TU Dance Center: Ballet as a Moving Meditation with Laura Pratt

Join us for Ballet as Moving Meditation, 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!

6-Week Workshop
January 7-February 11
Wednesdays, 4:30-5:45pm
Cost: $90. Online registration required.

Single Class Enrollment allowed at $17 per class, click here.
For more information about Laura and to register, click here.

Workshops may be cancelled if the minimum enrollment is not met. In the event of a cancellation, participants will receive a full refund.

Laura Pratt (she/her) is a dedicated Teaching Artist who has shared her love of dance with TU Dance since 2019. Falling in love with the magic of dance at a young age, with the guidance of Carolyn Glasgow, Laura earned her undergraduate degree in Ballet Performance from the University of Utah, followed by professional experience with Oklahoma City Ballet. Read more.

MN Dance Task Force: Notes and Next Meeting

Here are the notes from our MN Dance Task Force virtual gathering on Friday morning, December 12, 2025.

Summary of gathering: Participants reviewed the structure of the Wilder Foundation’s draft of Community Gatherings. The group overall advocates for a more concise format with bullet points. Elsie suggested using quotes and side bubbles to emphasize key comments, while Daniel proposed incorporating hyperlinks for easy access to detailed information. The group acknowledged the importance of clarity in presenting feedback from various affinity groups and the need for innovative approaches to dance education and community involvement. The meeting concluded with a commitment to transparency and effective communication, with plans for a follow-up meeting on Friday, January 16, from 9:00-10:00am.

Next Meeting: Friday, January 16
8:45am: Welcome new attendees
9:00-10:00am: Meeting

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 830 0053 7503
Passcode: 165698

Summer Intensive Auditions Hosted by Minnesota Dance Theatre

National Summer Intensive Auditions hosted by Minnesota Dance Theatre at Hennepin Center for the Arts:

Saturday, January  17 – Pacific Northwest Ballet
4:15-5:30pm: Ages 12-14
5:45pm-7:00pm: Ages 15-19

Sunday, January 18 – Next Generation Ballet
1:00-2:30pm

Sunday, January 2 – Ballet West
1:30-3:00pm

Saturday, January 2 – Cincinnati Ballet
2:00-4:00pm

Saturday, January 3 – Boston Ballet
3:00-5:00pm: Ages 12-14
5:00-7:00pm: Ages 15-18

Sunday, February 1 – Ballet Austin
2:00-4:00pm

Sunday, February 8 – Milwaukee Ballet
1:30-3:00pm

Please visit each organization’s website for registration and check-in information.

TU Dance: Creative Movement and Drum

In the 8-week Creative Movement and Drum sessions, children ages 5-7 will grow in physical awareness and build basic movement skills, balance, coordination, flexibility, and strength. Students will expand their knowledge of musical instruments and the connection between dance and music, learn basic rhythmical movement phrases, and improvise and create dance ideas that communicate an experience or theme. Creative Drum for ages 5-7 introduces students to the basic concepts of hand drumming techniques (hands and sticks), tempo, rhythm, and music theory. These concepts help students develop their physical and mental dexterity, creativity, and musicality to inspire joyful performance and improvisation.

Creative Movement for ages 5-7: Saturdays, 9:00-9:40am
Creative Drum for ages 5-7: Saturdays, 9:45-10:15am
1.25 hours/week (2 classes)

Three 8-Week Session Options (Rolling/Pro-Rated Enrollment Available)
Session 2: January 10-February 28
Session 3: March 7-May 9 (no classes March 30-April 12)

Tuition: $220

EDT Presents a Bulgarian Dance Workshop Featuring Valentin and Tania Ivanov

Join Ethnic Dance Theatre (EDT) in welcoming Valentin and Tanya Ivanov from VivAnov Dance Group in Chicago for a night of wonderful Bulgarian dancing!

Everyone is welcome to attend. Our special guest instructors will demonstrate some very basic, beginner-level folk dances from all throughout Bulgaria. Participants will dance together in a circle around the outside, following along as the teachers showcase the beautiful footwork and steps. No previous dance experience is needed, as we look forward to sharing this wonderful art form with anyone and everyone who is curious to try it out. Dancing or athletic shoes are recommended.

Saturday, January 17 at 7:00pm
Entry fee is $10, and tickets will be available at the door.

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.

