Archive: Performances and Events

Leaves of Grass – Illuminated, a documentary film by Mark Wojahn of Leaves of Grass at the Guthrie in July of 2019, has been selected to be part of the Twin Cities Film Festival. It will air in the theater ($12) on Saturday, October 23 at 8:30pm. The film, like the production at the Guthrie, features six dancers live, and 18 dancers via video projection, with Patrick Scully playing Walt Whitman and original video by Nancy Hauser.

Can’t make that night? It is also available to be streamed during the festival, October 21-30, for $9.

Dancers:
Blake Nellis, David DeBlieck, Dustin Haug, Gadu (Katsushi F Schmitz), Robert Haarman, Robert Skafte, Dennis Yelkin (understudy)

Additional dancers in video: Brian J Evans, Jacob Carrigan, Jeremy Bensussan, Jesse Neumann Peterson, Jon Dahl, Jim Lieberthal, Michael Engel, Roman Morris, Ryan Pusch, Tristan Koepke, Yeniel (Chini) Perez

See:

José A. Luis, Valerie Oliveiro, Kaz K Sherman

perform dances within the enormous space and crowded company of paintings, sculpture, video and installation art, as part of the exhibition The Human Scale curated by HAIR+NAILS at Rochester Art Center.

This one time only performance will be a strolling audience event about an hour long.

Free, with gallery admission ($5).

Twin Cities Ballet is excited to invite you to our world premiere of Dracula, and Other Tales this October 27-28 at Ames Center! 

This exciting production features three ballets: the world premiere of Dracula, a new ballet with an original story adaptation based on the classic novel and an original musical score written for this production by Minnesota composer Simon Sperl; Denise Vogt’s RED, an intellectually provocative and emotionally powerful ballet with an all-female cast, inspired by themes from The Handmaid’s Tale; and a new piece choreographed by TCB company dancer Micah Chermak, a three-part ballet called Horrification.

For Dracula, Vogt used the plot of the Gothic novel as a jumping off point to explore the themes of social and physical isolation, mind control, fear, and seduction that permeate the novel, but reinvents the setting. “In this version, the Dracula character is in solitary confinement in a prison,” says Vogt. “It’s not your regular Dracula.” 

About Twin Cities Ballet: Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota (TCB) is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional ballet company located in the South Metro. Our mission is to make ballet approachable, relatable and fun through innovative, professional and original productions.

These activities are made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

October 27 and 28, 7:30pm

Tickets can be purchased in person at Ames Center box office or via Ticketmaster.com

ARENA DANCES kicks off its 26th season of favorites with LIVE dance at The Southern Theater:

Thursday, October 28 at 7:00pm
Friday, October 29 at 7:00pm

Mathew Janczewski brings his subtle, rich and viscerally honest choreographic voice to the historic Southern Theater stage for performances by ARENA DANCES. Noted for their unique physicality and humanistic performances, this bill of favorites is a complimentary array of ARENA’s diverse talents. As the company gears up for a fall of touring, be a part of this celebratory home kickoff. 

Run With Me
The show’s title work is a popular work from the past—revitalized for today. Opening the show, this lush, sinuous men’s quartet is a display of immense endurance, inspired by the writings of David Wojnarowicz. Lightsey Darst for MN Artists called it a “…vivid whirl, densely layered and evocative…with moments of crystalline clarity. Melancholic, romantic, dramatic and lovely.”

One Room
One Room is an all female sextet that surges with the central theme that personal viewpoints shared amongst collective power will prevail. As the dancers negotiate the space around them, and each other, the movement builds layer by layer, working toward a powerful resolution. The movement is a meditation on the need to join together in one room, coming to the table to face conflict, negotiation, compromise, and strength as one voice.

hold my hand
hold my hand is built on the score “Requiem” by Minnesota composer and 2018 McKnight Fellowship recipient, Joshua Clausen. The score and work are inspired by Sophie Chou’s sonification of gun violence statistics.

Open Eyes
A symbiotic relationship of two movers melting and embracing into one another with technical prowess and risk that only can be obtained with pure trust in each other. This duet was originally choreographed with long-time ARENA dancer and muse Amy Behm Thomson with artistic director, Mathew Janczewski.

Quartet
An angularly stark, white-hot cool quartet driven by the music of Four Tet. The full body movement of each dancer must fit within the group pushing, pulling and fitting together. Quartet was honored to be selected for performance through the American College Dance Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

Tickets:
General Admission. $20 in advance if purchased by October 24. $24 week of show and at the door.

Opening night Dine and Dance – $40
Thursday, October 28
6:00pm: Hosted happy hour reception
7:00pm: Performance

COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Masks are required at this event. ARENA DANCES requires all visitors attending our performance to present either proof of a full course of COVID-19 vaccination administered at least 14 days prior to the show or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the performance/event. Photos of the necessary documents are acceptable as proof of test/vaccination.

Cassandra is your DJ and dance inspiration, so grab your sparkly hip belt and join her for some at-home shimmy fun!

$5 reservations, open until noon (CT) the day of the party to get your Zoom invite.

Happy Hips Halloween Dance Party
Saturday, October 30
6:00pm

Jennifer Glaws brings her rich investigations in EFFORT and SPACE to the Southern Theater’s stage for a one-of-a-kind performance by Jagged Moves. The full evening, all female sextet, explores the central themes of boundaries and reclamation as flutist, Julie Johnson, performs original scores of her experimental and contemplative music. The dancers traverse the soundscape and mysterious, sculptural environment on a relentless journey of agency, amplifying the energy and responsiveness to the interruption of personal space by exhibiting a raw and exposed view to the desire, resistance, uncertainty, power—or lack of power—in proximity.

