Master Class with Marcus Jarrell Willis at TU Dance Center

Join us as visiting choreographer Marcus Jarrell Willis teaches a Modern/Contemporary class at TU Dance Center. The class is a blend of familiar Horton-based technique exercises with other modern release forms during the warm-up portion. The remainder of the class is an exploration of the continuous development of Marcus’ own signature language through gestural and contemporary forms of modern dance movement. This class is designed for an advance/professional level.

Date: Saturday, April 30
Time: 12:30pm-2:00pm (CST)
Cost: $20
Location: TU Dance Center (in-person only)
For more information and to register please visit: www.tudance.org

ARENA DANCES’ Studio Stories – CANDY BOX Special with Joanie Smith

Join ARENA DANCES for our weekly Studio Stories podcast, where each week we reminisce on Twin Cities dance history with a new special guest. This week we continue our special CANDY BOX Dance Festival edition hearing from Featured Artist Joanie Smith.

Joanie Smith founded Shapiro & Smith Dance (S&S) in New York City with husband Danial Shapiro. Smith’s works and their collaborative works have been commissioned by companies as diverse as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Repertory Dance Theater of Salt Lake City, Utah and the PACT Dance Company of Pretoria, South Africa. S&S Dance has toured all over the world from Toledo to Tashkent and over 600 dancers in professional and university dance companies have performed “To Have And To Hold,” aka “Bench.” Smith holds the Barbara Barker Endowed Chair in Dance and the John Black Johnston Distinguished Professorship at the University of Minnesota and has an M.A. in Dance from UCLA.

Shapiro & Smith Dance will be performing two works for the festival:
Ferdouganal – a call to arms—a women’s march and
SHIRT – an absurd competition by three men over a shirt

Tune in this Thursday, April 21 at 12:00pm to hear about the work Shapiro & Smith are sharing as part of the CANDY BOX Dance Festival happening May 2-7 at the Southern Theater.

Available on our website or wherever you get your podcasts!

New Feldenkrais Series: Taking Play Seriously

The lessons in this eight-week online Feldenkrais series with Sarah Baumert will take a playful approach to the Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement way of learning.

These lessons will explore some of the learning and movement principles you engaged with in your early years. By stimulating a sense of curiosity, impossibly seeming movements will start to feel more possible, possible movements more easy, and easy movements more fun! These lessons show how the Feldenkrais method is a refreshing combination of dynamic action and subtle clarity. The series will offer you novel, imaginative, creative ways to move your body. Engage with a wider view of the world and your potential to relate to it.

This is a non-judgemental, non-corrective, and liberating way to experience your body in motion. You will experience learning at your pace where noticing what makes you feel good is a priority. Notice what you are curious about and recognize that experiencing pleasure and enjoyment in your body are measures of freedom. The lessons will be suitable for all levels, and will include a variety of positions, from lying on the back or side, to hands and knees, moving from sitting to lying, or rolling.

May 1-June 22
Sundays, 4:00-5:00pm CST and Wednesdays, 6:30-7:30pm CST
Livestream classes will be taught over Zoom.
For full scholarship – please inquire directly with Sarah for options.

Series Includes:

  • 8 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons (16 live classes)
  • Community discussion after each lesson with time for asking questions, harvesting, and sharing
  • Recordings automatically available (48 hrs after each live class) on member page
  • Stream recordings indefinitely
  • Option to download recordings

What students are saying:

“I found this so joyful. At a certain point my mind just relaxes and I just let the momentum take me. And then, I am surprised at where my body even is! I find these rolling lessons very joyful.”

“I haven’t done a lesson in a while and I felt like my body just immediately sunk into a relaxed state. I was able to stand up in a way that I have not been able to feel in a long time.”

Dance Innovation for Seasoned Adults 55+ Session Two at TU Dance Center

Dance teacher Tamiko French has developed a program centered around revitalizing creativity of storytelling with the building blocks of dance creation that infuses the visual and literary arts. https://vimeo.com/685038137

The 8-week workshop is designed to be sequential for participants, with each class building on the previous class. From a first class in which participants will use poetry, prose, dramatic writing, spoken word, or other writing as a stimulus to create movement, participants will learn about modern and jazz dance techniques and choreographic practice, collaborate and share results with others, study facilitated improvisation and play in dance, and refine their work for a sharing event for family, friends, and the community.

This program is for adults 55+. Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

Thursdays, 10:00-11:30am CST | In-person only. $45 per workshop.

Session 2: May 26–July 16

There will be a showing on last day of each workshop from 12:30-2:00pm. Proof of vaccination and masks are required at the door for all participants. TU Dance will offer tuition and transportation subsidy upon request. Please contact us at education@tudance.org or 651-724-9708 to inquire.

