Performances and Events

Rhythmically Speaking is already hard at work on our (18th annual) summer show Groovers & Makers 2026, and the first artist we worked with this year is Twin Cities dance legend Karla Grotting. We’d love to share with you what she’s created, so we invite you to come get a sneak peek of her new work for the company.

Wednesday, May 20 from 4:30-5:00pm
Location: Hothouse

We hope you can join us!

Red Eye presents the 2026 edition of the Red Eye Festival, formerly known as the New Works 4 Weeks Festival: an annual gathering for live performance works that respond to the current moment and imagine collective transformation. Each year, artist cohorts engage in peer exchange, mutual support, and dialogue around creative process that culminates in this public sharing. Over nearly four decades, this incubator of new work has become a cornerstone of the Twin Cities performance landscape.

Edna Hand: Dear Mom My Gut is Your Gut
Edna Hand is an undisciplined artist who practices allowing for doing nothing, allowing their outside to match their inside, allowing words for the things that are true, allowing movement for the things that have no words, and allowing sound for things that cannot move. They are a commitment to sensing the wholesome threads of pleasure in being with pain and learning to use the power of mirror neurons for good. Their art is an experiment in expanding that learning into community and in service for the liberation of all beings.

Gaya Sani: ~ planet of disruption
Gaya dances to spite the binary of known vs. unknown, and to practice slowness and humility. Currently, their practice is shaped by studying the poems of Akka Mahadevi and Basavanna, Alexis Pauline Gumbs’s experimental triptych, and Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez’s Let’s Become Fungal!

Jarek Pastor: A Waiting Room 
An exploration of time-based processes; a frail rhapsody for single voice. A Waiting Room features She (raggedly youthful, buoyantly feeble) in a meditative limbo between hope and fulfillment.
Jarek Pastor is a theatermaker with a focus on composition, dramaturgy, and directing. Their work moves with a tonal dynamism to enact absurdist portraits of social systems. Team/Collaborators: Marcela Michelle (Performance); Jarek Pastor (Writing and Direction); MK Tuomanen (Research and Outside Eyes).

Río Saúl: trans soils, borderless bodies
Trans soils, Borderless bodies is a multimedia performance that explores the relationship between land and gender. Through embodied memories of my grandfather, plants, and a small gay bar, we traverse a world full of grief and a desire to be witnessed in aliveness.
I’m a rural trans artist from Salinas, California now living in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce. At its core, my work is about belonging, ritual, transitions, and inhabiting multiplicities. I have continued to explore these themes through movement because if I don’t dance, I will be in a bad mood!

Thursday, May 21 at 7:00pm — requires masks and offers a discount to our Elders 70+
Friday, May 22 at 7:00pm — post-performance engagement, ASL interpretation
Saturday, May 23 at 7:00pm 

Pay as you wish, suggested $18-80. If cost is a barrier, please email communications@redeyetheater.org for discount ticket options. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Additional Accessibility Information: Red Eye’s space is fully wheelchair-accessible. Masks are highly encouraged. Some events require masking and masks will be available at the venue if you don’t bring your own. Please only attend if you are feeling well, and if not, we are happy to change your tickets to a different day at no charge.

Visiting artists, Beth Graczyk and Leah Wilks from New York, bring their multi-textural new collaboration to Minneapolis with local luminary collaborators including Thomasina Petrus and Aaron Gabriel.

A Body (Un)Becoming is a dance duet with live musicians that explores the tension between decay and transformation. In this performance, the body meets disintegrating materials through acts of touch, labor, and experimentation. The piece investigates what new forms can emerge through pressure, heat, and attention which is also reflected in the kinetic sculptures made from eggshells. By animating overlooked materials—including an aging female-identified body—the work challenges fixed ideas of being and utility: fragile, reforming, and ongoing.

Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23 at 7:30pm
Center for Performing Arts

Directed by Beth Graczyk
Performed by Leah Wilks and Beth Graczyk, Laura Sewell and Thomasina Petrus (Minnesota)
Music by Aaron Gabriel (Minnesota)
Lighting Design by Jeff Forbes (Portland), ILVS STRAUSS (Seattle), and Mike Grogan (Minneapolis)
Costumes by Asa Thornton
Biomaterial Sculptures by Beth Graczyk

Kayla Schiltgen’s Softbody Movement, in partnership with Borealis Chamber Artists, The College of Saint Scholastica, and regional environmental organizations, presents Mass for the Endangered, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s contemporary choral work meditating on fragility, forgiveness, and our shared responsibility to care for nature. Before and after the concert we invite you to gather with us for a reception bringing art, advocacy, and science into conversation.

