Archive

MIXTAPE 5G: The Sound of Movement

THE MIXTAPE Collective consists of established and up-and-coming Hip Hop choreographers, dancers, electronic and instrumental musicians, and videographers and editors. Our mission is to push the boundaries of our art forms in an annual performance created through collaboration and mentorship.

MIXTAPE’s work reveals generative strategies for sharing power and access to resources by weaving together choreography, videography, and musical compositions. MIXTAPE 5G: The Sound of Movement promises to be our most expansive production yet.

In-person and livestream tickets available.

Masks are required throughout the Cowles. For more information about our health and safety guidelines and getting to The Cowles Center, click here.

MIRAGE Performing Arts presents Iridescent Blue

We are thrilled to release our newest production, Iridescent Blue, featuring some of the most difficult solo piano works ever written, which are reimagined and transformed into continuous movements that are in complete sync with the music.

We will be depicting things that ‘change’ – the color, shape, sound and even yourself, set in the music by Saint-Saëns, Liszt-Schubert, Somei Satoh, Ravel, and Gershwin.

Through our collaboration, we are continuing to develop our technique of bringing forth the original intentions of the composers as a direction in creating unique artistic expressions. Our hope is to create a performance where the audience can experience Classical music and Ballet with new light and deeper understanding.

Piano: Rie Tanaka
Choreography, Dance: Yuki Tokuda

DATE:
Saturday, May 7 at 7:00pm

LOCATION:
Sundin Music Hall
1531 Hewitt Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104

TICKETS:
General $20 | Student $10

https://iridescent-blue.eventbrite.com

McKnight Fellowships for Dancers Presents SOLO: Six Dance Films – A Repeat Showing

The McKnight Fellowships for Dancers’ biannual showcase event, SOLO, pairs six Minnesota dancers with renowned local, national, and international choreographers. A repeat showing of the films that premiered in September 2021 will take place at Silverwood Park.

Thursday, May 12 at 8:00pm (rain date: Thursday, May 26)
This outdoor showing is FREE to the public. Bring a chair or blanket for seating.

The six dancers are Renée Copeland, Yeniel “Chini” Perez Domenech, Sharon Mansur, Erin Thompson, Joseph “MN Joe” Tran, Elayna Waxse. Each are recipients of a McKnight Dancer Fellowship, an annual award given to three mid-career Minnesota dancers whose work demonstrates artistic excellence. In addition to a $25,000 unrestricted cash award, fellows received additional support and the commission of a new solo from a choreographer of their choosing. The 2021 collaborations range from innovative Hip Hop to contemporary Arab imaginings, to intimate site-specific explorations and more. SOLO will have Spanish and English captioning throughout the films.

For more information: www.silverwoodonstage.org

Sensible Existence: A Project Choreographed by Marcus Jarrell Willis

Join us as TU Dance returns with live performances at The O’Shaughnessy featuring the expanded, evening-length presentation of Sensible Existence, a TU Dance project originally choreographed by award winning choreographer Marcus Jarrell Willis in 2017. Sensible Existence is a dance work inspired by Descartes’ writings on Self and the World. The work explores the questions surrounding its namesake. Existence is the fact or state of living or having objective reality. Sensible is an adjective describing something that is done in accordance with wisdom or prudence. The new Sensible Existence will draw from its original production elements and will feature new writing compositions uniquely crafted to this work.

May 13 and 14, 2022 | 7:30pm
The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University
Adults $25, $30, $35 | Students $18 | Seniors $20
(includes $2 theater restoration fee)
651-690-6700

Analog Dance Works Presents Tellus

After postponing for two years due to the pandemic, Analog Dance Works presents its inaugural event, Tellus. Two premiere dance works bring the company’s commitment to the exploration of the intersection of dance and science to the pressing theme of climate change, moving from Minnesota backyards by means of whitetail deer to a broad look at the psychological effects of the global crisis. These choreographies are accompanied by an interactive exhibit from the University of Minnesota’s Outreach through Science and Art Group that reveals the science behind the art. The theater becomes a laboratory as Tellus embraces experimentation and play, investigating the rapid shifts shaping the world today.

May 13 – 7:30pm (post-show reception)
May 14 – 7:30pm
May 15 – 2:00pm (post-show artist talk)

Interactive Exhibit open 6:00–9:00pm, May 13 and 14; 1:00–4:00pm May 15.
Tickets: $5-$20, sliding scale in advance and at the door.

