No Class This Week – Rhythmically Speaking MoveTogether Returns July 27

While there is no MoveTogether this week, we’ll be back next week with Rhythmically Speaking visiting artist Laura Ann Smyth! Laura will be visiting from Los Angeles to set a piece on Rhythmically Speaking company dancers for our production The Cohort 2022: Stage, running August 11-13 at the Southern Theater.

Laura is teaching two open classes while she is here:

Wednesday, July 27, 5:30-7:00pm at Cowles Center, Studio 5B – RS MoveTogether
As space is limited, pre-registration is suggested but not required. To pre-register, hop over to our website to pay the $10.00 class via via Venmo.

Friday, July 29, 10:00-11:15am at Zenon Dance, Cowles Center Studio 4A – Friday Morning Jazz
Class is hybrid, with space for 10 distanced students in-studio and a high-quality Zoom option for folks joining from home/remotely. Please note that while masks are now optional at the Cowles Center (except for performances), masks are still required at Zenon. Register for class.

Laura Ann Smyth, originally from Canada, is a Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer and educator. Smyth holds a BA in sociology with a minor in dance from the University of Calgary, a MFA in dance from the University of California, Irvine and is currently a PhD Candidate in dance at Texas Woman’s University. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of Black jazz-informed dance practices and embodied rhetoric. Smyth is a member of Donna Sternberg and Dancers, JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, and is a full-time faculty member at Loyola Marymount University. Spirited and inclusive in her approach to the dissemination of Black dance culture and practices, Smyth is grateful and humbled by any opportunity to engage in the gift that is dance.

Laura’s piece for The Cohort 2022, Character A/Musings, is an exploration of identities. With an emphasis on rhythm, storytelling capability and sophisticated performance, this piece uses the jazz idiom to consider the way in which we invent and reinvent ourselves throughout our lifetime.

Join us next week to experience Laura’s exciting perspective on jazz dance!

Friday Morning Jazz – Karla Grotting This Week

Come out and groove with Karla Grotting this Friday, July 22 from 10:00-11:15am CST!

Karla’s class is body-friendly, music-based, history-infused, and sure to please.

Class is hybrid, with space for 10 distanced students in-studio and a high-quality Zoom option for folks joining from home/remotely. Please note that while masks are now optional at the Cowles Center (except for performances), masks are still required at Zenon.

Visit this link to register for class. See you at the studio!

Cassandra School In-Studio and Online Classes

Join our dance-learning community of all ages, sizes, and levels of experience to participate in the creative expression and health and fitness benefits of Middle Eastern dance. The beauty of this dance form is that it makes you feel wonderful in your own body!

Dance with us in-studio or online through Zoom.

Go to cassandraschool.com to choose from our ongoing classes, register, and pay in advance using PayPal – or just show up to any of our in-studio classes.

Purchase 4 or more classes and receive a $2 discount per class! Come dance with us now!

Young Dance Summer 2022 Programs

Young Dance is excited to dance with you this summer. We are offering a full schedule of programs, including weekly Creative Movement and Dance Together classes, as well as an exciting menu of 4-day camps featuring a variety of styles with some of the Twin Cities’ best educators. 

Camps include:

Dance + Photography with Blake
Dance a Story Creative Movement with Denise
All Abilities Dance + Stories with Gretchen
Variety Camps with styles such as Hip Hop, Breaking, Ballet, Capoeira, Afro-Modern, Percussive, Afro-Brazilian, Modern, Jazz, and more, featuring a roster of phenomenal Teaching Artists.

Peruse the schedule and register now! Check the website for the most up-to-date information.

The Arena – Contemporary Flow with Mathew Janczewski

Two classes left in our Summer Session!

Mathew’s work is best described as contemporary, spanning an array of styles – from quietly evocative to physically demanding, full of spiraling momentum that draws energy into the core and spreads it out like disco ball beams of light. At times, movement focuses on the dancers’ bends and folds, creating shape as one shifts and moves, forging moments of connection.

Class focuses on opening up curiosity, finding internal pathways within the body and the contrast of those same pathways. An assortment of texture, speed, density, length, force and resistance will be taught to open these skills.

Fridays, 10:00-11:30am
Summer Session: July 22 and July 29
Register
Drop-in rate is $17 with flexible pricing. Free parking on side streets Aldrich, Bryant, Colfax, 31st.