Saturday, May 23 at 7:30pm 
Reception from 6:00pm-9:00pm
Location: Mitchell Auditorium at The College of St. Scholastica
Tickets: $30 — any students can use the code Student5 for a discount to admission
Dance Artists: Brianna Hall-Nelson, Kristen Hylenski, Allisun Zagar, Kayla Schiltgen

Quick Study is a performance series that examines how the audience and performer make sense of dance, or whether sense-making is necessary at all. Drawing from infant cognition research, early experiences, and a lifelong obsession with dance, Maggie Zepp loosely measures audience engagement and invites viewers to consider their own methods of interpretation.

Wednesday, May 27 at 7:00pm
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Performance is about 30 minutes long – just a quick study.

“Adroitly put together, [Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener’s] choreography is studded with real beauty and invention.” —New York Times

Open Machine is an open experiment. For their new Walker commission, choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener return with a dynamic work that imagines an artificial intelligence lovingly programmed through experimental dance. Open Machine brings together live speech‑to‑text transcription and conjured images that react to the unfolding performance, blurring the lines between brain, body, and machine. As dancers navigate the stage with precision and abandon, the piece reflects the social and spatial structures that shape daily life.

Featuring luminous media design by Jesse Stiles, a sweeping electro-acoustic score by Charmaine Lee and Mas Ysa, and lighting design by Davison Scandrett.

Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 at 7:30pm
Location: Walker Art Center, McGuire Theater
Get tickets now.

In Full Bloom! An annual showcase celebrating the artistry of St. Paul Ballet’s student dancers. This performance blends classical masterpieces with vibrant, original choreography, capturing the exuberance of Minnesota’s changing seasons.

Friday, May 29 at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 30 at 1:00pm
Location: The O’Shaughnessy
Tickets: Available at Pay-As-Able pricing, $5-$50

Featured Works and Artists
New Original Works: Choreography by Interim School Director Elayna Waxse and Maddie Blessinger.
Improvisation & Composition: Directed by Erin Drummond and Blake Nellis.
Youth Choreography: Pieces by staff members Dexter Carlson, Emily Trapnell, Carissa Bolante, and Sasha Zitofsky.
Classical Repertoire: Marius Petipa’s brilliant Paquita, staged by Helen Hatch.
Special Guests: A featured performance by Hatch Dance.

Join Our Community
From beginners taking their first steps to pre-professional dancers, this showcase honors the talent within our school.

Zenon Dance Zone and Block Z Spring Showcase! Come see the vibrant new works of Zone choreographers Stephanie Giuliani, Jillian Kramschuster, Taryn Meyer, and Meg Singh, and Block Z choreographers Annika Johansson, Erin Landers, Shannon Hartle Dolan, and Mary Willmeng, brought to life by the Zenon Zone and Block Z dancers.

Friday, May 29 at 7:30pm
Saturday, May 30 at 7:30pm
Sunday, May 31 at 2:00pm (pay-what-you-wish)
Location: Venue change! Please see Zenon’s event page for the new location.
Tickets: $25, fees included

Join us in celebrating the magic of local dance! Together, we play a vital role in the vibrant dance scene of the Twin Cities, and this showcase highlights our community. As we explore new material and share the voices of our choreographers, Zenon Dance School is proud to contribute to 43 years of dance performance, education, outreach, and community engagement. Zone welcomes dancers and choreographers of all levels and fosters a unique, supportive environment for their journey.

Join Katha Dance Theatre (KDT) for our first annual Vasantotsav – Spring Festival! We’re excited to bring the community together for a festival showcasing established and emerging Kathak choreographers.

The program is subtitled, “Prakriti aur Parampara: Nature and Tradition”. It begins at 7:30 pm with selections from Kathak E-motion. Choreographed by Rita Mustaphi, it showcases pure Kathak through focusing on Abhinaya, the form’s integral expression of emotions.

