Barbara Wolff, (608) 262-8292