DanceMN News

At the Ragamala Training Center, students receive classical training in the style of Bharatanatyam carefully created by the internationally renowned Padma Bhushan Alarmel Valli, considered to be one of India’s greatest living masters. This style is distinguished by its technical perfection and grace, and Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy are dedicated to preserving and carrying on their guru’s tradition and passing it on to the next generation of dancers.

Ragamala classes provide students with rigorous training while giving them an opportunity to learn about, preserve, and immerse themselves in the arts and culture of India. Ragamala Training Center’s unique program stresses artistic excellence and a professional level of training while fostering cultural awareness.

Ragamala Training Center offers introductory through advanced level classes for ages 7 through adult. 

Introductory Class
Saturdays, 3:15-4:00pm
Online via Zoom
Classes run October 2021-May 2022
You can view the full calendar here: https://www.ragamaladance.org/school-calendar

Registration
Please use this link to submit your registration: https://forms.gle/oXRMupDLPcUnFmqC8

New Student Introductory Tuition
$450 Spring Semester (beginning in January)
We also offer discounts for families enrolling more than one student. For more information, please go to: https://www.ragamaladance.org/training-center

The Ragamala Training Center welcomes students with prior experience in Bharatanatyam to audition for upper level classes. Please contact us at admin@ragamaladance.org before registering for classes beyond the introductory level.

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!

Zenon Dance School

Tapestry Folkdance Center offers weekly and monthly classes and dances for all ages and skill levels at our Minneapolis, MN studios. All programs – from international to ballroom and family to seniors (online only), are ongoing. More information, including the schedule, instructors, and live music, is available on our website. Check out our calendar of activities.

Tapestry Programming:

Sunday
Ballroom Variety Dance – first, third, and fifth Sunday, 6:00-9:30pm
English Country Dance – 7:00-9:00pm

Monday
Advanced International Folk Dance – second Monday, 7:45-10:30pm

Thursday
Israeli Dance, 7:00-9:30pm

Friday
Seniors Dance Joyfully – ONLINE first and third Friday, 9:30-10:30am
USA Social Dance and Ballroom – fourth Friday, 7:00-10:30pm
International Folk Dance, 7:00-10:30pm

Saturday
Contra Dance, 7:30-11:00pm
Family Dance – ONLINE second Saturday, 7:00-7:30pm

Additional dance and class opportunities include Brazilian Zouk, Dance Church, Minnesota Traditional Morris, Phoenix Chinese, Dance Academy, Qigong and Chi, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, Saturday Modern Collective, Shake Your Bones, Shotokan Karate, TLC Line Dance, USA Dance Projects, Zumba with Chari, and Zumba with Sadie.

Studio rentals are available for private lessons, groups, and rehearsals.

Learn to assist with evening and weekend dance admisssion’s, welcome visitors, or be a part of our community by opening and closing the building. Volunteers make Tapestry Folkdance Center an amazing music and dance organization.

Hopkins Dance Company is offering adult classes in ballet, tap and yoga.

Classes starting in March are pending enrollment.

Drop-ins welcome! Register at www.hopkinsdance.com.

Zenon Dance School is excited to welcome you back for another season of dance this winter! Classes run from January 10 through March 20, 2022.

Monday
9:30am: Intermediate Contemporary/Modern with Joanna Lees – Hybrid
11:15am: gaga/people with Berit Ahlgren – In Person
5:30pm: Cardio Dance Jam with Ariel Linnerson – Online
5:30pm: Contemporary Ballet with Anne Lentz – Hybrid

Tuesday
9:30am: Intermediate/Advanced Contemporary with Chloe Nagle – In Person
5:30pm: Contemporary Floorwork with Javan Mngrezzo – In Person
7:00pm: Beginning Jazz with Allison Rubin-Forester – Hybrid

Wednesday
9:30am: Composition/Improvisation with HIJACK – Online
11:15am: Intermediate 1 Ballet with Nic Lincoln – Hybrid
5:30pm: Beginning 1 Ballet with Lisa Erickson – Online
5:30pm: Intermediate Contemporary with Ruby J. Smith – Hybrid
7:00pm: All Levels Hip-Hop with Gabby Abram – Hybrid
7:00pm: Beginning/Intermediate Jazz with Jennifer Glaws – In Person

