Bio

Shortly after graduating from Graduate Studies at the University of Wisconsin Dance Department, Margo formed her own dance company in Madison, Margo Ruark and Dancers which was active for five years. Margo won several grants for her creative work from Madison Civic Center Foundation, Wisconsin Women’s Educational Fund, The New Harvest Foundation and Wisconsin Arts Council. The Capital Times reviewer wrote, "Ruark knows how to set it up, and play it for what it's worth. With her technical prowess she can accomplish virtually anything she imagines, and it's evident she does just that." 

Margo was a member of Company Danshuset 26, Lund, Sweden 1978-1981, the Harvard University Summer Dance Repertory, Cambridge, MA, 1979, the University of Wisconsin Dance Repertory, Madison, WI 1981-1983, and the MM Colbert Modern Ballet Company, Madison, WI, 1984-85. In 1986, Margo was invited as guest artist to The Black Horse Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark. She collaborated a season with one of Denmark's most formidable actors and protégée of Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's, Brigitte Kolerus, the theater's Artistic Director. 

Throughout her dance career, Margo has produced/artistically directed over four dozen full length productions and original works, many of which explore feminist esthetics, which was the topic of her Master's Thesis. 

Since January 2012, Margo has been a member of the Intuit Dance Adult Repertory Ensemble, Oak Park, IL performing several times a year and showcasing her own work. She also teaches yoga, yoga dance, jazz, ballet, and modern dance in the Chicago area.

 In addition to her MA from the UW, Margo holds an MBA from DePaul University, Chicago and a Graduate Degree in Esthetics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Margo is both a certified yoga instructor and Let Your Yoga Dance instructor from Kripalu, Stockbridge, MA.

Margo has also written extensively about dance as a reviewer, scholar and author. A complete list of creative works is available upon request. Highlights on the web include: 

HIGHER EDUCATION IN DANCE 1600-1850: AN OVERVIEW OF THE "ACADEMIC ERA" IN SWEDISH DANCE HISTORY (Thesis, Uppsala University, Sweden 1981)

INTEGRATING CREATIVITY, EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION AND FORM THROUGH DANCE (Research Paper, Umea University, Sweden, 1977)

TOURNAMENT - AN EXPLORATION OF FEMINIST ESTHETICS IN DANCE (Master’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983)