Archive: Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes, and Open Houses

Please join us at TU Dance Center for a 4-week GYROKINESIS® workshop for adults (ages 45+) with Wendy Anderson. No experience is necessary.

Starts with breathing patterns and progresses into motions that mobilize the spine through arching, curling, bending, spiraling, and waving. Connecting with the breath, the movement starts to feel like a dance – oxygenating the circulatory system, stimulating the nervous system, and opening the body. Exercises are done on chairs/stools, in standing and lying positions.

October 7-October 28
Wednesdays, 4:30-5:45pm
Cost: $60. Online registration required.
Single-class enrollment is available!

Dancing Together: This 6-week workshop is designed for children (ages 2-4) and their parent/caregiver who are interested in a shared movement experience that engages the senses of curiosity and play. Both child and caregiver will participate in developmentally appropriate movement exercises that incorporate elements such as effort, shape, and tempo. Music will play an essential role in the class as students will be asked to respond to sounds as well as make sounds themselves.

Participants will be encouraged to join at their own comfort level with the understanding that observation is often the best form of learning with younger children. This class will give children and caregivers the opportunity to learn more about themselves and one another through the art form of dance.

Saturdays, 10:15-11:00am
45 minutes per week.

Session 1: October 10-November 14
Session 2: February 27-April 3
Tuition: $100

Step into the rhythm and experience the energy of the Soul Line Dancing Adult Workshop at TU Dance!

This welcoming workshop invites adults of all experience levels to learn popular soul line dances while moving to classic and contemporary R&B, funk, and soul music. Whether you’re dancing for fitness, fun, or fellowship, you’ll build confidence, improve coordination, and connect with others in a vibrant, supportive environment. No partner or previous dance experience is needed; just bring your enthusiasm and get ready to move, groove, and celebrate the power of dance and community.

September 28-November 2
Mondays, 4:30-5:30pm
Tuition: $90
Single-class enrollment is available!

New Location: MOVO Space

The Forgotten Shaman: Art, Healing and the Creative Life
What if the artist and the healer were never meant to be separate? The Forgotten Shaman is a space to reconnect with the innate wisdom, intuition, and creative compass within you.

Drawing from Michelle Boulé’s ongoing research into the intersections of shamanic traditions, light work, embodiment, healing, and creativity, this two-hour workshop will weave together conversation, energy healing, and movement practices. We’ll explore what’s possible when we remember that creativity is not simply something we produce, but a force we live with… one that can connect us more deeply to our bodies, intuition, imagination, healing, and the mystery of life.

This is an invitation to listen, experiment, move, and play. Participants will be guided to explore the artist, healer, and “magician” within themselves, and the intelligence that already exists beneath the noise of everyday life.

Thursday, October 15 at 6:30pm
Location: MOVO Space
Price: $0-30 sliding scale
RSVP here.

Michelle Boulé is an internationally recognized transformational guide, embodiment teacher, and award-winning dance artist whose work explores the intersection of creativity, consciousness, leadership, and human potential.

For nearly three decades, she has guided thousands of artists, entrepreneurs, and high-performing leaders through profound personal and professional transformation — helping them move beyond fear, conditioning, and self-abandonment into deeper alignment, creative power, visibility, intimacy, and prosperity.

Blending somatic and embodiment practices, Human Design, quantum energy healing, intuitive insight, and transformational coaching, Michelle’s work is known for its depth, precision, and ability to catalyze lasting change at both the energetic and practical level. Her approach helps people access breakthrough insight, strengthen self-trust, and embody a more authentic expression of their leadership and life.

A Bessie Award–winning performer, Michelle has performed, taught, and presented work in more than 25 countries at internationally respected venues and institutions including The Met Breuer, Museum of Modern Art, Danspace Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Yale, Princeton, RISD, P.A.R.T.S., and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Dance Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Today Show.

Join us for Ballet as Moving Meditation with Laura Pratt, an inviting class that uses the foundational language of ballet to help you reclaim space, find physical clarity, and cultivate a deep sense of centeredness. While we respect the rigor of the form, we promise not to take ourselves too seriously!

We build the basics gently, offering a supportive environment where beginners can learn proper alignment and terminology. Our goal is to connect, create community, and find genuine joy, humor, and pleasure through the work itself, approaching the technique as a powerful, restorative practice for the body and mind. Come as you are, leave your troubles at the door, and we look forward to connecting with you through dance!

October 17-November 21
Saturdays, 4:00-5:15pm
Cost: $115. Online registration required.