Thursday
9:30am: Advanced Contemporary/Modern with Erin Thompson – Hybrid
5:30pm: Afro Modern with Roxane Wallace – Online
7:00pm: Intermediate Modern with Dustin Haug – Hybrid

Friday
10:00am: Jazz with Erinn Liebhard, Karla Grotting, and Guests – Hybrid
12:00pm: Intermediate 2 Ballet with Penny Freeh – Hybrid

Saturday
9:00am: All Levels Yoga with Ariel Linnerson – Online
9:15am: Creative Movement for ages 4-6 with Anne Petrich – In Person
10:00am: All Levels Tap with Dorian Brooke – In Person
10:00am: Beginning Modern with Roxane Wallace – In Person
10:15am: Youth Ballet for ages 7-10 with Sarah Bartlett – Online
11:00am: Musical Theatre Jazz with Dorian Brooke – In Person
12:30pm: Beginning 2 Ballet with Ben Johnson – In Person

Sunday
10:00am: Creative Movement for ages 4-6 with Margaret Ogas – In Person
11:00am: Youth Ballet for ages 7-10 with Kendall Kramer – In Person
12:00pm: Youth Modern for ages 10-14 with Kendall Kramer – In Person

Register online today!

This week, Friday Morning Jazz is again taught by multi-faceted special guest artist, Jennifer Glaws. Jennifer is an interdisciplinary media and dance artist who is steering interactive performance experiences that push notions of space, time, and human connection. She is dedicated to the social and developmental rewards of the arts evident in her work as a dance educator, choreographer, director, and photographer. Her personal movement signature harnesses athletic, full-bodied, musically-driven movement of contemporary and global dance styles. She fosters physical and critical inquiry across dance forms by utilizing elements of improvisation, partnering, creation, embodied practices, somatic approaches, and the sheer excitement of momentum to lesson planning. You can learn more about Jennifer and her work at https://jenniferglaws.org

The rest of our exciting line up of winter jazz artists is as follows:
January 21: Jennifer Glaws
January 28: Karla Grotting
February 4: Karla Grotting
February 11: Karla Grotting
February 18: Karla Grotting
February 25: Jolene Konkel
March 4: Erinn Liebhard
March 11: Erinn Liebhard
March 18: Erinn Liebhard

Find out more about our awesome guests by following our class Facebook page and keeping your eye out for posts about them! Class will remain hybrid, offering 10 physically-distanced spots for masked folks to come into the studio to take class, and unlimited spots for folks to attend from home via a high-quality ZOOM experience.

Register here: conta.cc/39fJDXN

We hope to see you soon! #zenondanceschool #wewillmoveyou #getyourasstoclass

MotionArt’s mission is to share the art of dance and the joy of movement with people of all ages and abilities. We strive to enrich lives by fostering creativity, body awareness and self-expression in a fun, non-competitive, welcoming environment.

We offer ongoing dance classes in-studio, on Zoom, and outside (weather permitting). Paying the regular rate helps keep our organization afloat; however, no one will be turned away for inability to pay. There is also an option to pay what you can.

Please go to motionartmn.org to sign up for classes, or contact Pam Gleason for info.

Ageless Dance
Monday, 4:00-5:15pm – Center for Performing Arts, Studio #105
Thursday, 4:30-5:45pm – Center for Performing Arts, Sunroom

Beginning Modern Dance
Tuesday, 5:00-6:15pm – Zoom only

Intermediate Modern Dance
Wednesday, 10:30am-12:00pm – Center for Performing Arts, Sunroom

Mixed Level Modern Dance
Tuesday, 7:00-8:15pm – Center for Performing Arts, Studio #105
Saturday, 4:00-5:30pm – Hybrid: Center for Performing Arts, Sunroom and Zoom

MotionArt focuses on nurturing children’s individual creativity while facilitating their understanding of the dance elements of Space, Time and Energy. Ages 3-6 explore these elements through playful, structured activities allowing them to expand their movement vocabulary, develop body awareness and gain self-confidence. Ages 7-10 explore the dance elements while being introduced to new movement skills and the creation of their own dances. Ages 11-13 expand their creative and kinesthetic awareness while learning basic movement skills of modern dance.

