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Amidst the fall colors and falling leaves, dancers Sarah Baumert, Suzette Gilreath, Erika Hansen, and Leslie O’Neill perform in the site-specific Fall Sound Garden performance installation along the wooded trails at Wargo Nature Center in Lino Lakes, MN; nestled along the Rice Creek chain of lakes, not far upstream from where the Fall Sound Garden first premiered in 2018 at Manomin Park.

This year’s Fall Sound Garden is part of Wargo’s annual Fall Fest, which also features a cider press, storybook trail, Dakota language scavenger hunt, and fall games.  Directed by composer JG Everest, the Fall Sound Garden will also feature embedded sculpture and poetry throughout the site, with live storytelling by poet/storyteller Lisa Yankton, and live roving musical accompaniment by members of the Free Range Orchestra and Choir.

The Fall Sound Garden event is a free, family-friendly, self-guided event that features a sound installation of 60+ small, wireless speakers distributed throughout the park, with live accompaniment by roving musicians and dancers. Each small speaker is playing a different part of the whole piece of music, creating a unique, immersive experience that is described as “a concert you can move through.”

Event is free, but registration is requested in order to send weather updates and possible program changes.

Saturday, October 21 from 1:00-4:00pm

Concerto Dance shares the stage with Afoutayi Haitian Dance, Music and Arts Company, and Kaleena Miller Dance in the Cowles Center Fall Forward Festival Weekend One!

October 21 and 22
Afoutayi Haitian Dance, Music and Arts Company promotes Haitian cultural heritage through dance, songs in Creole and French, and live drumming. Utilizing jazz and modern expressions, Concerto Dance creates vibrant dance works driven by musicality and virtuosity aiming to uplift the human spirit. Kaleena Miller Dance creates tap dance works that invite performers and viewers to participate in deep listening.

Concerto Dance will be performing our signature work Ode to Opus Jazz, inspired by Jerome Robbins’ 1958 work “NY Export: Opus Jazz”, Ode to Opus Jazz is an original jazz dance work that navigates a threatening and explosive world through resilience, friendship, young love, and the “coolness” of classic jazz.

Tickets on sale: Fall Forward Weekend One

Make fall fabulous at this pre-show reception with a photo booth, drag performers, mimosas, and brunch bites. Stay after the social for the Fall Forward Festival performance featuring Haitian, jazz, and tap dance. Join us in supporting artist opportunities and sustaining the diverse programs offered by Cowles Center. With your help, we can empower dance and performing artists at every stage of their careers, nurturing their growth and fostering a vibrant artistic community. Together, let’s make a lasting impact on the arts.

Sunday, October 22
Reception – 12:30pm
Fall Forward Festival Performance – 2:00pm
Tickets: $65, includes reception and performance

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

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 and 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

Cost: $20