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About the Artistic Director
She was founding member and artistic co-director of Kansas City company aha! dance theatre (93-02). While with aha!, Michelle made a major contribution to the administrative growth of the company by writing yearly grants, preparing budgets, soliciting donations from corporations, and leading much of the long term planning. She served as treasurer and board member. Her artistic contributions were major as well. She choreographed one or more dances in all concerts (over 20 works), performed in every concert (over 30 concerts) and partnered in the artistic development of each dancer and the company as a whole.
She collaborated with various artists including: Steve Morse, composer, Mark Lowry, percussionist, Jim Smith, visual artist, Atif Rome, costume and set designer, Steven Elisha, cellist, newEar Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Friends of Chamber Music in “Citypiece: Shuttlecocks.” She created and developed the “Dancing Across the Line” series which included three modern dance concerts at JCCC featuring three modern dance companies in KC. The series was funded by a $39,000 grant from the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation which Michelle wrote. She also participated in the White Oak Dance Project dancing with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Deborah Hay. As a part of aha!, Michelle’s choreography and performance has been seen in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and throughout Missouri. Michelle's choreography touches audiences through humor, complexity, depth of emotion, exquisite composition, and layers of cleverness. She excels in the physicality of modern dance, the challenge of improvisation, the connections in contact improvisation and the intricacies of tap. Michelle is a passionate teacher and dance coach who guides dancers to new physical, emotional and performance levels.
Currently, Michelle teaches professional level modern, improvisation and tap as well as other classes for youth and adults at her studio, Echo Studio, the home of Kacico Dance. Kansas City Contemporary Dance, Kacico Dance was founded to become a major artistic force in the Kansas City arts community in the very near future. Michelle's goal is to push the level of artistry and performance to new heights so that Kansas City audiences will experience contemporary dance with performances on a level to be found in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. People will return again and again to see Kacico Dance.
Exective Director, Patty Nolte Patty Nolte has over ten years experience managing non-profit associations. In addition to her position with Kacico Dance, she is President of PCManagement Associates, an association management firm. She has extensive community contacts from previous positions as the Director of Public Relations for the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Kansas City, Director ofTtourism for the City of Independence and serving sixteen years on the Board of Director of Girl Scouts of Mid Continent Council. Kacico Dance is privileged to have Patty Nolte as a part of the organization.
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The Dancers Maria Tate — Understudy
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Michelle Diane Brown, choreographer, producer and dancer, has a BA in Dance from KU and has studied at the American Dance Festival, Durham, NC, Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab, New York, NY, Seattle Alternative Dance Festival, Seattle, WA, the Deborah Hay Solo Commissioning Project, Whidbey Island, WA, and Soul Motion, Indianapolis, IN. She began her professional career dancing with the Prairie Wind Dancers of Lawrence, KS (87-91) where she participated in the development and execution of residencies throughout Kansas and choreographed and performed for the company.