The Milwaukee Modern Dance Council (MMDC), a non-profit organization, was founded in 1960 by five students (Virginia Weiler, Ginka Cohn, Ruth Kriehn, Jean Radmer, and Miriam Shelstead) who had graduated from the University of Wisconsin dance program under the tuteladge of Margaret H'Doubler. H'Doubler was the founder of the first four-year degree program in dance in the United States.
The council's mission was to 1) promote and further the appreciation of modern dance, 2) offer an opportunity to study modern dance, 3) support other community dance organizations, and 4) stimulate interest in artistic and creative dance as an art form in Milwaukee. At the time of its inception, MMDC was the only organization of its kind in Wisconsin.
The MMDC accomplished its mission by holding ongoing dance workshops and classes for adults and children, by promoting dance events through their monthly newsletter, Dance Abouts, and a dance directory, and by establishing a fund for dance education that awarded over twenty scholarships. In addition, in 1964 MMDC established an educational performing group which became known as the Moving Company in 1970.
Notable dancers and choreographers associated with MMDC as teachers included Susie Bauer, founder of the Bauer Dance Ensemble, and Ferne Caulker-Bronson, the founder of the Ko-Thi Dance Company. Caulker-Bronson was also the recipient of an MMDC college scholarship in 1968.
During the 1980s MMDC experienced problems due to lack of membership and finances. Having decided that the organization had served its purpose, MMDC members voted to disband in 1986.
