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Join Xan Mattek for a special two-week Musical Theater Jazz Workshop this November, hosted by Zenon Dance School!

Designed for dancers with some jazz experience, this class teaches musical theater jazz choreography, audition skills, and performance skills for dancers of all ages. A fun and upbeat class to help you dance like your favorite musical stars. Give my regards to Broadway and see you Wednesday evening!

Musical Theater Workshop with Xan Mattek
Wednesday, November 16
5:30-6:30pm

Register today!
Drop-in: $15
In person only. Masks required.

Xan Mattek is a graduate from Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Performance. She is new to the Twin Cities and has been having a blast getting to know the scene; taking class, auditioning, and meeting inspiring creators! Recent performance credits include Once Upon a Mattress and Escape to Margaritaville where she served as Dance Captain (Old Log Theater) and A Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater). She is currently choreographing Princess and the Pea at the Old Log. One of her favorite gigs was interning at the Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts, where she assisted students in writing, choreographing, directing and overall performing a full-scale musical from scratch in three weeks. Her time at WSU gave her the opportunity to work closely with Daxton Bloomquist (Book of Mormon on Broadway) and several time Broadway National Tour artist and dance captain, Bradley Alan Zarr. Along with her work in theatre Xan is passionate about community arts engagement. Projects include Final Fest Music and Arts Festival and R Sound Presents: Poetry and Music Open Mic.

Join us for Flow Space, an atmosphere that allows for the act of “pure play” to help dance artists use more capacity, intellect, sense, courage, and imagination in their movement styles.

Conducted by director of The DASH Ensemble, Gregory Dolbashian, the class is a highly developed series of improvisational tools and games that warms and pushes both the mind and the body to break habits and fulfill more presence. These exercises are all methods that Gregory has developed and utilized to create movement with The DASH. The artists learn confidence not just in themselves but also in the environment that they are a part of. Games and tasks work both on the individual and in tandem, so that Flow Space creates a community for progress, inspiration, and most of all, discovery. Class is for dancers aged 16+.

Thursday, November 17
4:30-6:00pm
Cost: $20 per participant
Pre-register here.

Three Saturdays:
November 19, December 10, December 17
9:15am-12:00pm
with Justin Leaf
Studio 2B at The Cowles Center

Get in the holiday spirit! Take an intermediate/advanced ballet class with holiday-themed accompaniment and then learn some fun choreography from The Nutcracker. We’ll learn “The Waltz of the Flowers,” modified for an intermediate level. Enjoy dancing to the orchestral recording of the classic Tchaikovsky while moving as an ensemble in formations, refining your execution through some gentle coaching, and building your stamina along the way. Find harmony, focus, and collaboration.

Schedule
9:00am – 9:15am: Studio available for warm-up
9:15am – 10:50am: Technique class
10:50am – 11:00am: Break
11:00am – 12:00pm: Repertoire

Open to ages 16 and up. All genders welcome. Everyone will learn the standard corps de ballet role – be a flower! A video recording of the choreography will be made available to those registered in case you’d like to review between sessions.

$150 for all three Saturdays.
Space is limited. Registration closes on Saturday, November 19 before class.
Register online here with credit card, or before class on Saturday, November 19 with cash or check.

Moving Practice is a weekly class series for professional dancers. Classes prioritize rigor, diversity of contemporary aesthetics, variety of class content, and commitment.

Kendall Kramer teaches in November
Tuesdays, 10:00-11:30am

Professional-level dancers of all styles are welcome.
Pre-register here.
Suggested $17 per class; however, there is a pay-as-able option on all classes – we would rather you join us than not be able to attend due to financial limitations.

This class is a hybrid of foundational ballet technique, breathwork, and exercises for alignment, taught with a gentle approach.  No barre in this class! Instead, we will practice plenty of exercises to help us feel grounded and warmed up for longer exercises in the center, across the floor, and a final combo. I am creating this class in particular for dancers who want to strengthen their ballet muscles and technique, or to practice the form in a less traditional environment. Hope to see you there!

Kendall Kramer is a performer, choreographer, and educator who is deeply passionate about creating spaces where creativity can flourish. She grew up training at the Minnetonka Dance Theater and School, where she also taught dance starting at age 14.

Kendall graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) in 2010 with dual degrees in Dance Performance and Spanish Language. She had the great privilege to study with Danny Buraczeski, among others. In Texas, she danced with organizations and individual artists such as Leslie Scates of Lower Left, Frame Dance, and Psophonia Dance Company. Since returning to Minneapolis, she has had the privilege of performing in Future Interstates, The Shed with HatchDance and HoneyWorks, producing work for the MN Fringe, delving into dance for film, choreographing for Zenon Zone, studying voice with Barrett Music Studio, producing a burlesque and parody dance cabaret series #salsacaliente at the Bryant Lake Bowl, and is the incredibly proud winner of Nudie Nubies burlesque competition in April 2022. In Minneapolis, Kendall has taught for Zenon, The Arena, and several local pre-professional programs. She is thrilled to be teaching a Moving Practice Series at the Arena!