Performing Artists: Emma Marlar, Gemma Isaacson, Genevieve Waterbury, Julie Johnson, Margaret Ogas, Marisol Herling, and Sharon Picasso

Sculpture and Set Design by Jess Kiel-Wornson

Sound Direction and Design by Dan Dukich

In-person, livestream, and on-demand ticketing: https://southerntheater.org/shows/touch-code-re-claiming-space-1

Health and Safety Guidelines 

Rhythmically Speaking is thrilled to return to indoor live performance this November with Riffin’: A Jazz-Danced Celebration of Human Interaction!

We are glad to be back home at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall, the same space that has hosted all three of our CHILL Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack productions. This time around, we’ll be celebrating our shared human status as social animals: creatures that thrive off interacting with not only one another, but also complex rhythms and grooves! RS will use their signature groove, interaction and improvisation-based approach to jazz dance to enliven this concept, along with a combo of live jazz musicians led by guitarist and composer Mike Lauer. Come share in live music and movement and the moment (and a pint and a meal while you are at it) with us and each other in a beloved physical, social space (remember those?)!

Riffin’: A Jazz-Danced Celebration of Human Interaction
Wednesday, November 3 at 7:30pm
Thursday, November 4 at  7:30pm

TICKETS through Amsterdam:
Wednesday, November 3 and
Thursday, November 4

A ‘riff’ is an energetic, often improvised (verbal) outpouring, a succinct or witty comment, or a distinct variation or “take” on something (Merriam Webster). Playing off this and a counterpoint to the idea of ‘ripping off’ or stealing, ‘riffing off’ is a jazz term meaning ‘to borrow and elaborate on.’ This is how we humans navigate our lives – improvising our way from one interaction with one another to the next as we weave our way through our life experiences. Consequently, ‘riffing off one another’ is also a major component of how RS approaches jazz dance – creating improvised interactions off each other, complex jazz music, word prompts, the environments in which we are dancing, etc. Come see this in action at Riffin’!

Find out more at https://rhythmicallyspeakingdance.org/winter-show-riffin/.

See you at the Amsterdam!

On-demand Friday, November 5 at 7:30pm through November 12 at 11:59pm CT.

A Dance Film by Andrea Miller and Helix Films based on BOAT
Composer: Arvo Pärt

Select your own price when purchasing ($0-$50). Please note: ticket revenue from this film screening will be shared with the artists.

In-demand choreographer Andrea Miller’s dances emphasize the contrasts of being human—the grotesque and the sublime, the chaos and the elegance, with movement both primal and poetic. Through an innovative creative collaboration with Northrop, Miller’s company, GALLIM, debuted an evocative new dance film adapted from Miller’s 2016 piece BOAT that explores what it looks like, feels like, and means to be searching for home. Featuring the music of Northrop’s pipe organ played by University Organist Dean Billmeyer and the Twin Cities-based PopUp Choir in the score, the film takes viewers on a journey of people becoming undone, floating adrift, holding each other, building bonds, and allowing hope and dignity to grow anew. This on-demand screening will also include a bonus dance film created by Andrea Miller and Ben Stamper with Ballet Hispánico prior to their collaboration on BOAT.

This event will be captioned, with other accessibility services available upon request.

Virtual Anti-Racist Dramaturgy Event guided by Practice Progress (Kai Hazelwood and Sarah Ashkin)

Saturday, November 6, 2021
12:00-3:30pm CST
NO COST

Who is Practice Progress
Sarah Ashkin (she/her) is an educator, choreographer, scholar and trained facilitator committed to dismantling racism. Kai Hazelwood (she/her) is a passionate and experienced choreographer, movement director, performer, educator, producer, and activist. Together, as Practice Progress, they are addressing structural, professional, and interpersonal white supremacy through body-based learning.

Anti-Racist Dramaturgy – what to expect
Anti-Racist Dramaturgy is offered to creatives of all kinds committed to anti-racist making. This work draws on Kai and Sarah’s dual experience as anti-racist facilitators with Practice Progress and artistic directors of their own respective arts and social justice organizations, Good Trouble Makers, and GROUND SERIES. This event offers makers of all mediums a framework for ongoing anti-racist project design, production, and dramaturgy supported by examples from Kai and Sarah’s extensive practices as arts activists. Free to all participants.

Support and Funding
Anti-Racist Dramaturgy is supported by Pillsbury House and “is funded, in part, by MRAC through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund.”

Sign up
To be a part of this event, send an email to Sophie or call/text the number below and we will make sure you get the details!

Threads Dance Project emerges from the ashes of the pandemic to celebrate its tenth anniversary, premiering the film Out of the Ashes and new works by 2020 Tapestries Program choreographers Gabby Abram, Jennifer Pray, and Elayna Waxse.

Out of the Ashes honors those impacted by 9/11 and asks whether we can resurrect a better way of living. This film, along with the works premiered by Tapestries program choreographers, emerges Threads anew.

Covid19: Effective September 1, 2021, all visitors to the Cowles who are attending a performance/event in the theater spaces are required to show either proof of a full course of COVID-19 vaccinations administered at least 14 days prior to the show or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the performance/event. Masks are required throughout the Cowles.