Photo credit: Bill Cameron

Riverside Park Sound Garden

Dancers Sarah Baumert, Suzette Gilreath, Erika Hansen, Megan Mayer and Leslie O’Neill perform in a new, site-specific Sound Garden installation at Riverside Park. This premier performance directed by composer JG Everest will also feature poetry by Chavonn Shen, Nimo Farah, Teresa Ortiz, Lisa Yankton, and many more.

The Riverside Park Sound Garden event is a free, family-friendly, self-guided event that features a sound installation of 50+ small, wireless speakers, distributed throughout a section of 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”.

This activity is part of the Peoples Center & Clinics’ “Because Your Health Matters” community wellness initiative in partnership with Wavelets Creative.

Ballet Co.Laboratory presents Firebird

Celebrate the soaring score of Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird with a reimagined tale of a powerful bird whose spirit and magical feathers provide beauty and protection upon the earth. Performed by 85 dancers, this radiant tale will take you into the depths of an enchanted forest where virtuous and malicious forces hide. 

Choreography by: Flavia Garcia

Performed by: The Company Dancers of Ballet Co.Laboratory and Students of The School of Ballet Co.Laboratory  

DATE / TIME
Friday, May 20 at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 21 at 7:00pm
Sunday, May 22 at 2:00pm

LOCATION
E.M. Pearson Theatre
Concordia University Campus
312 Hamline Ave N /Saint Paul, MN 55104

Tickets start at $22 https://bit.ly/FirebirdBCL

Urban Bush Women’s Technique and Repertory Master Class at TU Dance Center

TU Dance and Northrop presents Urban Bush Woman’s Technique & Repertory Master Class.

Participants will explore Urban Bush Women’s legacy works and learn phrases from repertory included in their upcoming Legacy + Lineage + Liberation concert performance. They will also engage in movement study rooted in the “Liberated Pelvis,” a movement methodology created by Co-Artistic Director Samantha Speis, that acts as a portal to enter a durational investigative process, in order to develop an artistic expression that can create specific narratives or delineate abstract designs. Within this process, participants will be asked to interrogate their discoveries and knowings through an improvisational framework of duration, permission, play, and transparency, in addition to organized movement. This master class is for pre-professional students.

Thursday, April 21 | 4:30-6:00pm at TU Dance Center | Free!

Due to limited studio capacity, pre-registration is required. Please complete your pre-registration here.

See UBW live April 23 at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University: bit.ly/UBWoscu

Erin Thompson Teaches Advanced Contemporary Classes In Person and on Zoom

A light-skinned dancer in her 60s tosses her arms in a curve to the left while she rises on her toes

Erin’s advanced level contemporary hybrid class through Zenon Dance School includes floor work, standing warm-ups, and phrase work, all designed to enhance the healthy use of joints and muscle groups as dancers release their weight fully into the support of the ground. Experiential awareness, body mapping, improvisation, and creative work are included as dancers channel their own expressive artistry within the movement. The delightful Dean Magraw will accompany on guitar.

Thursday mornings, 9:30-11:00am

Registration is open through Zenon’s MindBody portal and closes ten minutes before class.
See you in person or virtually soon!

Home || Body Workshop Series: Body Watani Leila Awadallah

Home || Body Workshop Series: Body Watani Leila Awadallah

Thursday, April 21 at Threads Dance Nexus | 5:30 – 8:30PM  | $10.00

Leila Awadallah will be returning to the Threads Dance Nexus in Minneapolis for this year’s first installment of our Home || Body workshop series. Home || Body is a program highlighting teaching artists of color and providing a platform for them to share the movement practices that help them build community and feel at home in their bodies. 

In collaboration with Threads, Leila will host a workshop sharing her Body Watani movement practice and repertory from the LAND section of her upcoming work. Open to movers of all levels and abilities, this session will explore the themes of ancestral lands, land memories, and land relations through Body Watani. 

Body Watani (body-as-homeland) is both an improvisational movement practice and an emerging contemporary dance form developed by Palestinian American dance artists Leila and Noelle Awadallah. This contemporary form also finds roots in dances of Arabic / *SWANA / Mediterranean geographies through specific movement techniques, music of the region, and cultural / political content to engage with that deepens our relation to Body Watani’s context. 

*SWANA : South West Asia North Africa

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please visit www.threadsdance.org/homebody or email dancenexus@threadsdance.org. 

ACCESSIBILITY: Please email leilaawada018@gmail.com for more info & conversation about accessibility within each workshop space and also the structure of this movement-focussed workshop.

REGISTRATION: $10 with limited financial assistance available. Visit https://bit.ly/HomeBodyLA to reserve your spot today!

LOCATION
Threads Dance Nexus
2213 Snelling Avenue, Ste. #100
Minneapolis, MN 55404