Archive: Performances and Events

Black Label Movement celebrates the 15th anniversary of Carl Flink and Mary Ellen Childs’ award-winning, evening-length work Wreck, which explores how a group of 13 people trapped in the last watertight compartment of a sinking ship respond to their harrowing situation.

The work features Flink and Black Label Movement’s signature driving and deeply human choreography, Childs’ glorious and mysterious original score, and a live onstage musical ensemble led by Pat O’Keefe.

Friday, April 21 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 22 at 7:30pm
Sunday, April 23 at 2:00pm

Tickets to all performances are “Pay as You Are,” with tickets as low as $5!

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:
Purchase before April 23: $21; $18 student/senior
After April 23: $25 online and at the door; $18 student/senior discount with inquiry.

Happy Hour Artists
Monday-Friday, 5:30-6:30pm
Monday, April 24 – Nic Lincoln
Tuesday, April 25 – Cheng Xiong and Javan Mngrezzo
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
Monday-Friday, 4:00-5:15. See our post under Workshops!

More information!

Concerto Barocco, George Balanchine
Mozartiana, George Balanchine
Sagalobeli, Yuri Possokhov

Following a pandemic-induced postponement, and their gorgeous Northrop Centennial Commissioned film, Northrop is pleased to present the much-anticipated return of The State Ballet of Georgia. The company has soared under the bold artistic direction of international ballet star Nina Ananiashvili (former prima ballerina with Bolshoi Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre) who leads these stunning dancers in a program that includes two works by the great Georgian-American, George Balanchine. Created for the company by the Ukrainian-born dancer and international choreographer, Yuri Possokhov, Sagalobeli is the rousing finale to an evening graced by the live orchestra led by Music Conductor, Gavriel Heine.

April 26 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $100 (A $35 donation is included in your ticket price.)
April 26 at 5:00pm

Celebrate dance prior to The State Ballet of Georgia performance! The exclusive ENCORE: The State Ballet of Georgia Dinner includes a social hour and silent auction in the Northrop Atrium, a sumptuous catered dinner, and live music. Plus special guest, The State Ballet of Georgia’s Artistic Director, Nina Ananiashvili.

These celebratory fundraising events support Northrop Centennial Commissions to create new dance works, elevate artists, and bring extraordinary presentations to our stage. You can be part of ensuring that artists’ creative works will be seen by audiences and youth in our community for years to come.

In this decade, leading up to Northrop’s 100-year anniversary in 2029, the Northrop Centennial Commissions project helps create new dance works to ensure that there will be amazing performances far into the future.

With your support, Northrop’s Centennial Commissions program provides:

• The creation and presentation of exquisite new works.
• Opportunities for students, youth, and communities to experience transformative arts.
• Connections through art that will be shared for generations.
• Arts programming for youth arts and education programs.
• A deeper understanding and insight into art, self-expression, and communication through discussions with artists, inspiring the community and young people.

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.

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 Liebhard, Julie 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

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 thirtieth 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, 7:30pm
Price: $25

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!

Floorwork: a communal conversation and shared meal.

Every first Saturday! Floorwork was developed to hold conversations, knowledge sharing, and supportive space for dance artists and people who like to move.

The next Floorwork is:
Saturday, May 6
3:00-5:00pm
RSVP by Thursday, May 4.

This May Floorwork will focus on artist residencies – conversation assisted by April Sellers of April Sellers Dance Collective, Liz Engelmen of Tofte Lake Center, and Sharon Mansur, an Arab/SWANA American experimental dance and interdisciplinary artist who will be joining us via Zoom. Conversation will be held over a communal meal – bring your own dish to share in our potluck! ARENA DANCES will supply beverages, plates, napkins, and utensils.

Come see a special collection of solos, duets, trios and student choreography from Hopkins Dance Company!