Jolene Konkel began her dance training in Milwaukee under ballet master William Reilly, a descendant of Jerome Robbin's Ballets: USA and at the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee High School of the Arts, and Danceworks.  While in Milwaukee she performed with the Milwaukee Opera Company and Danceworks before relocating to Chicago to study jazz dance at Gus Giordano's and Lou Conte Dance Studio.  She went on to pursue a BFA in dance at the University of Minnesota and later completed her MFA in Performance and Choreography through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has studied under and performed works by Zoe Sealy, Cathy Young, Danny Buraczeski, Simone Ferro and Barbara Grubel among others.

 

As a choreographer Ms. Konkel's work spans both the musical theatre stage as well as jazz and modern concert dance. Her choreography has been presented at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Dancemakers series, the University of Minnesota Jazz Here, Jazz Now, Renovate Choreographers Evening at the Ritz Theatre, The MN Fringe festival, Zenon Dance Zone, Patrick's Cabaret, The Old Arizona, Rhythmically Speaking (2008, 2011, and 2018), Belhaven University, and the Bloomington Center for the Arts. Her work in music theatre has been showcased multiple times at the International Thespian Festival, KCACTF, and presented at the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. 

 

Jolene has been educating dancers for 20 years, teaching classes and workshops both throughout the Midwest as well as abroad where she has trained dancers from over 15 nations around the globe through the University of the Nations. Currently, Ms. Konkel serves as Adjunct Faculty in Dance in the Department of Music and Theater at the University of Northwestern St. Paul, teaching courses in Dance History, Choreography, Music Theatre, Ballet, Modern, Jazz and Tap technique.  In addition, Konkel is the director of the University of Northwestern Dance Theatre performance company.

 

Ms. Konkel is the founder and Artistic Director of Concerto Dance by Jolene Konkel.