Originally from Illinois, dancer, choreographer, director, and creative Mathew Janczewski (he/him) has been residing in Minneapolis, MN since 1989. He was a company member, most notably with Shapiro & Smith Dance from 2007-2014 and JAZZDANCE! By Danny Buraczeski from 1992-97. As a dancer, Mathew has performed as a guest with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Bebe Miller, and Jacek Luminski of Bytom, Poland. Over the years, he has performed the works of Beth Corning, Sean Curran, HIJACK, Marge Maddux, Shawn McConneloug, Jane Shockley, Robin Stiehm, Morgan Thorson, Doug Varone, and Cathy Young.

Photo courtesy of Armour Photography.

The Arena – Contemporary with Elayna Waxse

Last 2 classes with Elayna for The Arena’s Summer Session!

Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30pm at The Arena
Contemporary with Elayna Waxse

Drop in: $17. Buy a 10-class card and save!
Summer Session: July 20 and July 27
Register

This class contextualizes contemporary dance technique as an ongoing process of body awareness within larger ecological systems. How we exist in our bodies replicates how we exist in the world. Utilizing improvisation, set phrasework, somatic exercises and conversation, we will explore physical prowess, sensitivity and authenticity of movement experiences.

Elayna Waxse (she/they) is a Twin Cities-based performer, dance educator, and choreographer who hails from Overland Park, Kansas. Professionally, Elayna has worked with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Colorado Ballet/Colorado Ballet Studio Company, Black Label Movement, BodyCartography Project, Hatch Dance, and with Cie. Ismael Ivo at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival 2014. They were a member of TU Dance from 2012 to 2019, and were part of the original creation team of Come Through, the collaboration between TU Dance and Grammy-award winning musical group Bon Iver. Through this collaboration Elayna performed at the Hollywood Bowl (LA, CA), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), and at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (Manchester, TN). Their choreographic work has been supported by Minnesota Dance Theatre, Threads Dance Project, University of Minnesota Opera Theatre, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, Ballet Minnesota’s MN Dance Festival, Zenon Dance Zone, 9×22, and Future Interstates. She is a 2019 recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Dance.

The Arena – Drop in GYROKINESIS® Method with Non Edwards

July 23
Saturdays, 12:00-1:00pm at The Arena
GYROKINESIS® Method with Non Edwards

Drop in rate is $17.
Buy a 10-class card and save.
Register
Ages 16+

GYROKINESIS® Method offers exercises rooted in full-body movement that build skill in coordination and proprio/interoception. We will work on the seven spinal movements, joint articulation, and cultivating strength with coordinated breath while transitioning through sequences with fluidity. Many exercises will be performed seated – chairs are provided. Students should bring a mat to class if possible.

The GYROKINESIS® Method addresses the entire body, opening energy pathways, stimulating the nervous system, increasing range of motion, and creating functional strength through rhythmic, flowing movement sequences. Learn more through this short video or Non’s FAQs.

Photo courtesy of Armour Photography.

GYROKINESIS® is a registered trademark of GYROTONIC Sales Corp and is used with their permission.

James Sewell Ballet – Open Advanced/Professional Class and Coordi™ Classes

July 20
Wednesday, 10:00-11:30am – Leah Gallas, with Eric Jensen on piano

July 25-27
Monday, 10:00-11:30am – Eve Schulte
Tuesday, 10:00-11:30am – Kerry Parker, with Pat Lyles on piano
Wednesday, 10:00-11:30am – Leah Gallas, with Eric Jensen on piano

August 1-3
Monday, 10:00-11:30am – Eve Schulte
Tuesday, 10:00-11:30am – Kerry Parker, with Pat Lyles on piano
Wednesday, 10:00-11:30am – Leah Gallas, with Eric Jensen on piano

Coordi™ Class
Virtual-only at this time.
Ongoing – Wednesdays, 10:00am-11:00am taught by James Sewell

What is Coordi™It’s a movement study based on multiple kinetic patterns happening at once. Physical brain teasers combine with ballet for unexpected pathways and alignments that challenge both your mind and body! Learn more about Coordi™ here.

Sign up for in-person company class or virtual Coordi class at: www.jsballet.org/classes

Summer Adult Classes at Hopkins Dance Company

Ongoing adult classes for the summer at Hopkins Dance Company in ballet, tap, and yoga.

Start anytime – drop-ins welcome! Class cards available.

Adult Beginning Ballet
Wednesdays, 7:00-7:45pm

Adult Intermediate Ballet
Wednesdays, 10:30am-12:00pm

Adult Tap 
Wednesdays, 7:45-8:30pm

Yoga
Wednesdays, 12:00-1:00pm