Performances and Events

We hope you’ve enjoyed the first couple days of the CANDY BOX Dance Festival gatherings and can join us for the remaining offerings. Featured Artists’ performances kick off Thursday, April 25 – opening night!

April 24-27, 2024
At The Southern Theater.

Featured Artists Performances – April 25-27, 7:30pm
Tristan Koepke
Paula Mann/Time Track Productions
jess pretty

Tickets:
$27 online and at the door; $20 student/senior discount.
Saturday, April 27 at 2:00pm is pay-as-able, available at the box office.

Dance Classes – April 24-26, 4:00-5:15pm on The Southern Theater stage
Wednesday – jess pretty
Thursday – Tristan Koepke
Friday – Kaitlyn Hawkins
Tickets: $10 for single class or $25 for 5-class pass.

Happy Hour Showings – April 24-26, 5:30-6:30pm
Wednesday – Amez Dance
Thursday – Duniya Drum and Dance
Friday – Penelope Freeh
Tickets: Suggested $12 donation or $25 for pass to all Happy Hour showings; pay-as-able at door only.

We would like to invite the educators in our community and their students to attend this special event!

TU Dance is providing an educational performance featuring THREAT, a company project with choreography by Yusha-Marie Sorzano and other concepts and elements of the art form of dance. Our 10 dancers (including 5 dancers from TU Dance’s CULTIVATE, trainee program) welcome you to experience the connective power of dance. This educational performance is only available to students enrolled in schools throughout the district.

Thursday, April 25
10:30-11:25am
At The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University.
Cost: $3.50
For more information about THREAT and to register, click here.

TU Dance educational performance featuring THREAT is provided thanks to a generous grant provided by the Saint Paul Foundation and Bigelow Foundation.

THREAT is an evening-length work choreographed by TU Dance Guest Artist Yusha-Marie Sorzano.

THREAT is a concert dance theater work that aims to provoke an interrogation of the roles we play as individuals and communities in hierarchies. The work posits that hierarchies have the power to control our behavior and infiltrate our thoughts, even when no authority is present to enforce the rules. Using a physical language and soundscape that fuses multicultural traditions and styles of the West and the African Diaspora, this social exploration invites audiences into a modern narrative that speaks to the universal experience of authority, obedience, and rebellion.

Friday, April 26 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 27 at 7:30pm

Purchase Tickets
Adult: $40
Student/Senior: $30
St. Kate’s Student: $5
Subscription information can be found here.

TU Dance is one of four dance companies participating in the pilot program The O’Shaughnessy Dance Cohort.

Ruby Josephine Dance Theater (RJDT) has been commissioned to create a durational performance reacting to and dancing within local textile artist Carolyn Halliday’s work. Halliday’s current exhibition titled “Making Climate Change Visible” is on display at the Kolman and Reeb Gallery where RJDT will perform on May 2 as a part of the Northrup King Building’s Open Thursdays.

This performance is an improv score about the beauty that can be contrastingly present within and despite destruction. Created by artistic director Ruby Josephine Smith in collaboration with the dancers, Kendall Kramer and Colin Myles Edwards (Bzychln), this cycling duet will weave around Halliday’s large woven sculptures in the gallery space and react to live music played by local cellist Rosa Vieirra Thompson.

Thursday, May 2
Performance from 6:00-6:30pm with an artist talk to follow at 7:15pm.
Free event.

More information about the exhibition.

Last chance for now! Don’t miss this opportunity to join Minnesota Dance Theatre for the company’s parting performances.

Witness the Minnesota premiere of And yet here we are, by Seattle-based choreographer Nia-Amina Minor. This piece, originally created on Pacific Northwest Ballet, lives in an imaginative space propelled by rhythm. Set to a soundscape that is both turbulent and reflective, this work urgently explores what is and the possibilities of what could be.

The performance is rounded out by world premieres from local choreographer Javan Mngrezzo, MDT company member Zachary Tuazon, and MDT Interim Artistic Director Elayna Waxse. With music from Chopin to jazz to indie rock, this program displays the diversity and power of our remarkable dancers.

Friday, May 3 at 8:00pm – pay as able
Saturday, May 4 at 8:00pm
Sunday, May 5 at 2:00pm
Friday, May 10 at 8:00pm
Saturday, May 11 at 8:00pm
Sunday, May 12 at 2:00pm

Tickets: $32. Student: $20.

New work from Tapestries 8.0, Threads Dance Project’s annual showcase of emerging choreographic talents.

This year’s show commissions new works from three choreographers – Da’Rius Malone, Averie Mitchell-Brown, and Shoko Tamai. The show also features the repertory work CALL by Threads Dance Project’s Artistic Director, Karen L. Charles. CALL uses the African/American tradition of call and response to sculpt the often difficult relationship between the dancer and the dance.

Friday, May 3 at 7:30pm
Saturday, May 4 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 5 at 2:00pm

Tickets:
$30 General Admission
$25 Seniors
$22 Students

Tapestries 8.0 celebrates diversity of thoughts and ideas through each choreographer’s varying style and movement stories. From Hip Hop to Contemporary dance, the audience will experience dance artistry at its best.

About the Guest Performances
Inspired by “The Shadow-Work Journal” and “The Inner Work,” Da’Rius Malone embarks on confronting hidden hardships, healing their inner child, and breaking generational trauma through vulnerable movement creation with dancers’ stories intertwined.