Next is the world premiere of Ritu Ranga, the first production in the history of KDT to be choreographed solely by KDT Company members. Emerging choreographers Sarika Haris, Rupa Nair, Shilpi Chatterjee and Aaratrika Mondal worked closely with Rita Mustaphi as they crafted their pieces, each of which is based on a different meteorological season.

Vasantotsav 2026
Saturday, June 6 at 7:30pm — doors open at 7:00pm
Location: Eden Prairie Central Middle School Performing Arts Center
Runtime: 1 hour, 50 minutes including a 30-minute intermission

Tickets
Pick-your-price: $20-$50
VIP: $60
Student: $15

Red Eye presents the 2026 edition of the Red Eye Festival, formerly known as the New Works 4 Weeks Festival: an annual gathering for live performance works that respond to the current moment and imagine collective transformation. Each year, artist cohorts engage in peer exchange, mutual support, and dialogue around creative process that culminates in this public sharing. Over nearly four decades, this incubator of new work has become a cornerstone of the Twin Cities performance landscape.

Leila Awadallah: INTIFADA INCANTATION — an experiment in wielding ripples of vibration
A group of performers are joined by a self-playing instrument that drones and shifts based on the vibrations in the floor and air. A work activated by specific bodies, tethered ancestrally to Palestine, and tethered viscerally to the ruptures ongoing. Asking; how do we enact a series of experiments and incantations; attuning to the ripples and attempting to wield them towards the shapes of intifada near and far (words inspired by June Jordan: Intifada Incantation: Poem #8 for b.b.L.). Each evening’s offering this weekend will be unrepeatable and accumulate in gesture, tremor: a compositional argument within the infrastructures of uprising. Created and performed by Leila Awadallah, Noelle Awadallah, Mette Loulou von Kohl, and Zaquia Mahler Salinas.

انتفاضة – to shake off, tremor, uprising

Leila Awadallah is a dancer, choreographer, and community collaborator based in Minneapolis and sometimes Beirut. She is the Artistic Director of Body Watani Dance with her sister Noelle Awadallah; a project that centers Palestine, a body-as-homeland practice, a site for improvisational inquiry and folk-rooted experimentations of SWANA dance forms. Leila is wielding her energy towards cultural intifada on multiple fronts, and asks you to join her in the long middle of the revolution to liberate Palestine and demand landback/the right to return.

Performance Schedule:

• Thursday, June 11 at 7:00pm — requires masks and offers a discount to our Elders 70+
  Work-in-progress sharing 1: First Tremor – Opening Invitation/Open Questions
• Friday, June 12 at 7:00pm – ASL interpretation included, post-performance engagement
  Work-in-progress sharing 2: Accumulation Tremor – Continuum and New Questions
• Saturday, June 13 from 5:00-9:00pm
  Durational Tremor – a work-in-progress durational performance experiment (a durational study/continuums in the making an offering that builds as it unfolds). Audiences are invited to enter at 5:00pm and build the continuum, or arrive at 7:00pm into what has already begun.

Pay as you wish, suggested $18-80. If cost is a barrier, please email communications@redeyetheater.org for discount ticket options. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. A pass to every event this weekend is $30.

Additional Accessibility Information: Red Eye’s space is fully wheelchair-accessible. Masks are highly encouraged. Some events require masking and masks will be available at the venue if you don’t bring your own. Please only attend if you are feeling well, and if not, we are happy to change your tickets to a different day at no charge.

Photo credit: Houssam Mchaimech

Line of Scrimmage is a dance, theater, comedy, football game that fumbles its way through a classic (and yet maybe not so classic) sports movie narrative. The show follows a team from practice up until the big game. We ask the questions: Who gets to tackle whom? And who gets to create separation and division on and off the field? In general, the show attempts a Hail Mary pass at critiquing the good and the not-so-good of sports and sports culture. Expect balls flying, kickers punting, and false starts at an all-time high. Oh yeah, and I heard the marching band is good this year.

Thursday, June 11-Monday, June 15 at 7:30pm
Location: The Mixed Blood Theater
Get tickets here! Monday and Thursday shows are pay-as-able.
One-hour show, no halftime.

To the sports fans (artists do not read): Love of art is not required. We have so much sport ball here for you!
To the artists (sports fans do not read): Love of sport ball is not required! We had to do so much research to just write this punny show description.

