Archive

Young Dance Presents Fall Fling: A Party in the Parking Lot

Celebrate 35 years of Young Dance! Play and build community at the Fall Fling on Saturday, October 15 from 3:00–6:00pm.

This outdoor celebration is fun for the whole family! Enjoy performances and interactive demonstrations by Young Dance, CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, Smiling Drum, St. Paul Ballet, and Youth Performance Company. Visit the family-friendly makers’ market including addis, NordEast Cookie Co., and more! Play games, blow bubbles, make art, eat cake, dance, and more.

We will provide audio description and an ASL interpreter. Parking is wheelchair accessible and seating will be available. Individuals with and without disabilities regularly engage with the organizations at the Fairview Business Center. We value access and continue working to improve our programming and space to meet people’s needs better. Please let us know if any other accommodations are needed to participate in this event.

Activities will be outdoors, but in the event of rain, the event will continue inside at each partner’s location.

This event is free! 

The schedule of events will be posted in early October and more information can be found on the Facebook Event page.

Invite the Moon to Dance

CAAM Chinese Dance Theater launches its 30th anniversary season with an original program at the O’Shaughnessy on October 15, 2022.  Entitled Invite the Moon to Dance, this live, in-person event under the artistic direction of Jinyu Zhou, formerly artistic director of Zhejiang Song and Dance Theater, invites not only CAAM Chinese Dance Theater artists to ‘dance with the moon’ but also many more amazing guest artists.

Featuring solo dance performances by Ao (Aloe) Liu, former soloist for world renowned Yang Liping Dance Company, (also known as the “Peacock Queen”), who joined CAAM Chinese Dance Theater in 2022, she will perform “Moonlight”, honoring the mystery and power of the moon during this season. A Walker Art Center’s 2022 Choreographers’ Evening soloist artist, Ao Liu will also perform a world premiere collaboration with Gao Hong, an international award-winning pipa artist, in this October 15 program.

To celebrate this auspicious 30th anniversary celebration, CAAM CDT will share the stage with Katha Dance Theater, a Twin Cities based Kathak professional dance company as well as select dancers from St. Paul Ballet, featuring choreography of Helen Hatch, and Carleton College’s Chinese Instrumental Orchestra.

CAAM Chinese Dance Theater has built a reputation in arts and dance circles with its entertaining, professionally choreographed and marvelously executed programs on stage.  CDT is also recognized for its welcoming and inclusive work in the broader community with its extensive outreach in schools and in the community.

Collide Theatrical Presents The Seven Deadly Sins

A light-skinned dancer walks through a red door frame, smoke hovers around her

The Seven Deadly Sins

Wall Street investment trader Laura Oxford has spent most of her life in pursuit of power and wealth. Reaching a tipping point, she stumbles through a series of doors illuminating her path through “the seven deadly sins.”

Enjoy our immersive dance theater performance told through a variety of dance styles and popular music.

Audience members will be seated in a cocktail table–style setting surrounded by haunted house elements. Enjoy your favorite guilty beverage while nibbling on sinful treats provided.

Floorwork: Conversations and Knowledge Sharing Potluck

Join Mathew Janczewski, Founder and Artistic Director of ARENA Dances, 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.

Saturday, October 22, 12:00-2:00pm
RSVP by Wednesday, October 19 here.

This eighth iteration of Floorwork will focus on Dance and Community in the Twin Cities. We will ask these questions together:

  • How do we “show up” for one another within the dance community?
  • What needs to change in the Twin Cities presently to support a dedicated career in dance?
  • What does the landscape of being a dance artist in the Twin Cities look like today?

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.

James Sewell Ballet – BREATHE

A light-skinned dancer is suspended in a jump

As we continue to innovate in the field of dance – the art form of touch and breath – James Sewell Ballet shares a program with breath and exchange at its center. Take it in and let it fill you up.

Special guest Xina combines her dance and music savvy to co-create a piece blending art-pop and spiritual sensibilities – no formula, just boundless creativity. Michael Walters returns with brand new choreography after astonishing and energizing audiences with his JSB New Works Project ’22 premiere. Arimee Gambill, in her fifth season as a company dancer, debuts a work that combines rapture with decay.

What happens at the intersection of total rhapsody and utter nihilism? Rounding out the program is a restaging of Sewell’s Grey (2018), with mesmerizing moves swirling to selections from Ukrainian world-music quartet DakhaBrakha.

James Sewell Ballet – First Chance Dance Performance of BREATHE

A light-skinned dancer is suspended in a jump, a witch's hat and a spider have been drawn onto the image

Geared to first-time audiences of all ages, including infants, this 60-minute performance of excerpts from the company’s regular season repertoire promises to delight! There will be no intermission, and house lights will remain partially lit so that audience members may come and go as needed.

Saturday, October 29
11:00am

As we continue to innovate in the field of dance – the art form of touch and breath – JSB shares a program with breath and exchange at its center. Take it in and let it fill you up.

