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Zenon Dance School – Circular Drawing Movement Workshop with Alexis Zanety

Join us for a special workshop with Alexis Zanety this fall at Zenon!

In collaboration with the MN International Dance Festival and Dance Projects by ME, Alexis Zanety hosts a unique Circular Movement Drawing Technique workshop at Zenon Dance School this October. Alexis created the Circular Drawing Movement technique, which is a combination of Cuban Modern Dance, Neoclassic, and Afro-Cuban Dance techniques, characterized by fluid continuous organic movements. Click here to learn more about the technique and Alexis’ work.

Circular Drawing Movement with Alexis Zanety
Friday, October 13, 10:00-11:30am
In person. Register here.
Drop-in: $15

Alexis Zanety is a contemporary teacher and choreographer and former first soloist for Cuba’s National Dance Company (CNDC). In 2002, he reallocated to Mexico by invitation from the Teatro Degollado to enrich the dance community with his artistry while performing and choreographing at the most important international festivals and operas in the country. In 2016, he reallocated to Houston, Texas, and began sharing his expertise and passion at the local and national level at places such as Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, University of Houston, University of Oklahoma, and Afro Latin Fest. He was also invited to the 2018 and 2019 International Association of Blacks in Dance Congress as a guest teacher. In November 2019, he was recognized by the Congress of Texas for his many accomplishments in the Houston cultural landscape. Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston, proclaimed November 9, 2019, as “Alexis Zanety Day” to honor Alexis’ passion for the arts and overall contributions to the arts scene.

Click here to learn more about the 2023 MN International Dance Festival, October 17-21!

Step Afrika! Drumfolk Presented by Northrop

In 1739, Africans enslaved in South Carolina used their drums to start a revolt—a little-known event that forever transformed African American life and culture. When the Stono Rebellion cost Africans the right to use their drums, the beats found their way into the body of the people—the Drumfolk. This led to some of our country’s most distinctive traditions like tap, the ring shout, and stepping.

Journey with Step Afrika! as they share histories too often left in the margins with this movement-filled celebration of the human spirit.

Friday, October 13
7:30pm
Presented by Northrop

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.

Continuing Education at Paragon Pilates and Physical Therapy

Balanced Body® Introduction to the Chair for Rehabilitation Professionals
October 13, 12:00-4:00pm
Fee: $175

The chair, created by Joseph Pilates, provides a wide variety of exercises in a small footprint. In the clinical setting, the chair offers opportunity to work functionally in sitting and standing both bilaterally and unilaterally. This course is an introduction to Chair exercises and includes regressions for the client in active rehabilitation as well progressions for the beginning, post-rehabilitation and advanced wellness client. This training is appropriate for clinics working with the Wunda Chair, Combo Chair and ExoChair. This course will include equipment set up, clinical application, and safety.

Instructor: Ann-Marie Chesterfield, DPT

Art of Being: De-Growth/Slowing Down – Movement Workshop with Ayako Kato

Dance is the art of being.

Ayako offers this workshop as a daily practice of being – as a human, mover, performer, artist, dancer, and choreographer. Through this practice, Ayako will share the way to find our centered, grounded, and balanced selves through exercises based in imagery (and physical reality).

Through improvisational and simple compositional exercises, participants will raise a keen awareness of the expansiveness as well as the depth of being. Participants will explore ways to open up the body-mind as an empty conduit to welcome new wind flow through themselves and feel fullness. Ayako will share how to expand and develop the tangible and intangible tensegrity (tension x integrity) through our bodies and minds to sense new relationships within and around us. Participants will be asked to create their own short dance.

Minneapolis-based Mary Willmeng has been a dance colleague of Ayako since 2007. Together, Mary and Ayako are excited to be able to realize an in-person workshop and share the Art of Being worldview with Minneapolis!

Art of Being: De-Growth/Slowing Down
Saturday, October 14, 1:00-3:00pm

Early Bird Special: $20 – Register by October 13.
Drop-in: $23-25, sliding scale.
Registration is recommended.

To register, please contact Ayako at furyuayajp@gmail.com. Payment details and instructions are below. Registration is complete when you contact Ayako and payment is sent. You may also register through Eventbrite.

Payment: Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya at furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya), or PayPal (paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya).

Please contact Ayako at  furyuayajp@gmail.com or Mary at marywillmeng@gmail.com with any questions.

Young Dance Presents the Third Annual Fall Fling

Young Dance invites you to celebrate community at the 3rd annual Fall Fling on Saturday, October 14, from 2:00–6:00pm. This outdoor celebration is fun for the whole family! Enjoy performances and interactive demonstrations by Young Dance, The ARC Minnesota, Auntie Bec’s Boutique, CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, Element Gym, Ripple Effect Community Fitness, Smiling Drum, St. Paul Ballet, St. Paul Pilates & Fitness, Youth Performance Company, and other Fairview Business Center tenants. 

Again this year, we are including a family-friendly makers’ market with Kimmie’s Illustrations, SuperPatch, Mrs. E.’s Teacher Treats, The Munchies, and more. The first hour of the event will be a community dance party followed by games, art, performances, and—of course—more dancing! 

The event is free! Can’t make it but still feel passionate about Young Dance? Donate here! 

We will provide audio description and an ASL interpreter. Parking is wheelchair-accessible and seating will be available. Please let us know if any other accommodations are needed to participate in this event. 

The event will continue inside at each partner’s location in the event of rain. 

