7th Annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival

ARENA DANCES presents the seventh annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival, Minnesota’s only dance festival with a dynamic sampling of great dance artists featuring performances, master classes, and public showings wrapped all in one week. This year’s festival features the work of local Twin Cities artists Berit Ahlgren of HoneyWorks and Megan Mayer, with a warm welcome to Chicago-based artist J’Sun Howard with a National Performance Network co-commission to headline.

Featured Artist Performances
Thursday, April 27 at 7:30pm
Friday, April 28 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 29 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 29 at 2:00pm – Pay-As-Able pricing option available only at the door.

Get your tickets:
$25 online and at the door; $18 student/senior discount with inquiry.

Happy Hour Artists, 5:30-6:30pm
Wednesday, April 26 – Shane Larson and Rachel Lieberman
Thursday, April 27 – Laurie Van Wieren
Friday, April 28 – Lily Conforti

Tickets: $12 per show or $25 for five-show package.
Walk-ins welcome. Cash/check/card accepted at the door.
All Happy Hour ticket income and donations go directly to the artists.

Master Classes
Wednesday-Friday, 4:00-5:15. See our post under Workshops!

More information!

Katha Dance Theatre Presents Kathak E-motion

Katha Dance Theatre is proud to present a classic Kathak dance work in the vein of those performed for kings and emperors in eighteenth-century India. Kathak E-motion embodies the grandiosity and opulence of Hindu and Islamic royal courts while also exemplifying the art form’s integral expression of emotions, known as Abhinya. Using Kathak’s complex rhythms, intricate footwork, graceful movements, pirouettes, and gestural storytelling, Kathak E-motion epitomizes the form in breathtaking style.

Featuring live music and a guest dance performance by world-renowned artists Kousic Sen, Chandrachur Bhattacharjee, Pankaj Mishra, Pooja Goswami Pavan, Anirban Bhattacharyya, and Souvik Chakraborty. Choreography by Rita Mustaphi.

Friday, April 28 at 7:00pm
Saturday, April 29 at 7:00pm
Sunday, April 30 at 2:00pm (ASL-interpreted)

Tickets: $30 general admission.
Seniors age 62+ use code SEN for $5 off.
Students and children under 18 use code STU for $14 off – please note that this code is only for students/children and not their parents.

A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $70! Perks include:

  • Front-row seats for the performance
  • Invitation to attend an informal rehearsal on April 22 at KDT’s studio, to be followed by refreshments and a meet-and-greet with the artists
  • Invitation to attend a post-show Q&A, private reception, and meet-and-greet
  • Small thank-you gift from KDT

Photo by Suchit Nanda.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. It is also supported in part by St. Paul Cultural STAR, the McKnight Foundation, the RBC Foundation, the Archie and Bertha Walker Foundation, and the generosity of KDT’s private donors.

Twin Cities Flamenco Collective at Icehouse MPLS

Twin Cities Flamenco Collective inspires audiences through its passionate and soulful expressions of flamenco music and dance alongside special guest artists.

Join us Sunday, April 30 at 5:00pm!
This event is part of TCFC’s monthly residency at Icehouse MPLS.

Performances by:
Anna Kokayeff – Special guest, flamenco dancer
Bobby “El Eléctrico” – TCFC, percussionist
Eva Makiko – TCFC, flamenco dancer
La Gracia – Special guest, flamenco dancer
Ross “El Vecino” – TCFC, flamenco guitarist
Sachiko “La Chayí” – TCFC, flamenco dancer
Trevor May – Special guest, flamenco guitarist

Welcome Spring! 2023 Annual Showcase

Welcome Spring! celebrates the rich emotion and exuberance of St. Paul Ballet’s student dancers.  Audiences will ride the surging emotions of the music together with the dancers in this perfect blend of classic works and new work created specifically for them.

The annual showcase highlights the talent in the School, from young students beginning their training to advanced students on the verge of college or career.

Performances by the upper levels feature premieres by choreographers Penelope Freeh and Sean Scantlebary and timeless excerpts from the fantasy worlds of Le Corsaire and Don Quixote staged by choreographer Helen Hatch.

The younger dancers explore movement inspired by famous artwork with choreography by teaching artists, Christina Onusko, Alejandra Iannone, Aloe Lui, Jennifer Mack, Hannah Pierce, and Siri Drontle with an appearance by pre-ballet dancers.