We are currently offering Creative Dance/Intro to Modern Dance classes for ages 7-10 at the Center for Performing Arts. 

Please go to motionartmn.org to sign up for classes, or contact Pam Gleason for info.

Paying the regular rate helps keep our organization afloat; however, no one will be turned away for inability to pay. There is also an option to pay what you can.

Winter Session at Center for Performing Arts: 
January 8-March 5, 2022. Nine weeks.
Ages 7-10
Saturday, 3:00-3:50pm
$100 full session.

Curiosity, Connection, Community, Choice

To keep our communities safe, AMP is postponing in-person class until February 2. Thank you for understanding!

Wednesdays, 10:00-11:30am
February 2–May 18
No practice March 16 or 23.
In-person and synchronous Zoom/virtual options.

Rates
Purchase 1 Single Practice/Drop In: $15
Purchase 5 Practices: $70 (save $5)
Purchase 10 Practices: $130 (save $20)
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Please email alternativemotionproject@gmail.com for low/no cost options or questions.

About the Practice
Move BIG, sweat and play in an energizing atmosphere each week! Movers will build awareness and explore expansive possibilities within their own individuality and identities. Through improvised and structured movement vocabulary, participants will be encouraged to research freedom, 3-D expansion, mobility, rigor, presence, and agency within an empowering experience.

Suitable for professional, pre-professional, and/or intermediate/advanced movers, ages 18+. Knee pads recommended. Led by AMP Co-Director, Joanna Lees. Come as you are!

Pre-registration strongly encouraged for in person, but not required. Registration information coming to our website soon!
Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to practice start time if participating in person.

If class size needs to be limited, priority will be given to those who are registered.
It is REQUIRED that you register 30 minutes prior to practice start time for the Zoom option.

CDC Guidelines for COVID-19 will be required. Masks required unless otherwise specified. For the most up to date policy, visit AMP’s website.

Photo: V. Paul Virtucio

The Young Dance 2021-22 academic year is still open for registration. Enroll in your favorite dance classes, or try some new moves with fresh faces! We’re thrilled to welcome everyone back into our space after a long time away.

Young Dance is committed to offering a fun and developmentally appropriate curriculum. Our exceptional Teaching Artists bring an unparalleled level of excellence, where young artists can experience a myriad of styles and techniques. We provide a breadth of opportunities for youth to engage with dance in the way that feels best for them and that supports them in finding and lifting their voices.

Classes include Dance Together, Creative Movement, Hip Hop, Break Dancing, All Abilities Dancing, Modern, Ballet, Choreography, Performing Company, and more.

Young Dance is thrilled to offer Beginning Breaking with world-renowned breaker Joseph “MN Joe” Tran. In this class, students ages 8-13 will learn the fundamentals of breaking, including Toprocks, Go-downs, Footwork, Powermoves, and Freezes, in a supportive environment. In addition to learning technique, dancers will have opportunities to advance their freestyling/improvisation skills, as well as to develop choreography collaboratively with their peers. 

This class is for all abilities and experiences.

“Breaking is an ever evolving art form and there are quite literally an endless amount of moves to learn! I hope that the dancers will develop self-efficacy. It is important in Breaking and Hip Hop to understand the history, tradition and culture of the moves and then to motivate oneself to take those lessons and create something new. The only way to do so is to work hard, develop discipline and have fun doing it!” —MN Joe

Wednesdays, January 5–May 18
4:30–5:30 p.m.

Ages 8–13
Fee: $266

Register.youngdance.org

Come join us at The Arena for youth dance offerings.

Winter Session: January 3-April 9.
Thirteen weeks. No classes February 28-March 6.

Youth Classes – Saturdays
11:00-11:45am: Dancing Together for ages 2-5 with Kendall Kramer
$1 full session. Pre-enrollment necessary. Enrollment closes this Saturday, January 22.