Schedule of Events:
3:10 – Smiling Drum
3:30 – Youth Performance Company
3:45 – CAAM Chinese Dance Theater
4:00 – St. Paul Ballet
4:15 – Ripple Effect
4:30 – St. Paul Pilates & Fitness
4:45 – TaikoArts Midwest
5:00 – Young Dance

Afoutayi Ransanble Fanmi – Let’s Celebrate Family

Afoutayi Haitian Dance, Music and Arts is a performance company and nonprofit arts organization incorporated in the state of Minnesota and fiscally sponsored by Indigenous Roots in Saint Paul, MN. Our mission is to promote Haitian and Afro-Caribbean heritage and diversify contemporary representations of Haiti through music, art, dance, and history education. We envision a world where Haitian and Afro-Caribbean cultural heritage is a fundamental part of youth education and success to enrich communities of different backgrounds.​

Ransable is a monthly event hosted by Afoutayi, featuring Haitian food and drinks, social dance, and collaborative performances with special international/local guest artists, all centered around an important theme of Haitian culture.

This month’s theme is Ransanbe Fanmi, which, in Haitian Creole means “Let’s celebrate family.”
We will be joined by special guest, Salsa del Soul.
We invite you to join us for this unique cultural experience!

Saturday, October 14
6:00-9:00pm

Pre-sale tickets: $10 kids; $25 teens and adults
Tickets at the door: $15 Kids; $30 teens and adults

James Sewell Ballet Adult Dance Intensive

This JSB Dance Intensive is intended for adult dancers with some dance training beyond fundamentals. The over-arching goal of this Intensive is for participants to deepen their understanding of ballet and related movement modalities; engage in a creative physical pursuit in a friendly environment; and commit to wellness and regenerate their energy.

Train with movement experts who value personal growth and agency. Our instructors love sharing the joy of dance with participants of all ages and abilities!

October 17-21, 2023
Tuesday-Thursday evenings
Friday-Saturday daytime
With optional Friday and Saturday evening activities!

Multiple Enrollment Options:

  • Entire Intensive, Tuesday through Saturday
  • Partial Evening, Tuesday through Thursday
  • Partial Daytime, Friday and Saturday

16 Feet: Perceptions Noted

A multi-artist collaboration of independent choreographers from around the Twin Cities, giving their voice and visions.

October 19-21
7:30pm
TekBox Theater

Featuring:
Davente Gilreath – Healing, Love
Gerry Girouard – Honest, Energetic
Alarica Hassett – Weird, Liberated
Jim Lieberthal – Mystical, Dynamic
Jennifer Mack – Creatively Resilient
Christine Maginnis – Swashbuckling-Swan
Alys Ayumi Ogura – Appropriately Inappropriate
Rebecca Tanner – Embodied, Collaborative
Julie Warder – Influenced, Supported
Mary Willmeng – Devoted, Magnetic

Get tickets:
$20 for general admission.
$15 for students, seniors, and children under 12.
Fees included in ticket pricing.

Concerto Dance – Master Class at the Cowles Center

Concerto Dance is hosting an Intermediate/Advanced Jazz master class to kick off our performance in Weekend One of the Fall Forward Festival!

Join us as we examine jazz dance from a historical perspective with a concentration on classical jazz dance technique, musicality, and moving as a community. Class will conclude with a combination from our signature work Ode to Opus Jazz, part of the Fall Forward Festival, October 21-22.

Intermediate/Advanced Jazz
Friday, October 20
9:00-11:00am

At The Cowles Center for Dance, Target Education Studio
Cost: $20, cash or Venmo: @Concerto-Dance
Drop-ins welcome!

More information.

Fall Forward Festival at The Cowles Center

Celebrating nine different dance artists across three fantastic weekends!
Talents collide onstage as our diverse dance community showcases an assortment of genres across this momentous festival. Each weekend features a new roster and a variety of experiences from percussive footwork to physical feats to modern expressions and more!

Saturdays at 7:30pm
Sundays at 2:00pm

Week One: October 21–22
Concerto Dance‘s Ode to Opus Jazz navigates the challenges of an explosive and turbulent world through resilience, friendship, and young love utilizing vernacular and classic jazz dance with theatrical flair. Kaleena Miller Dance premieres an interplay of minimal maximalism that abstracts inherent footwork patterns in response to the intricate sonic landscape. Afoutayi Haitian Dance, Music, and Arts Company’s Ti Sonson and the Power of the Drums, extracted from the trilingual children’s book of the same name, is a bright spark, highlighting joy and resilience in Haitian culture.

Week Two: October 28–29
Ballet Folklorico Mexico Azteca’s celebration of Día de los Muertos unites the past and present by honoring the departed and the vitality of life with a hint of contemporary dance. Discover STRONGmovement’s unique dance and art philosophy through three original works spanning recent years: You Think You Know, Kwôren,tēn, and a new solo, The Artist. Yuki Tokuda presents a ballet based on Japanese folklore called Yuki-Onna (The Snow Woman) with Piano Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt, played by Rie Tanaka.

Week Three: November 4–5
Katha Dance Theatre’s PRAKRITIR PRATISODH – Nature’s Revenge depicts the natural forces that are now threatened due to humanity’s choices and the hope to conquer these challenges and move forward with harmony! Shapiro & Smith Dance’s Burning Air tells of the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894. Ominous skies are again in front of our eyes as today’s fires foretell what’s to come in a world of continued inaction on climate change. In We Are Cosmic, Alternative Motion Project connects black holes, dream states, multiverses, and theta waves through stunning visuals, rigorous physicality, and sound by Dameun Strange.