Archive

Dance Roots: Minnesota’s Movers and Shakers Exhibition Opening Reception

Come to the opening reception of Dance Roots: Minnesota’s Movers and Shakers, celebrating Minnesota’s dance community drawn from the University of Minnesota’s Performing Arts Archives.

Friday, October 27 from 5:00-7:30pm

Enjoy refreshments, mingle, and explore the exhibition. Stay for Georgia Finnegan-Saulitis’s talk about her new book Grace & Grit at 6:30pm.

The Exhibition, curated by the PAA’s new director Deborah Ultan, displays a fascinating network of choreographers, companies, dancers, teachers, dance photographers, and dance spaces over the last 100 years. There will be guest speakers at the exhibition through January 31, 2024, including Mary Easter. Mary will read from her autobiography, “The Way She Wants To Get There, Telling on Myself,” on November 8 at 12:00pm – brown-bag lunch.

Dance Roots: Minnesota’s Movers and Shakers will be open during library hours: 9:00am-5:00pm on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and 9:00am-7:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday.

James Sewell Ballet: In the Shadows

Frankenstein, zombies, and characters of Edgar Allen Poe come to life in this family-friendly performance steeped in spooky delight and tragic majesty.

Anchoring the performance is a new choral ballet titled Unfashioned Creature, featuring Twin Cities beloved artists Timothy C. Takach (composer), Penelope Freeh (choreographer), and the MPLS (imPulse) choral ensemble. The work is poetically rooted in Shelley’s Frankenstein, and explores key aspects relating to personhood: otherness, abandonment, despair, and hopeful yearning. Music includes cello, percussion, and the stellar singers of MPLS who will perform a fractured libretto comprised of Shelley’s text.

Also on the program, remounts of two Sewell fall favorites: excerpts from “Takes on Poe” (2012); and “Grave Matters” (2011), which combines undead charm and morbid wit in a playful zombie ballet.

Saturday, October 28
2:00pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: $5-34

The Arena – Workshop with International Artist Kata Juhasz

Sensing the Flow
Saturday, October 28
10:00-11:30am

Pricing: Suggested donation of $25
Register via email: cie.ooops@gmail.com

Workshop Description
After an exhilarating release technique-based technical warm-up, which allows flowing movements in space, we will have a short phrase followed by some creative improvisation tasks. The exercises open up and disrupt movement vocabulary and composition methods to propose an unprecedented dance language and help dancers explore non-habitual, spatial, dynamic, and body-level choices.

In addition to the work on the individual body, we’ll focus on composing the movement of a group. The movement of individuals within a group can be connected and united. Shapes or positions in space can be related and given the visual equivalents of harmony or dissonance. As dancers, we can create connections referring to past or future events, like melodies, rhythms, and dynamics. As a result of the workshop, a short joint group choreography will be created.

Kata Juhász is a dancer-choreographer from Budapest, Hungary. She has presented her own choreographic works internationally since 2005. Read more about her background here.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet Presents Deep River

Submerge yourself in this deeply soulful, powerful new work that fuses Black and Jewish spiritual music with stunning dance. Set to a score by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran—with vocals by Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer—the piece celebrates the 40th anniversary of this artistically innovative ballet company. Master choreographer and visionary Alonzo King reveals Deep River is a reminder “that love is the ocean that we rose from, swim in, and will one day return to”—that love can set us free.

Thursday, November 2 at 7:30pm

Sensory Friendly Lounge
A Sensory Friendly Lounge equipped with sensory supports and staffed by trained volunteers will be available to all guests who are seeking a safe and soothing atmosphere during this and other select performances. Learn more on the Accessibility Services page.

ALWAN MASR (The Colors of Egypt)

Karim Nagi, Vanessa of Cairo, and Jawaahir Dance Company take you on a journey through Alwan Masr (The Colors of Egypt)! This fun, family-friendly show gives you a taste of a country with diverse and unique dance styles. We showcase the beauty and distinctiveness of Arab dance.

Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian immigrant, a crossover artist uniting the Arab tradition with the global contemporary world. He has 14 CDs ranging from traditional Arab music to fusion and electronica, and he has instructional videos for Arab percussive instruments and Arab dance styles. He currently resides in Chicago, IL.

Vanessa of Cairo, Artistic Director of Jawaahir, is an international performer, instructor, and award-winning choreographer who resided in Cairo for 12 years. She instructed private and group classes in all styles including many of the Egyptian folklore dances, danced in daily nightclub shows, and danced and acted in various plays through the Ministry of Culture in Egypt.