Creator: Lily Conforti/Corpus Dance Works
Collaborators/Dancers: Addie Smith, Erin Evans, Lilly King, Javan Mngrezzo, Nieya Amezquita, Rachel Holmes, Taylor West, Vy Nguyen
Dramaturge: Isa Tejeda
Lighting: Alice Endo
Photography: Gregory Addison

Join us for Fast Forward, a one-weekend-only performance event offering a first glimpse at the future of A Dancer’s Place.

Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 at 7:00pm
Sunday, June 14 at 5:00pm

Featuring an exceptional cast of established and rising local dancers, this specially curated evening journeys through a range of repertory—from foundational works by Loyce Houlton to new creations by artists with strong Minnesota ties—celebrating the creative energy carrying us into our next chapter.

Follow A Dancer’s Place at @adancersplacemn for performer, repertory, and guest artist announcements.
Now through Memorial Day, use discount code FF50 to receive 50% off tickets.

A vibrant West African drum and dance performance that traces the journey of life through rhythm, movement, and community. Featuring three generations of performers – including family members sharing the stage – the program weaves together traditional pieces such as Yankadi, Macru, Komodenu, Soko, and Dundunba.

From the grace of youth to the power of maturity, each rhythm reflects a stage of life, honoring the connections that bind generations together. Through the pulse of the drum and the energy of dance, this performance celebrates heritage, transition, and the living traditions that continue to bring people together across time.

Saturday, June 13
Doors: 7:00pm
Show: 7:30pm

Tickets
Adults: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
Children (15 and under): $10 in advance, $15 at the door
Children (5 and under): Free

This Cultural Districts Art Fund program activity is funded by the Arts & Cultural Affairs Department in the City of Minneapolis.​​

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.

On Thursday, June 18, Ashleigh Penrod and Sarah Herberg of Mess Hill are hosting a free hour-long webinar via Zoom called The Planning Trap: When You Need a Strategy, Not a Plan.

As long-time guides and facilitators, they’ll be exploring why leaders so frequently conflate strategy with strategic planning, why strategy is a different kind of work, and how to recognize when you may need a strategy (not a plan).

Register here.

Off-Leash Area’s new mainstage production, Swallowed By Sea, is a dance and theater production that tells an emotional, redemptive story as an epic myth that invites the audience to navigate the eternal currents through ocean, land, and sky. Weaving together a lush choral score, live-animated projection design, and the graceful and forceful physical performances by an all-abilities cast who move with and without wheels, Swallowed By Sea is a rich tapestry of a production about beginnings and endings, destruction and renewal.

Friday, June 26 at 7:30pm — followed by a post-show reception
Saturday, June 27 at 7:30pm
Sunday, June 28 at 7:30pm
Admission is by sliding scale with a $10-$30 suggested donation.
At the fully accessible Barker Center.

All-Abilities, Multi-Generational Cast: Brian Evans, Christine Maginnis, Erin Landers, Gabriel Rodreick, Lexine Samara, Lilly Rossow Jennifer Ilse
Direction and Choreography: Co-Artistic Director Jennifer Ilse
Animation, Video, and Projection Design: Co-Artistic Director Paul Herwig
Choral Work Composition: Linda Kachelmeier
Sound Design and Engineering: Reid Kruger
Costuming: Caroline A. Zaltron and Nat Koch

Accessibility Services Provided
ASL Interpretation (Maria Dively): All performances
Audio Description (Connie Fullmer): All performances
Live Captioning: Captioning will be integrated into the projection design of the program.

Join us for our second installment in the Land of 10,000 Ethnicities series.

Using the dances, music, and songs of the peoples of Armenia, Bulgaria, India, Ireland, Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, and more, we will highlight where these communities found themselves when they emigrated to our great state. The concert will feature performances by Ethnic Dance Theatre (EDT), as well as Mila Vocal Ensemble, and as always, featuring live music by the incomparable Ethnic Dance Theatre Folk Orchestra.

Friday, June 26 and Saturday, June 27 at 7:30pm
Sunday, June 28 at 2:00pm
Location: E.M. Pearson Theatre at Concordia University
Pay-as-able! Suggested pricing: $35 for Adults, $25 for Students/Seniors, $15 for Children

A Q&A session will follow the Saturday, June 27 performance. ASL interpretation will be available for the Sunday, June 28 matinee.

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