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TU Dance Community Gathering and Open House
Tuesday, August 30 from 5:00-7:00pm

Please join us for a TU Dance community celebration and open house to both welcome back our students, families, teaching artists and accompanists as we embark on a new school year and also invite new students and families to experience and learn more about The School at TU Dance Center.

Schedule:
5:00-5:30pm Welcoming activity with Kenna Cottman
5:30-6:00pm Sample Class: Children’s Creative Movement and Drum (ages 4-8)
6:00-6:30pm Orientation and Welcoming (TUDC families and new families!)
6:30-7:00pm Questions about programming/Registration for classes

The Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue (“Precious Mother Earth”) is a Kalpulli (“learning community”) of Indigenous people who perform traditional Aztec and Indigenous dances from Mexico. KetzalCoatlicue pursues this spiritual, mental, and physical vocation with music from the sacred drum, conch shells, seeds, and other instruments. KetzalCoatlicue’s cultural learning center is located in South Minneapolis.

The dancers are rooted in cultural understandings of the environment weaving together the Nahuatl cosmovision and creation stories of Mexican ancestors. These presentations by Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue provide a basic understanding of the Nahuatl/Aztec representations of life through dance.

Wonderland
September 8-October 2
Artistry Theater at Bloomington Center for the Arts

Welcome to Wonderland, a premier psychiatric hospital. Dr. Knight has the difficult task of treating a man who refers to himself as a “White Rabbit” who suffers from a severe anxiety disorder, a young woman named Alice with body dysmorphia, and a Queen figure suffering from narcissistic rage. But as the doctor digs deeply into the causes and roots of their disorders he begins to ask: what does “normal” really mean?

Collide brings its newly improved hit production onto the stage in a co-production with Artistry Theater. For tickets and more information about the show, please visit the Artistry website.

There will also be two outdoor performances of Wonderland on the Target Stage at Harriet Island Regional Park. These two shows are on Sunday, September 11 at 2:00pm and 5:00pm. Tickets can be bought here.

An evening of six world premieres.

Each year three exceptional Minnesota dance artists receive the coveted honor of a McKnight Dancer Fellowship. To celebrate their artistry, we commission a solo dance from a choreographer of their choice. The 2020 and 2021 dance fellows have selected an outstanding group of local, national, and international dance artists who will bring their choreographic imaginations into new works expressly tailored for each fellow. The result is an evening of world premieres ranging from innovative hip hop to rhythmic Chicago footwork to Brazilian contemporary choreographic explorations and more.

SOLO Dancers and Commissioned Choreographers
Melissa Clark (2020 Dancer Fellow) and Alhassane Bangoura (Guinea/MN), John ‘Boodilla’ King (IL), René Thompson (Cuba/MN)
Alexandra Eady (2021 Dancer Fellow) and Maria Bauman (NY)
Non Edwards (2020 Dancer Fellow) and Anna Shogren (MN)
Hassan Ingraham (2021 Dancer Fellow) and Norbert De La Cruz III (NY)
Marciano Silva dos Santos (2020 Dancer Fellow) and Gil Mendes Coelho (Brazil)
David Stalter Jr. (2021 Dancer Fellow) and Sheopatra (CA)

Moonrise – dance and live music performance featuring female composers.

Choreographer Yuki Tokuda examines what it means to be a woman artist, and brings awareness to the rich history of women artists as well as active women artists of today.

Joined by flamenco dancer Sachiko “La Chayí,” modern dancer Nieya Amezquita, pianist Rie Tanaka, and violinist Natsuki Kumagai, the program features women composers including Nadia Boulanger, Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Sayo Kosugi.

Choreographer – Yuki Tokuda and collaboration with the dancers
Piano – Rie Tanaka
Violin – Natsuki Kumagai
Dancers – Sachiko “La Chayí” (flamenco), Nieya Amezquita (modern dance), and Yuki Tokuda (ballet)

Saturday, September 17 at 4:00pm
Saturday, September 17 at 6:00pm

This show is free to the public, but tickets are required.

*Westminster Presbyterian Church requires individuals wear masks when you are in the building.

Yuki Tokuda is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Toward Utopia

A rare opportunity to see the newest work from Paula Mann, whose eclectic choreographic vision spans 40 years. The performances offer experiences wrapped in the complexity of an enduring and durable life, lived in motion.

Toward Utopia is a contemporary dance performance exploring the conflict between my needs and the greater good.

Five performers interrogate the dynamics of individual struggles and attempt to connect across a chasm of miscommunication and animosity with raw emotion and physicality.

The work explores the desire to create a more perfect world, charting the emotional struggles of individualism vs the group dynamic, seeking a common purpose toward an equitable future. What will it take to create systemic change?

Choreography by Paula Mann
Projection by Steve Paul
Sound score by Tarek Abdelqader

Performed by Leila Awadallah, Kendall Kramer, Carmen Lucia Lincoln, Erika Martin, Johnathan Surber, and Roxanne Wallace

Thursday, September 22 at 7:30pm
$20

Come celebrate Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota’s new season and welcome its new professional company members and apprentices! Learn about the exciting performances coming up this season, meet and mingle with its Artistic Directors, board, staff, and dancers, and watch a preview performance by the company!

There will be many opportunities for you to support TCB throughout the night, including a silent auction, handmade items for sale, and information about tickets for upcoming performances.

Families, friends, supporters, and the curious are all welcome!

Saturday, September 24 at 7:30pm
Suggested donation of $10

Amidst the fall colors and falling leaves, dancers Sarah Baumert, Suzette Gilreath, Erika Hansen, Megan Mayer, and Leslie O’Neill perform in a new, site-specific Sound Garden installation at Texa-Tonka Park in St. Louis Park, along the majestic North Cedar Lake Trail, next to Victoria Lake. This premier performance directed by composer JG Everest will also feature site-specific poetry by Chavonn Shen, Lisa Yankton and many more, along with site-specific photography and natural sculptures created in a community workshop by sculptor Jim Proctor.

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, and live poetry and site-specific visual art. 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 required due to limited capacity and possible program changes.