November 3, 7:30pm
November 4, 7:30pm

Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door

Pilates Teacher Training at Paragon Pilates & Physical Therapy

Balanced Body® Pilates Mat 2
November 3-5, 2023

Friday: 4:00-8:00pm
Saturday: 11:30am-6:00pm
Sunday: 9:30am-4:30pm

Fee: $499 + $60 materials

Mat 2 teaches the remaining intermediate and advanced level Mat exercises for a complete understanding of the Pilates Mat program. Lectures include progressive skill development to achieve the advanced exercises, programming for intermediate and advanced classes and creating successful Mat classes.
Prerequisites: Movement Principles, Mat 1

Instructor: Ann-Marie Chesterfield, DPT

Off-Leash Area Presents Off-Kilter Cabaret

Off-Leash Area presents its second annual Off-Kilter Cabaret, an ongoing community program designed to highlight and support artists with disabilities in the creation of original performance work. The 2023 Off-Kilter Cabaret explores the theme “Inside, Outside, Inside-Out,” which asks artists to center a performance work around their hidden self and perception of their personal identity in the larger world, and which will showcase seven unique artists from a range of artistic disciplines including dance, comedy, puppetry, musical composition, spoken word, and storytelling.

This year’s cabaret, curated by the Off-Kilter Leadership Team, includes returning artists Braille, Scott Sorensen, and Young Dance and features AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa, Desdamona, Houa Moua, and Tessa Longshore for their Off-Kilter debuts. It will be emceed by returning artist Amy Salloway.

Off-Kilter Cabaret will occur November 17, 18, and 19 at the fully accessible TekBox in the Cowles Center for Dance. The event includes accessibility accommodations such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, Audio Description, and Live Captioning.
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Off-Leash Area, under co-artistic directors Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig, has a 24-year history of presenting original interdisciplinary performance work. The Off-Kilter Advisory Group and Selection Panel from the disability community also include writer and storyteller Amy Salloway, multidisciplinary artist Gabriel Rodreick, arts accessibility consultant Jon Skaalen, and Sam Jasmine, host of the Disability and Progress program on KFAI. Off-Leash Area is excited to continue our partnership with Young Dance, whose mission is “transforming lives through movement.”

Hallucinations – Sculpture and Dance Performance

Through sculpture and dance, “Hallucinations” shows alternative views of living with mental illness; revealing the beauty, tragedy, and everything in between; challenging stigmas; shifting perspectives; and so much more.

The sculptures and the performance were influenced by true stories collected from people living with mental illness. Thank you to each of the people involved for trusting me to weave their stories in metal and movement to create a work that will show a new side of mental illness.

See it all come to life on November 17 and 18 at the Center for Performing Arts or via live-stream!
Doors open at 7:00pm CST.
Performance begins at 7:30pm CST.
The Saturday performance will be followed by a Q&A.

In-person tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Live-stream tickets are $8 in advance.
A limited number of pay-as-you’re-able tickets will be available at the door each night.
In-person and live-stream tickets are available at beccacerra.com

CoreAlign® Teacher Training at Paragon Pilates & Physical Therapy

Balanced Body® CoreAlign Instructor Training 1: Foundations
November 17-19, 2023

Friday: 4:00-8:00pm
Saturday: 11:30am-6:00pm
Sunday: 9:30am-4:30pm

Fee: $425 + $60 materials

At Paragon, we offer CoreAlign Teacher Training for fitness professionals, movement educators and rehab clinicians.
This course includes CoreAlign method theory and 60+ foundation exercises to build functional movement skills. Areas of focus are trunk integration, upper body strength and balance, lower body strength, power, gait and dynamic flexibility. Progressions and regressions for all ability levels. Specific modifications and precautions for special populations. Equipment set up, maintenance and safety.

Instructor: Matthew Hodge-Rice

Critical Conversations – Fundamentals of Editing a Video Work Sample

Critical Conversations – Fundamentals of Editing a Video Work Sample
Sunday, November 19
2:30-4:00pm
Cowles Center Flex Space – 1st Floor, Main Lobby

Join us for an informative experience as we guide you through the process of creating a work sample in real time. Whether you’re a budding dancer or a seasoned pro, this workshop is designed to help you enhance your skills and leave with basic fundamental tools, tips and tricks to apply to your own video projects.

Through this workshop, you’ll gain a practical understanding of the video editing process, from the software selection to the finishing touches. These fundamental steps will equip you with the essential skills to create engaging video projects, whether for personal enjoyment or professional endeavors.

Cowles Center’s Critical Conversations 2023 Series
Join The Cowles Center in conversations that bring artists together to explore topics relevant to emerging choreographers. While conversations may provide some tips and tools, we are also gathering just to be in conversation with the community and support one another as we all navigate our artistic journeys. All are welcome, come to bring your voice or listen to others!