Classss with Kenna: an immersive creative experience curated by practices informed by Black American Music and Movement.

Do you know the difference between a DJ, an MC and a Sound System? Come to class with Kenna and get hands-on experience with all three. We will set up, select, create, perform and respond. Inclusive Black Space! All are welcome! Will this be a dance class? Somewhat.

Doors open at 1:45pm, arrival and check-in is from 2:00-2:20pm, and Classss from 2:20-4:00pm. Clean up and fellowship from 4:00-4:30pm with doors closing at 4:45pm.

Saturday, October 17 at 2:00pm
Location: Red Eye Theater
Price: $0-30 sliding scale
RSVP here.

Kenna-Camara Cottman is Black, non-binary, a parent, a child and a community member in Mni Sota Makoce.

Kenna may be known for her work with Voice of Culture, as a dancer, choreographer and educator, but it could also be noted that Kenna is also a practitioner of all the elements of Hip Hop, a community radio host and DJ, a certified Yoga teacher, and an improvisational vocalist.

Kenna is a abolitionist non-violent transmitter and receiver and also in the practice of creating and experiencing Black space for cultural arts and liberation. Current projects include self study and reclamation through the Body Prayers cycle.

Kenna is the child of Ancestors Beverly and Bill Cottman, community parents and artists each in their own rights.

Kenna is the mother of Yonci Peaceful, a well known and respected artist, writer, DJ, activist and musician; and Ebrima Baye, an accomplished soccer player, golfer, enthusiastic gamer and proficient drummer.

Kenna Jean is and has been an educator in many different contexts for many years. Kenna is currently focusing on learning the trombone and traveling to skate (quads) at rinks in the Midwest. Follow @mxcottman on Instagram for the latest shenanigans.

Visit www.voiceofculture.org for more information on Kenna’s forward facing projects.

Join guest artist Gregory Dolbashian for Community Classes “Flow Space” at TU Dance Center! These classes are for intermediate to advanced levels.

Flow Space: An atmosphere that allows for the act of “pure play” to help dance artists use more capacity, intellect, sense, courage, and imagination in their movement styles. Conducted by director of The DASH Ensemble, Gregory Dolbashian, the class is a highly developed series of improvisational tools and games that warms and pushes both the mind and the body to break habits and fulfill more presence. These exercises are all methods that Gregory has developed and utilized to create movement with The DASH. The artists learn confidence not just in themselves but also in the environment that they are a part of. Games and tasks work both on the individual and in tandem, so that Flow Space creates a community for progress, inspiration, and most of all, discovery.

Tuesday, October 20, 4:30-6:00pm
Thursday, October 22, 9:30-11:00am
Cost: $20. Registration is required.

Friday, November 6—Sunday, November 8
Friday, 4:00-8:00pm
Saturday, 11:30am-6:00pm
Sunday, 9:30am-4:30pm

Fee: $499 + $60 materials ($549 after October 17)
In person or online. No prerequisites—open to all!

Anatomy is the foundation of our work as movement professionals. With Balanced Body® Anatomy for Movement Professionals, you will gain a deeper understanding of the anatomical architecture and biomechanics that make human movement possible, and in turn, help your clients (and yourself) move better. You will receive an introduction to the major tissues, joints, and muscles of movement along with movement experiences to help you understand and remember not just the individual muscles, but how they work in synergy to create functional movements.

Instructor: Matthew Hodge-Rice

Adult dancers are invited to spend four Monday evenings stepping into the world of The Nutcracker with Waltz of the Snowflakes. Each evening includes an intermediate-level ballet class followed by original choreography created by Justin Leaf especially for adult dancers. Explore Tchaikovsky’s iconic score while developing musicality, stamina, ensemble dancing, and sweeping Snowflake formations.

Mondays, November 16, 23 and 30, and December 7
6:30–8:30pm
Hennepin Center for the Arts, Studio 2B
Ages 16+

Early Bird Pricing: $140 through November 1
Regular Price: $175
Space is limited to 16 dancers.

Learn more and register here.

Join guest artist and inaugural Toni Pierce-Sands Choreographic Initiative recipient, Uwazi, for Community Classes at TU Dance Center! These classes are for intermediate to advanced levels.

Phases in Contemporary Dance: This contemporary movement class begins with a simple understanding: everything is technical. Classical technique, codified styles, and Black vernacular forms are not treated as opposing approaches to movement. Instead, we explore how technical rigor can meet the tenacity, boldness, and bodily sovereignty carried within Black vernacular dance.