Archive

Friday Morning Jazz with Erinn Liebhard

Come groove it out at Friday Morning Jazz class at Zenon Dance School!

Class runs 10:00-11:15am CST and remains hybrid, with space for 10 masked and distanced students in-studio and a high-quality Zoom option for folks joining from home/remotely.

This week, Erinn Liebhard brings her groove, interaction and improvisation-driven approach to jazz to the class space, inspired by both social and concert dance movement (particularly that with African diasporic roots) and driven by jazz music.

To get more regular updates about class content, guest artists and more, follow our Facebook page!

Drop-ins encouraged. Register for class at zenondance.org, and #GetYourAssToClass!

The Cowles Center’s Open Office Hours: Free Professional Dance Consulting

They say the world is your oyster. Turns out it’s one big confusing oyster for anyone to wrap their heads around. That’s why every second Wednesday of the month, we invite our community of dancers, choreographers, and movement artists to our Office Hours!

In-person or virtually with a Cowles Center staff member, we’ll talk through whatever you’re interested in knowing more about and how to get to the next stage of your artistic and professional life. In the past, we’ve consulted with our community about professional development, arts administration, arts education, and non-profit fundraising.

Sign up HERE for a 30-minute consultation session and together let’s get you your pearl.

TU Dance Center: Children & Teen Program | Summer 2022

The TU Dance Children & Teen Program introduces the joy of creative movement and beginning dance technique.

Classes, divided by age, provide a comprehensive base on which to expand by developing body awareness, coordination, balance, flexibility, strength and musicality.

Click here to download the 2022 Children & Teen Summer Program Daily Schedule.
For questions and level placement, please contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708.

To register, please complete the four-step registration process:
1) Please find the online pre-registration below under the specific level you are interested in and select a payment option,
2) Make a tuition payment (in full or by selecting a payment plan),
3) If requesting a payment plan please submit the Summer 2022 Payment Plan Form,  and
4) Submit a 2022 Children & Teen Summer Program online registration form.

Registration Deadline: July 1, 2022

Scholarships available. Contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708 for more information.

TU Dance Center: Pre-Professional Program | Summer Intensive 2022

The TU Dance Pre-Professional program is an intensive course of study integrating modern, ballet, African, and creative workshops for students ages 11 to 24.

Click the respective level groups to download the 2021 Pre-Professional Summer Program Daily Schedule: Levels 1-3 and Levels 4-5.

For level placement, please contact us at education@tudance.org or 651-724-9708. Placement can be done by attending an in-person (by appointment only, a class fee applies) or by submitting a video link (modern and ballet phrase), or during the first day of classes of the intensive.

To register, please complete the four-step registration process:
1) Please find the online pre-registration below under the specific level you are interested in and select a payment option,
2) Make a tuition payment (in full or by selecting a payment plan),
3) If requesting a payment plan please submit the Summer 2022 Payment Plan Form, and
4) Submit a 2022 Pre-Professional Summer Intensive online registration form.

Registration deadlines:
Levels 1-3: July 1, 2022
Level 4-5: July 20, 2022

Scholarships available. Contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708 for more information.

Class + Connect – Traditional Flow: African Dance and Yoga with Kenna

Please join us this spring for a series of three open adult class offerings – each offering will include four weekly classes – featuring three different Twin Cities teaching artists. Join for all three offerings or drop-in as your schedule allows. Each class will be followed by an optional time to connect with one another over coffee/tea provided by TU Dance—either socially distanced in our green room space or outside on the loading dock, weather permitting. We hope to create a space where people can explore movement and dance but also build community by staying to connect through conversation and reflection of their shared experience.

Traditional Flow: African Dance and Yoga with Kenna

A 90-minute movement class where we explore traditional and contemporary West African dances. Using authentic recordings, Kenna will teach movements from different dances, stringing them together into a choreographic routine. The class winds down with stretching and breath-driven movements one might find in a vinyasa yoga class, but still influenced with Afro flavor. All ages, levels and abilities are welcome, and the class is intentionally designed to be rigorous for those with experience in Afro dance styles.

May 14, 21 and 28
Saturdays, 4:00-5:30pm CT

Cost options: $12 or $15, sliding scale. Previously purchased class cards accepted.

Rent TU Dance Center Studios

TU Dance Center is available for rental when not in use by TU Dance’s programming.

TU Dance Center features a reception area and front desk for check-in or event use. Access to adjacent dressing room and green room with kitchenette are available upon request

Studio 1: 60 x 34
Studio 2: 46 x 21

Both studios feature:

  • Sprung dance floor with Marley-type surface by Harlequin
  • Wall of mirrors
  • Portable ballet barre units 10′ in length
  • Room-level sound system with CD and mini-jack inputs
  • 50′ LCD TV cart for presentation and videoconferencing
  • Large windows providing ample natural light

Studio 1 only: a curtain that can be drawn on entire mirror; wall-mounted ballet barres of 27′ and 33′.

