Archive: Dance Writing, Reviews, and Podcasts

Studio Stories this week airing at noon on April 24 is a special conversation hosted by Megan Mayer and Caroline Palmer of Mathew Janczewski talking about the inspiration and process behind Only the perverse fantasy can still save us – Episode 181.

Mathew Janczewski shares personal connections to the work and insight into the inspiration and making of the work.

A major new work from Minnesota-based choreographer Mathew Janczewski interrogates binaries and asks how creative repression changes us. After receiving a diagnosis of leukemia, Janczewski learned that his condition was caused by the mutation of a single chromosome. For him, the experience brought new resonance to artist Matthew Barney’s epic five-film The Cremaster Cycle (1994–2002), which considers the embryonic stages of sexual differentiation—another biologically determined process that shapes our lives. Only the perverse fantasy can still save us takes inspiration from Barney and features an original score by Minnesota-based composer Joshua Clausen.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

May 16-17 at 7:30pm
McGuire Theater
Tickets start at $15, fees included.

Only the perverse fantasy can still save us is commissioned by the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN).

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.

Photo by Galen Higgins

Studio Stories this week is with the CANDY BOX 2025 Featured Artist Cheng “Technica” Xiong for Episode 180 airing at noon on Thursday, April 17!

Cheng Xiong is a local artist, teacher, and community leader. Xiong grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Dance at the University of Minnesota. Though he began his journey as a street dancer, through his studies, he broadened to different styles and professional skills. Xiong is also a Hmong dance artist/researcher who is among the first in Minnesota to fuse forms of breaking, contemporary, and acrobatic dance styles. He is currently a company member of Black Label Movement and has recently worked with local professional companies such as STRONGmovement, BRKFST Dance, and Minnesota Timberwolves’s First Avenue Breakers.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see Cheng “Technica” Xiong’s premiere at the ninth annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival, April 24-26. Tickets here!

Studio Stories this week is with the CANDY BOX 2025 Featured Artist Joe Chvala of Flying Foot Forum for Episode 179 airing at noon on Thursday, April 10!

Joe Chvala (Artistic Director/Flying Foot Forum) is the founder and artistic director of the highly-acclaimed percussive dance company, the Flying Foot Forum. In addition to the Flying Foot Forum, Chvala has directed, choreographed, and been commissioned to create new works for a variety of theater and dance companies including the Guthrie Theater, the Walker Art Center, the Ordway Music Theater, the Minnesota Opera, Chicago Shakespeare, Children’s Theater Company, Arkansas Repertory, Theater Mu, Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, the History Theater, The Alpine Theater Project, Park Square Theatre, and The Boston Conservatory.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see Flying Foot Forum along with featured artists, Doma Dance Theater and Cheng “Technica” Xiong at the 9th annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival, April 24-26. Tickets here!

Studio Stories this week is with the CANDY BOX 2025 Happy Hour Artist Alexandra Bodnarchuk of Doma Dance Theater for Episode 178 airing at noon on Thursday, April 3!

Under the direction of Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Doma Dance Theater creates dance works for the stage and screen that explore the body as a tangible site of culture. Doma, the Carpatho-Rusyn word for “at home,” cultivates a sense of belonging, curiosity, and exuberant self-expression for its performers and audiences. Doma’s cross-cultural approach creates powerful contemporary dance works that examine shared experiences of diaspora and displacement.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see Doma Dance Theater at the 9th annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival, April 24-26. Tickets here!

Studio Stories this week is with the CANDY BOX 2025 Happy Hour Artist Connor Berkompas of NERVOUS THEATRE for Episode 177 airing at noon on Thursday, March 27!

Founded by artistic director Connor Berkompas, NERVOUS THEATRE is a nomadic theatrical collective creating ensemble-driven productions. Their work celebrates and exploits the ‘liveness’ of theatre for all its physical and communal possibilities.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see NERVOUS THEATRE’S Happy Hour Showing at the 9th annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival on Friday, April 25 from 5:30-6:30pm. Tickets here!

Studio Stories this week is with the CANDY BOX 2025 Happy Hour Artist collaboration of Nieya Amezquita and Kaitlyn Hawkins for Episode 176 airing at noon on Thursday, March 20!

Nieya Amezquita is a Minnesota-based artist currently working with Threads Dance Project, Rhythmically Speaking, Elayna Waxse Movement Projects, and eMartin Dance while collaborating with independent artists like Kaitlyn Hawkins. She has been a featured artist in the Blackness Is Arts Festival produced by the Guthrie Theater, choreographed for Threads Dance Project and Alternative Motion Project, and launched her own dance company in 2023, Amez Dance.

Kaitlyn Hawkins (she/her) is a freelance dance artist and choreographer based in New York City who likes to research an endless list of questions with movement and conversation. She has self-presented work in Minneapolis, MN and Brooklyn, NY, and participated as a choreographer in the Movers Make showcase and the CANDY BOX Dance Festival in Minnesota.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see Nieya and Kaitlyn’s Happy Hour Showing at the 9th annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival on Thursday, April 24 from 5:30-6:30pm. Tickets here!

Studio Stories this week is with CANDY BOX 2025 Happy Hour Artist Yukina Sato for Episode 175 airing at noon on Thursday, March 13!

Yukina Sato is a Japanese dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker whose work explores the dynamic interplay of movement, identity, and culture. Her artistic practice delves into the liminal space of hybridity, capturing the unique experiences of living between two countries and navigating overlapping cultural landscapes.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Come see Yukina’s Happy Hour Showing at the 9th annual CANDY BOX Dance Festival on Wednesday, April 23 from 5:30-6:30pm. Tickets here!

We wrap up Season 16 of Studio Stories this week with Marge Maddux for Episode 174, airing at noon on Thursday, February 13!

Many of us know Marge from her time with the University of Minnesota Dance Program or through her significant contributions to the Ethnic Dance Theater. Marge is a scholar, author, dancer, teacher, choreographer, and professor emeritus.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Studio Stories this week is with Jennifer Glaws for Episode 173 airing at noon on Thursday, February 6!

Jennifer is the founder of Jagged Moves, a Minnesota-based interdisciplinary artist who describes her work at the intersection of media and dance that challenges our perceptions of space, time, and human connection.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Studio Stories this week is with Nancy Duncan for Episode 172 airing at noon on Thursday, January 30!

Nancy has a rich history, beginning her journey as a teacher with Contemporary Dance Playhouse now known as Minnesota Dance Theater from 1968 to 1981. In 1983 Nancy founded and based CoDanceCo in New York City. Her work with CoDanceCo earned Nancy a 1991 New York Dance and Performance Award (aka “Bessie”). Other career highlights include serving as Community Outreach Programs Director for Mikhail Baryshnikov/White Oak Dance Project’s production PastForward, Artistic Director/London Contemporary Dance Theatre; International Presenters Forum Coordinator; Pentacle’s Director of Booking, and Producer of Dancing in the Isles: British Invasion ’97, a four-week British dance festival in New York City.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.