The Arena Summer Session – Creative Movement and Boys Dance Registration

Registration runs April 15–May 21 for The Arena’s upcoming Summer Session May 9–July 30!
Register here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/mainclass

Enrollment-based classes for Creative Movement and Boys Dance:

Creative Movement for 4- through 8-year-olds is designed to give young artists the tools they need to explore their unique voices, alone and as an ensemble. Dancers hone age-appropriate modern, ballet, and jazz vocabularies, while growing creatively. This 6-week class period, taught by Kendall Kramer, dives into the four elements of the artistic process: creating, performing, responding, and connecting. Students learn dance terminology in addition to creatively describing common dance exercises and explorations. Examples of class themes include responding to stimuli, learning how to modify dance steps, creating the structure of a story, and interpreting written or visual art (literacy and reading comprehension not necessary). Exercises, music, and props are carefully chosen to stimulate the imagination and expand upon common experiences of the young dancer. Introduction to the historical and cultural roots of dance, body-awareness, and breathing, in an inclusive environment of laughter and cheer.

Boys Dance is geared for young people ages 5-11 that want to move! Blake Nellis offers an inclusive approach to dance for people of all ability, age and experience. Over the 6-weeks students will explore self expression, a range of physical energies and group collaboration. The dancing skills and techniques will be integrated into the dancer’s interests and styles. Many dance games, scores and improvisations will be facilitated through solo and ensemble movement.  Come play!

Zenon Dance School – Camp Zenon: Youth Dance Sampler Camps

Discover dance with a week-long camp for young artists! Not sure if your dancer has a style they like best, or looking for a way to try out something new? We’ll explore a variety of dance styles and creative movements in this one-week camp. There will be an informal showing on the last day. All abilities and levels of experience are welcome. In-person only at the Zenon Dance School studios.

July 18 – 22, 2022
Session 1: Ages 4-6 with Philip Hommes, 9:00am-12:00pm
Session 2: Ages 7-10 with Hannah Pierce, 12:30pm-3:30pm

Tuition: $195 | Need-based scholarships are available for full or partial tuition.

Register online today! Registration closes one week before each camp begins.

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.

Class + Connect with Guest Artist Aneka McMullen at TU Dance Center – April 23 and 30

Please join us this spring for a series of three open adult class offerings featuring three different Twin Cities teaching artists. Each offering will include four weekly classes. 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 and also build community by staying to connect through conversation and reflection of their shared experience.

We invite you to join our second teaching artist in this series, Aneka McMullen, as she brings us Old Skool Dance House Party.

Open to participants age 18+.

“We goin’ back, waaaaayyy back in time to the days of house parties in the basement with blue and red lights on in the corner. All boom boxes in full effect, all street dances come correct – it’s time to sweat! Come shake your groove thang and enjoy setting your spirit free with your favorite Old (True) Skool Hip Hop and Street dance styles. We’ll groove together and get our solo shine on in the Cipher! All dance lovers on deck! Let’s get it!” – Aneka McMullen

Saturdays, April 23 and 30
4:00-5:30pm
Cost options: $12 or $15
Class Cards: $120/10 classes
In-person only at TU Dance Center.
Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

Class + Connect – Traditional Flow: African Dance and Yoga with Kenna – May 7 to May 28

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 7,  14, 21 and 28
Saturdays, 4:00-5:30pm CT

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

Open Classes at TU Dance Center

TU Dance Center is offering in-person open classes for intermediate and advanced dancers.

Through May 9, 2022
9:30-11:00am CT
In-person only at TU Dance Center. Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

Monday: Ballet with Laurel Keen
Tuesday: Horton-Based Modern with Toni Pierce-Sands
Wednesday: Ballet with Abdo Sayegh-Rodriguez
Thursday: GYROKINESIS® with Abdo Sayegh-Rodriguez
Friday: Body Watani (body-as-homeland practice and Arabic dance) with Leila Awadallah

Cost: $15 per class. Class cards: $120/10 classes.

For more information and to register visit: https://www.tudance.org/open-classes.
Please check the schedule as teaching artists may shift.

At TU Dance, the priority is to keep everyone safe. Our TU Dance Community Safety Statement serves as a guidance to all TU Dance Center visitors as it provides the safety procedures and rules for our facility, and must be followed at all times until further notice. We assume it’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure of its compliance. Proof of full vaccination (for ages 5+) or proof of a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours will be required. A universal mask mandate is in place for all entering the facility. Hand washing and/or use of hand sanitizer is required when entering the facility and as necessary during the visit. 6-feet social distancing is to be practiced at all times while in the facility.