Rental Fees:
Individual artists: $18/hour.
Nonprofit organizations: $22/hour for rehearsals.
Other rental inquiries (for-profit, classes, workshops, auditions, life events, photo sessions, filming, etc.), please contact us.

ARENA DANCES – Registration Opens May 15 for Instinct Movement Intensive

Join ARENA DANCES for one week of movement classes taught by guest artist Shane Larson, member of the renowned Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Participants will practice contemporary dance technique and learn a new original work as a part of this intensive. Targeted for the high-intermediate to advanced level dancer.

Instinct
August 15-20, 2022
Monday through Saturday
10:00am-3:00pm

Class, 10:00-11:30am
Rehearsal – New Work! 12:00-3:00pm

During class, dancers will build a bottom to top, floor to standing modular class that deepens with task-based repetition, while encoding new movement pathways through basic shapes. Students are encouraged to learn-by-doing, rather than to learn and ‘perform’, relying on muscle memory to strengthen pathways. Architectural forms of the body are created, deconstructed, and recycled within the containers of momentum and temperature, offering a full-body, far-reaching experience of movement.

After class, dancers will focus on creating—using skills as scaffolding for building material as a community. We’ll spend time talking about memory and time, graphing separate experiences together to focus and distill common patterns, shapes, and anecdotes. The final object created will be an investigation that is distinctly your own and something that can be taken into future experiences.

Shane Larson was raised in Minnesota, where he received his early training at the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. He graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. He also studied at SEAD in Austria. Since living in New York City, he’s branched out to collaborate with punk musicians, film makers, improvisational music ensembles, and site-specific visual artists. He is also a multimedia video artist making collage-based work about memory. Shane joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in 2015.

Ages 16+
Intensive capped at 15 participants
Early Bird: $475 – register by July 15
General: $550
Registration opens May 15 and must be completed by August 1

Threads Dance Nexus Now Renting

An image of the Nexus dance studio, with a wall of windows and black Marley floor

Threads Dance Nexus – A Space to Connect and Create

The Threads Dance Nexus is a brand new community hub that not only provides a home for Threads Dance Project, but also strengthens the social fabric of our Minneapolis community through the connective power of dance.

Our 1,480 square foot space has:

  • A professional-grade speaker sound system
  • Sprung floors, barres, and mirrors
  • Two ADA compliant, gender-neutral changing rooms
  • Large windows and garage door allowing for an abundance of natural light and fresh air

Conveniently located in the Seward neighborhood, we offer free parking and free side street parking. We are a five-minute walk from the Franklin Light Rail Station, and a 2-5 minute walk from the nearest bus stops (lines 2, 9, 22, 67).

To request space, please email nexusrentals@threadsdance.org. A nonrefundable deposit equal to one hour at the renter’s base rate is due to secure space.

Note: Masks are required for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status. Click here for Threads’ complete safety plan.

Seeking Dancers for Minnesota Fringe Show

Perform with Pacific Midwest Ballet in the 2022 MN Fringe Festival!
This summer, join us in putting on Cupcake Murders: a modern-day, murder mystery ballet with dancing cupcakes! When the co-owners of a cupcake bakery start mysteriously dying after a lucrative buy-out offer, it’s up to the remaining owner to clear her name before she too becomes a victim. The show will be 45 minutes long, with five performances during the MN Fringe Festival, August 4-14, 2022.

Auditions
Auditions for all will be this Saturday, May 7, 2:00-3:00 pm at Threads Dance Project. We’ll teach a 15-minute warm up barre and two sections of choreography. At least one year of dance experience is recommended. Can’t make the audition or have other questions? Reach out to us at info@pacificmidwestballet.com.

About
Pacific Midwest Ballet provides performance opportunities for recreational dancers in the Twin Cities, creating engaging stories to perform for new ballet audiences.

Female Dancers Invited to Perform a Short Outdoor Site Dance

We are looking for 23 female dancers to participate in the creation of a spontaneous dance in Minneapolis. We will be dancing with nature using temporary manmade boundaries, enclosing 23 tree trunks. The dancers will each dance at a tree trunk. Some of the choreography will be set and some will be improvised.

We are looking to do this on May 14.
The dancers will arrive at 1:30PM at Marylee Hardenbergh’s building (315 Main St. SE) wearing all white and ready to create with us.

Please let us know if you have any questions and/or if you are interested.
Contact Elina Sargsyan via email sargsy1@stolaf.edu or call  her (612) 438-4520; or Marylee via email directorgsp@gmail.com or call her at 612-616-0306.

  • Come dressed in all white
  • Rain or shine
  • Arrive at 1:30pm
  • Time commitment: 2 hours at most
  • Bring you smartphone if you can, to add to the video footage