artistic director

Michelle Kranicke Artistic Director

Michelle Kranicke founded Chicago's Zephyr Dance in 1989 as an organization committed to showcasing the strength of the feminine voice. Over the years she has choreographed more than 25 works for Zephyr’s repertoire and has been nominated three times for a Dance Achievement Award from the Chicago Dance and Music Alliance (Tissue Thin; 1998; Wanderthrough 2001; and The Rhythm of Irreversible Direction 2003). In January 2006 Michelle was awarded a $15,000 Lab Artist grant from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum to underwrite the research and development of Just Left of Remote. Her work has been presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College, Chicago; Mulberry Street Theatre, New York; Cunningham Dance Studio, New York; The Art & Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL; North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND; Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR; Margaret H’Doubler Theatre, Madison, WI; and more. In 1995 and again in 2003, Michelle was commissioned by Illinois Wesleyan University to create new works for its student repertory dance company; and from 1996-2000 she was commissioned to create and perform new works annually for Chicago’s Next Dance Festival (an artist-curated and produced festival known for commissioning and presenting ground-breaking contemporary dance). In 1995 Michelle created, and Zephyr produces, Dancing Across State Lines, a regional touring initiative designed to introduce Chicago audiences to exceptional contemporary dance by smaller neighboring dance companies while boosting touring opportunities for Zephyr and guests companies.

In addition, Michelle has been involved in cutting edge education work using dance to teach the core curriculum in the Chicago Public School system and is valued for her expertise in curriculum development, working with artists and educators locally and internationally. In April 2005 Michelle was invited by the Scottish Arts Council to teach the dance workshops at the professional development retreat for Arts Across the Curriculum, a three year research project based on collaborative planning and teaching by teachers and artists. She pioneered the first arts integrated education residency at the college level for Illinois Wesleyan University in 1997 giving students a physical experience of their course curriculum. Her work has been cited in two books written about the arts in the classroom, Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning, G.Burnaford et al., and LEAPing Toward Change: A Portrait of Teacher-Artist Collaborative Instructional Practice in the Elementary Classroom, Kelly Stokes, Dissertation, Temple University. She created Zephyr’s Dance is for EveryBODY project, a comprehensive community outreach program based at Holstein Park under the auspices of the Chicago Park District’s Arts Partners in Residence Program. She has been a guest artist at Illinois Wesleyan University, Eastern Illinois University, and Ohio Wesleyan University, and taught residencies and master classes in modern dance in Chicago and throughout the Midwest. Michelle is currently a visiting professor at Illinois Wesleyan University teaching in the University’s May Term program.