Nothing matches the boundless passion of young talent in live theater. You won’t want to miss this pay-as-you-can event!

Threads Dance Project Presents Tapestries 7.0

Threads’ annual Tapestries series introduces Twin Cities’ communities to three local emerging choreographers. Tapestries 7.0 features new and reprised works showcasing the perspectives and talents of this year’s selected choreographers: Erinn LiebhardJulie Warder, and Brenna Mosser and Artistic Director Karen L. Charles.

Charles is remounting her piece, Uncertain Reality (2017), which explores the concept of Chaos Theory as it relates to the world we live in. Complexity and the beauty of chaos through movement and interactive technological imagery, in collaboration with projection artist Miko Simmons.

May 5 at 7:30pm – Pay as able, minimum $10
May 6 at 7:30pm
May 7 at 2:00pm

General: $25
Students: $20

An Evening of Bharatanatyam by the Legendary Alarmél Valli

Experience a rare, unparalleled performance by the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer/choreographer Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, guru to Ragamala Dance Company’s Artistic Directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy since 1983. Ms. Valli is widely recognized as one of India’s greatest living masters and practitioners. Ranee and Aparna’s training with Ms. Valli has formed the foundation of their aesthetic and has been fundamental to the work of the Ragamala, now celebrating its 30th season.

Presenting an evening of diverse poems in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu, Alarmél Valli’s dance is uncompromisingly classical but is, at the same time, an undeniable language of self-expression. Her work blurs the boundaries between tradition and individual talent, inheritance, and invention. A sublime evening of dance by one of the world’s greatest soloists, this is an experience not to be missed.

“Alarmel Valli is that rare thing – the solo performer who puts all others out of mind” (The New York Times).

May 6 at 7:30pm
Price: $25

MIXTAPE 6: Cypherspace

Dance into the next chapter of hip hop!

Cypherspace is a place of unlimited possibilities that allow for the reshaping of reality through various embodiments. The MIXTAPE Collective travels to the future through cyberspace to offer multiple perspectives on the next millennium. MIXTAPE’s work reveals generative strategies for sharing power and access to resources by weaving together choreography, videography, and musical compositions.

Saturday, May 6 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 7 at 2:00pm*
Price: $30

*Sunday, May 7 performance includes Pay As You Are ticketing!

Collide Theatrical Presents Our Stories

A dancer does a backbend with one hand reaching toward the sky. A rainbow arches overhead and an open book lies below

Collide Theatrical Dance Company presents Our Stories, Chapter 2: The LGBTQIA+ and Non-Binary Experience

Landmark Center: May 7
75 W 5th St, St Paul, MN 55102

Collide Cabaret: May 12–14
755 Prior Ave N, Suite 235H, St Paul, MN 55104

Join us for an evening of original dance storytelling centered on the non-binary and LGBTQIA experience that seeks to inform, educate, and entertain audiences of all ages. Enjoy dance theater in an intimate setting with cabaret-style seating.

Directed by Jarod Boltjes
Emceed by local cabaret diva Mistress Ginger
Featuring Grace Kidder, Javan Mngrezzo, Michael Mossucco, Ben Siglin, and Connor Simone

Tickets
Online or call 651-395-7903, ext. 701.

Kaleena Miller Dance Presents KMD2 in Concert

An evening of tap dance, with new and classic choreography by Leon Collins (as taught and shared by Dianne Walker and Lia Spirka), Naomi Funaki, Kaleena Miller, Bobby Hamilton and Tony van de Light, as well as KMD2 Company Members. The show will also feature Random Motions in Nature and Dance, a very special collaboration with UMN Civil Engineering Professor Vaughan Voller that illuminates the patterns that emerge from random motions.

With performances by KMD2 Company Members Leah Chamaty, Anna Curtler, Evan Guffey, Grace Fabienke, Anika Kachmarek, Shelby Lee, Nina Maxwell, Delaina Thill, Ruby Thill, and Allie Wing and KMD Apprentices Bobby Hamilton, Abby King, Emma Parker, and Tony van de Ligt.

KMD2 Company Members and KMD Apprentices are pre-professional, creative incubation groups for emerging tap dance talent in the Twin Cities.

Thursday, May 11 at 7:30pm
Friday, May 12 at 7:30pm

Get tickets here.