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Join Mathew Janczewski, Founder and Artistic Director of ARENA DANCES, every first Saturday for Floorwork: a communal conversation and shared meal while contemplating the culture and climate of dance today in the Twin Cities. Floorwork was developed to hold conversations and knowledge-sharing spaces for creatives.

The next Floorwork is:
Saturday, January 7 from 3:00-5:00pm
RSVP by Wednesday, January 4 here.

This January Floorwork will focus on Advancing Dance in Our Community.

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.

Thursday, January 19 at 7:30pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
Moderated by Will McGrath

Join Ashwini Ramaswamy, lead choreographer of Invisible Cities, and Will McGrath (author, Everything Lost is Found Again, Farewell Transmission) as they discuss her process of adapting Italo Calvino’s book as a multi-faceted dance performance premiering January 27 and 28, 2023.

Long an inspiration for artists of many disciplines, Calvino’s 1973 novel is a meditation on the environments all around us. The Invisible Cities performance will evoke the book’s themes through movement communicated via four dance traditions: Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian), Modern/African Diasporic, Breaking, and Gaga, as Syrian-American digital artist Kevork Mourad fills the space with live illustrations.

Hear from Ramaswamy and the other lead choreographers Alanna Morris, Berit Ahlgren, and Joseph ‘MN Joe’ Tran as they describe their process of finding cohesion and harmony among the myriad perspectives they bring to their work.

Serenade
Of Mice and Men
The Times Are Racing

The Joffrey Ballet returns to Northrop with a dynamic program of three works: Serenade—the first ballet George Balanchine created in America in 1934, an electric “sneaker ballet” from Tony Award winner Justin Peck, and the Northrop Centennial Commission Of Mice and Men adapted by choreographer Cathy Marston. This new take on John Steinbeck’s tender tale of friendship, perseverance, and sacrifice features an original score by 14-time Academy Award nominee, Thomas Newman (The Shawshank Redemption, Skyfall, Finding Nemo), played live by Northrop’s ballet orchestra.

Friday and Saturday, January 20 and 21
7:30pm

Tickets: $55 – a $20 donation is included in your ticket price.
Post-show: Friday, January 20.

Celebrate with the dancers of Joffrey Ballet after their performance! Join us for the ENCORE: Joffrey Ballet Cast Party, an insider event including drinks, live music, and delicious bites while meeting the dancers—plus remarks from The Joffrey Ballet’s MBG Artistic Director, Ashley Wheater.

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

Bharatanatyam choreographer and dancer Ashwini Ramaswamy (Ragamala Dance Company) deepens a choreographic methodology she began in 2019 with Let the Crows Come—named a “Best of the Year” in The Washington Post and a critic’s pick in The New York Times.

This collaborative reimagining of Italo Calvino’s metaphysical novel interweaves cultural perspectives with a dynamic group of dance artists—Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy (Bharatanatyam), Berit Ahlgren (Gaga), Alanna Morris (Modern), Joseph Tran (Breaking)—and visual artist, Kevork Mourad, who creates Invisible Cities’ interactive, immersive projections in real time.

Ashwini Ramaswamy and Kevork Mourad: Invisible Cities is a Northrop Centennial Commission.

Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28
7:30pm

Sunday, January 29 at 10:00am
The Black Hart of Saint Paul
Presented as part of The Great Northern

Get together, get moving, and build some midwinter heat with this all-abilities movement class, offering a fun and inclusive approach to dancing. Designed for people of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and identities, Dance Church is a communal space for people who want to move their bodies.

During a 50ish-minute class, participants will be guided through a series of movement cues accompanied by a curated playlist of multi-genre pop music. The format is open but guided throughout. No previous training is required, but open-mindedness is a prerequisite. Get lost dancing together—it’s the dance party you wish you had last night.

Dance Church® has been bringing the joy and release of dance to people since 2010. Classes are hosted regularly in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles, and have popped up in cities worldwide. Dance Church Go is an online streaming version of our in-person classes. Go was created to dance together from wherever with on-demand and live-streamed classes available anytime. Whether in-person or on the internet, Dance Church is committed to spreading joy through movement while building community physically and virtually around the world.

World premiere of the first section of forthcoming opera, commissioned by The Great Northern
Performed by MPLS (imPulse)
With dancer Amanda Sachs
Libretto by Robert MacFarlane

Saturday, February 4 at 2:00pm and 4:00pm
Luminary Arts Center

Drawing upon J.A. Baker’s prophetic 1967 book The Peregrine, Australia-born/Iceland-based artist Ben Frost presents a new choral performance and installation Cold Air Rises. This new work in development is a collaboration with acclaimed British nature writer Robert MacFarlane. Local ensemble MPLS (imPulse) and dancer Amanda Sachs will perform this first movement of what will eventually form Frost’s next opera, commissioned by The Great Northern at Minnesota Opera’s newly renovated Luminary Arts Center. Join us for a sound experience like none other, a beautiful story of obsession and transformation.