Register on-line at https://www.arena-dances.org/the-arena/

The students and I will open up curiosity, finding internal pathways within the body and the contrast of those same pathways to promote extension of skeletal mobility beyond one’s own range. An assortment of texture, speed, density, length, force and resistance will be taught to open these skills.

My work is best described as contemporary, spanning an array of styles – from quietly evocative to physically demanding, full of spiraling momentum that draws energy in the core and spreads it out like disco ball beams of light. At times focusing on the dancers’ bends and folds, creating shape as one shifts and moves. My work strives to create moments of connection.

Fridays, 10:00-11:30am
Through April 8
Pre-register at https://www.arena-dances.org/the-arena/
Drop-in $17.

Flexible pricing and free parking!

Mathew Janczewski’s inquisitive, immersive and heartfelt approach to contemporary dance reaches beyond the surface and holds the viewer in its embrace. With over 35 works in his repertoire and more than two decades of experience as a choreographer, Mathew has cultivated a highly diverse and mesmerizing style of movement.

Mathew’s work has garnered praise in the Twin Cities and beyond. He has created commissioned works for companies such as Minnesota Dance Theater, Cleveland Repertory Co., aTrek Dance, and Zenon Dance Company. He was the Bates Festival choreographer (2001), received the Sage Award for Outstanding Performance (2005) and won the McKnight Choreographers Fellowship (2005). In 2008, Dance Magazine named him as one of their “25 to Watch.”

Shortly after receiving his degree in dance at the University of Minnesota and performing internationally, Mathew founded his own non-profit dance company, ARENA DANCES, in 1995. ARENA serves as the vehicle for his body of work and provides young, aging and underserved segments of the Twin Cities community with opportunities to experience the transformative power of dance.

The GYROKINESIS® Method is a movement method that addresses the entire body, opening energy pathways, stimulating the nervous system, increasing range of motion and creating functional strength through rhythmic, flowing movement sequences. It is an original and unique method which coordinates movement, breath and mental focus.

Tuesdays, 4:00-5:00pm at The Arena

No class March 1. Brittany Fridenstine-Keefe teaches March 22-April 9.

Pre-register at https://www.arena-dances.org/the-arena/
Flexible pricing and free parking!

Non Edwards is a dancer, choreographer, and Gyrokinesis Method Trainer. She was first introduced to the Gyrokinesis Method by Deborah Jinza Thayer. Non has studied with Domini Anne, Miriam Barbosa, Erika Hassan, Jane Gotch, and Kerry Parker. Cross-training with the Gyrokinesis Method supports Non’s career as a freelance dancer.

Non has danced in DIY and non-art spaces as well as the Seattle Art Fair, Walker Art Center, Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Twin Cities’ Bedlam, Bedlam Lowertown, Bryant-Lake Bowl, Ritz, Fitzgerald, McGuire, Southern, and Goodale Theaters; in Massachusetts at Jacob’s Pillow; and in Hawai’i at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. In 2020 Non was awarded a McKnight Dancer Fellowship. She has been a member of ARENA Dances since 2016.

Join our dance-learning community of all ages, sizes, and levels of experience to participate in the creative expression and health and fitness benefits of Middle Eastern dance! The beauty of this dance form is that it makes you feel wonderful in your own body.

We now have in-studio options for beginners and all students! Or, you may choose to take these same classes LIVE, online through Zoom.

Go to cassandraschool.com to choose from our ongoing classes, register, and pay in advance using PayPal. Purchase 4 or more classes and receive a $2 discount per class! All class registrations close at 8:00pm CT the night before each class.

Registration is now open for the Winter Session at Threads Dance Nexus!

Classes begin January 24, 2022 and include:

• Creative Connections for ages 4-7
• Youth Ballet and Modern
• Adult Beginning/Intermediate Ballet and Modern
• Adult Advanced/Professional Ballet and Modern

In response to current rising infection rates, classes are currently slated to take place masked and maintaining social distancing protocol per our Covid Preparedness Plan. Please visit www.threadsdance.org/nexus for registration, pricing, and more info!