Averie Mitchell-Brown explores groundbreaking dance performances celebrating Hip Hop social dances, street styles, and movements of the African diaspora. Set to revolutionary music, these performances foster dialogue, community, and transformative exploration of societal norms and perspectives.

Shoko Tamai invites you on a dance journey inspired by life’s transformations, from moon cycles to butterfly metamorphosis, exploring self-discovery, forgiveness, and intergenerational connections.

Please join us for the premiere of our new dance film Mamko Moja L’uba at our Kickoff Event!

Featuring dancers Sarah McCullough and Amanda Sachs, this work explores our relationship with matrilineal lineage through the use of folk and contemporary dance vocabulary.

In addition to the film, Alexandra Bodnarchuk will premiere a new solo work-in-process.

Saturday, May 11
6:00-8:00pm
Doma Dance Theater Studio – 528 Hennepin Ave, Suite 302.
Limited capacity.

Social hour, light refreshments, and signature sodas provided.

Tickets: $12-50.
Artist rate: $12. Suggested ticket price: $35.

Join Africontigbo on Saturday, May 11 for Émume – a captivating showcase where community members will dazzle with their newly acquired traditional and contemporary African dance moves from The Gambia, Togo, and Nigeria’s Igbo tribe. Featuring live Afro music by the talented Carolyne Naomi and Gifted Handz, while enjoying delightful bites from the featured countries!

Two shows:
12:30pm
6:30pm

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.

Analog Dance Works presents: The Awe Factor

World Premiere!
May 16–19 at the TEK BOX Theater

This work, choreographed by Artistic Director Brenna Mosser, interweaves single-use plastic waste with the science of awe. In this fantastical and surreal world, 10 dancers examine how we access awe, what we do when we are confronted by it, and how we can harness this emotion to better our collective lives.

Portions of choreography presented in The Awe Factor were commissioned by Threads Dance Project for their Tapestries 7.0 program and by Alternative Motion Project for their Tenth Season Performance.

Thursday, May 16 at 7:30pm
Friday, May 17 at 7:30pm – post-show reception
Saturday, May 18 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 19 at 2:00pm – post-show talkback

Tickets: $15-$30, pay as able.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Concerto Dance presents The Adventures of Peer Gynt, a new theatrical jazz dance work that follows the story of the self-absorbed Peer Gynt in search of meaning and significance through his wild adventures, only to return home to realize he wasted his life searching for something he already had… the love he was longing for.

Don’t miss this spin on a classic tale set in the American jazz era told through Concerto’s signature style of theatrical and classical jazz dance, featuring Doug Hooker playing the role of Peer Gynt, Rush Benson in the role of Death, and Betsy Nelson playing Solveig, along with the full company of Concerto Dance.

Thursday, May 16 at 7:30pm – preview performance with “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket pricing
Friday, May 17 at 7:30pm
Saturday, May 18 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: $25-$30
Run time: 60 minutes with no intermission.

Young Dance invites you to Mind:Body, a thought-provoking exploration of the mind-body connection through dance. These innovative performances feature work by Young Dance classes and original pieces created by guest artists Emily Gastineau, Gabriel Rodreick, and Meridian Movement Collective (Colin Edwards, Cecil Neal, and Alex Arce) in collaboration with the Young Dance Performing Company dancers aged 7-18.

Young Dance Performing Company Shows
Friday, May 17 at 7:00pm (Audio Description Services Provided)
Saturday, May 18 at 7:00pm (ASL Interpretation Provided)
Sunday, May 19 at 5:00pm

Young Dance School Showcase
Saturday, May 18 at 11:00am and 2:00pm
Sunday, May 19 at 11:00am and 2:00pm

Tickets: Available at Luminary Arts Center ticketing.
$15 General Admission
$10 Students 3-18 and Seniors 65+
Free lap pass for ages 2 and younger

A free live stream is available. Please contact info@youngdance.org at least 24 hours before the performance to request the link and specify which performance and dancer you’d like to see.

Don’t miss this opportunity to witness the power of movement and the inspiring talent of Young Dance!

Explore the world of childlike wonder and re-discover a timeless classic with The Little Prince by Ballet Co.Laboratory. Immerse yourself in the magical journey of a young prince from a distant planet as they discover the mysteries of life, love, and friendship. 

Ballet Co.Laboratory’s adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved novella will transport you to a realm where the appreciation of life’s simple joys is reclaimed. This unforgettable production will touch the hearts of both young and old, reminding us of the profound life lessons we may have forgotten along the way. 

Choreographed by Zoé Emilie Henrot.

Performed by The Company Dancers of Ballet Co.Laboratory and the students of The School of Ballet Co.Laboratory.

Friday, May 17 at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 18 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Sunday, May 19 at 2:00pm

At once dreamlike, unsettling, and absurd, Off-Leash Area’s new show, The Knave of Knives – The Duchess of Dawn, introduces two strange and haunting figures from an otherworldly court who engage in a fantastical struggle for power over the multiverse. Taking place in an immersive installation surrounding both stage and audience, the show is performed with movement and music/sound, inspired (loosely) by string theory, and is populated with melancholy stuffed animals and mysterious trophies, dispersed among the fragile threads of a clandestine karmic history.

Created and performed by Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig, co-artistic directors of Off-Leash Area.

June 7-9
7:30pm
Tickets on sale now.

Admission is by suggested donation between $10-$30. Seating is limited to approximately 40 seats and the garage fills up fast, so make your reservation early! You can also make your donation at the door by cash or card via Square.

Stick around afterward for popcorn, drinks, and conversation by the fire!