Special guest XINA combines her dance and music savvy to co-create a piece blending art-pop and spiritual sensibilities – no formula, just boundless creativity. Michael Walters returns with brand new choreography after astonishing and energizing audiences with his JSB New Works Project ’22 premiere. Arimee Gambill, in her fifth season as company dancer, debuts a work that combines rapture with decay. What happens at the intersection of total rhapsody and utter nihilism? Rounding out the program is a restaging of Sewell’s Grey(2018), with mesmerizing moves swirling to selections from Ukrainian world-music quartet DakhaBrakha.

Regular, full-length performances on October 29 at 7:30pm and October 30 at 2:00pm.

Pelvic Floor and Deep Core Rapport with Sarah Baumert – Starts This Week

Pelvic Floor and Deep Core Rapport
An 8-week Feldenkrais Series with Sarah Baumert

September 25-November 13
Lessons taught on:
Sundays at 4:00pm CST
Wednesdays at 6:30pm CST

Available to take via livestream on Zoom or using the self-paced recordings:
16 livestream classes
8 Awareness Through Movement lessons in total

A series of lessons to establish a harmonious relationship for your hips, buttocks, pelvic floor, and deep core muscles. Learn to relax and build strength as we relate to the abdomen and pelvis as a center of power sensitivity. This is a whole-body approach to pelvis and abdominal health.

For both men and women, improving the ability to both relax and engage the pelvic floor and the deep abdominal muscles can have positive effects and create a marked improvement for:

  • Back pain
  • Sensing a deeper and more relaxed breath
  • Easier standing and walking
  • Improved balance
  • Healing from hip replacements or abdominal surgeries
  • Better sex through increased awareness, sensation and control
  • More effective bladder control
  • Lack of strength, coordination, or sensation in this area after giving birth

A Feldenkrais approach to pelvic and abdominal health:

A secret to this method is to reduce the force we create in our muscles in order to maximize the amount of information we have available for feedback. This means practicing intelligently and reducing the effort to get more refined sensations.

It may seem paradoxical to relax a muscle in order for it to become stronger. However, if a muscle is always contracted it has less ability to contract any further. It has less ability to move through its dynamic range of actions. A habitually contracted muscle is a weak muscle!  We will practice learning how to relax the pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles in order to engage them when necessary. This will not be a practice of isolating the pelvic floor muscles with exercises like Kegels. These sessions will support you to become aware of and relax compulsive muscular tension in the pelvis and abdominals, so that you can then learn to integrate them into functional everyday movements.

The Blending of Yoga and Feldenkrais

The Blending of Yoga and Feldenkrais

An 8-week series with Sarah Baumert

September 26-November 21
Mondays from 6:00-7:15pm CST
Live classes will be taught on Zoom

In this Monday night series, each class will infuse a more traditional yoga asana practice with the Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement method. I like to keep the theme for these Monday night series open, as I follow the lead of the seasons and needs of the students who attend.

Each of Sarah’s sessions are an interdisciplinary excursion of yoga, Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement, self-massage, breathing exercises, movement puzzles, and a compassionate mindset to help you feel a greater sense of ease and comfort in yourself. Increase your ease and efficiency in movement, improve your flexibility and coordination, and rediscover your natural capacity for graceful and organized movement through these classes.

This will be a nonjudgemental, unintimidating space to create friends with your body (yourself!), and will specifically focus on helping settle the nervous system during these challenging times. You will train your sensitivity in such a way that you find yourself feeling more alive and vibrant.

Scholarships are available for this series. Please contact Sarah directly at sarah@body-matter.com for scholarship inquiries.

TU Dance Center: Dancing Together Workshop

This eight-week workshop is designed for children ages 2-4 and their parent/caregiver who are interested in a shared movement experience that engages the senses of curiosity and play.

Both child and caregiver will participate in developmentally appropriate movement exercises that incorporate elements such as effort, shape, and tempo. Music will play an essential role in the class as students will be asked to respond to sounds as well as make sounds themselves. Participants will be encouraged to join at their own comfort level with the understanding that observation is often the best form of learning with younger children. This class will give children and caregivers the opportunity to learn more about themselves and one another through the art form of dance.

Saturdays, 9:00-9:45am

Session 1: October 1-November 19 (no classes November 21-27)
Session 2: January 14-March 4
Session 3: March 11-May 13 (no classes April 3-15)

Tuition: $120.00 per session

Zenon Dance School – Youth Hip Hop Workshop with Erin Sheppard

Erin Sheppard offers a great workshop series for new and continuing hip hop dancers who love to move. Students will learn fundamental techniques and choreography while expanding their knowledge of rhythm and movement.

This class is a great foundation for any young dancer ages 7-10 years. All levels of experience are welcome!

Two classes remaining – October 9 date added!

Sundays from 12:00-12:45pm:
October 2
October 9

Single class drop-in: $15
In-person only; limited space available.

Register today!