By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Jun 15, 2023 at 2:03 PM

Bayshore’s central plaza, called The Yard, will come alive on Saturday, June 24, at 2 p.m. when it hosts the return No Studios’ Dance Fest 2023, in collaboration with New York’s The Joyce Theater.

Dance Fest will highlight 10 area dance troupes, dancing everything from Irish to hip-hip to African to salsa and beyond.

Danni Gee, director of programming at The Joyce Theater will be the guest of honor.

“I am excited for this partnership with No Studios and Dance Fest 2023 and am looking forward to experiencing firsthand the talent coming out of Milwaukee and Chicago,” said Gee in the event announcement.

The participating groups are Danceworks Performance MKE, Dream Cheer and Dance Studio, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Milwaukee Irish Dance Company, Moonwater Dance Project, Nova Linea Contemporary Dance, Salsabrositas, Signature Dance Company, True Skool and Water Street Dance Milwaukee.

"Dance Fest has been a centerpiece of No Studios' programming and we are thrilled to once again celebrate and showcase the vibrant Midwest dance community with a larger expanded location and programming,” said No Studios Chief Operating Officer Lisa Caesar.

“We are especially excited to connect to programs in markets outside of Milwaukee via our collaboration with Moonwater Dance Project in Chicago and welcoming Danni Gee and The Joyce Theater in New York to our community."

The free event is open to the public and WISN will be broadcasting live.

“We’re honored to host such a diverse, talented group of Milwaukee performance companies at BAYSHORE,” said Bayshore Marketing Manager Brenda Vento.

“It’s our goal to not only cultivate the most meaningful experiences for our community, but also to create a space where we can foster its talent like we are with Dance Fest 2023.”

More info at nostudios.com/dance-fest-2023.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.