The Milwaukee arts community is reeling from the news that Ed Burgess, the chair of the UWM Peck School of the Arts Dance Department, suddenly died overnight. He was 58.
Burgess was a great and popular collaborator, directing in the Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret and choreographing movement for the company's main stage ("Tartuffe" and "Armadale") and "A Christmas Carol" as well as working with the Skylight Opera Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Danceworks and Wild Space Dance Company. He joined the UWM dance faculty in 1989 and became department chair three years later.
Dance at UWM thrived under his leadership. He created original contemporary dance pieces that his students performed, and he attracted influential figures in dance to the East Side campus to contribute as guest artists.
Beyond that, Burgess was an affable, approachable and engaging fellow who moved with the grace of a dancer through the local arts community. The school has established a Web site to keep the public informed on funeral arrangements.
Damien has been around so long, he was at Summerfest the night George Carlin was arrested for speaking the seven dirty words you can't say on TV. He was also at the Uptown Theatre the night Bruce Springsteen's first Milwaukee concert was interrupted for three hours by a bomb scare. Damien was reviewing the concert for the Milwaukee Journal. He wrote for the Journal and Journal Sentinel for 37 years, the last 29 as theater critic.
During those years, Damien served two terms on the board of the American Theatre Critics Association, a term on the board of the association's foundation, and he studied the Latinization of American culture in a University of Southern California fellowship program. Damien also hosted his own arts radio program, "Milwaukee Presents with Damien Jaques," on WHAD for eight years.
Travel, books and, not surprisingly, theater top the list of Damien's interests. A news junkie, he is particularly plugged into politics and international affairs, but he also closely follows the Brewers, Packers and Marquette baskeball. Damien lives downtown, within easy walking distance of most of the theaters he attends.