Art Nosh: Building Resilience Through Mindful Movement

Get in touch with your physical self through gentle movement, and practice building resilience through a guided improvisation practice that uses science-based methods of imagery and sensation. Whether you are an amateur mover or a professional dancer, this practice will help you tap into your own instincts and abilities, break unconscious habits and patterns, and interrupt the overthinking cycle. Enjoy some fun and pleasurable exercise that is safe for any body and ability!

Building Resilience Through Mindful Movement
Monday, January 19 from 12:00-1:00pm
Instructor: Julie Marie Muskat

There is a suggested donation of $8-$25 per workshop. No one turned away for lack of funds. The majority of proceeds will go directly to each Art Nosh facilitator. Donation payments can be made through Venmo (@JulieMarie-Muskat) or via check/cash.

Insomnia Salon is also partnering with Pub 819 for this special event! Participants will receive drink/food tickets for Pub 819, a great place to grab a bite right after, and enjoy the town of Hopkins!

Part of the Art Nosh Winter Workshop Series, produced by the Insomnia Salon.

Prairie Fire

Off-Leash Area co-artistic director Paul Herwig has created a haunting and beautiful production about a young boy growing up in a small midwestern prairie town, who, when confronted by the chaos and division of the world, is faced with making a choice: become an agent for destruction, or a warrior against the darkness.

“It’s been hard to imagine doing anything normal with everyday life. Yesterday, I shouted myself hoarse marching from Powderhorn Park, but it felt good to release my anger and sorrow for at least a couple of hours. I do believe that art has some power in this moment, and I would love to share this experience with you. It’s an hour long, and like nothing I’ve ever created before.

It’s a show about many things, looking back on lost innocence and the wonder of childhood, the bumpy journey through life, and encountering and fighting against “the darkness”. So, ultimately a show about resilience, and acceptance, and not backing down.” – Paul Herwig

Prairie Fire is a solo performance, where the audience is surrounded by four, 40 foot walls of projection, animation, and video, with a show-length sound score, and performed with no text, all set within a visual environment made up of dreamy, haunting, and emotional imagery.

In preparation for the show Paul had an important opportunity to be tutored for a time with an amazing international projection artist, and has brought that experience in creating the work. Jennifer Ilse and local director Kym Longhi are helping direct the show.

There are only 3 performances and seating is limited to around 25 seats, so if you’d like to come please make a reservation. 

January 23 and 24 at 8:00pm

January 25 at 7:00pm
St. Paul Ballet Studios in Fairview Business Center — enter through Door 2 on the south side
Tickets on sale now! Cost: $10-$30

Winter Sound Garden at Crosby Farm Regional Park

The site-specific outdoor Winter Sound Garden returns to the wooded banks of the Mississippi River at Crosby Farm Regional Park for the St. Paul Winter Carnival’s free and family-friendly “Winter Play Day” event. This performance will feature a roving site-specific movement score by dancers Sarah Baumert, Eva Mohn, Erika Hansen, and Suzette Gilreath, in collaboration with Krista Langberg and JG Everest.

The immersive, self-guided Winter Sound Garden is a sound + performance installation featuring over 50 small speakers, each playing a different part of composer/director JG Everest’s spatial symphony, spread out across a couple of acres. Additionally, there will be bonfires, s’mores, live storytelling with Lisa Yankton, embedded poetry, a special winter song by Blue Lady and the Free Range Choir, and other fun activities in the park.

Winter Play Day at Crosby Farm Regional Park, St. Paul
Saturday, January 24
11:00am-2:00pm
Free! Dress warm for outdoor winter conditions!
Registration recommended (but not required).

Hear audience reflections or see a short video from last year’s Winter Sound Garden at Winter Play Day!

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Northrop

Clamor no more, the “Trocks” are back!

“The World’s Foremost Gender-Skewering Comic Ballet Company”—famed for performing polished parodies of classical ballet en pointe and en travesti—continues its quest for global adoration after more than 50 fantastic years of artistic hilarity. Dance aficionados, drag lovers, and novices to both art forms alike will revel in the technical skill and uproarious antics of the Trocks, as they are affectionately known.

Thursday, January 29 at 7:30pm
Buy tickets here!

A Northrop audience favorite returning for the first time since 2000, the Trocks promise “the funniest night you’ll ever have at the ballet” (The Guardian), amazing viewers worldwide with their virtuosity and utter cleverness.

Rejects Cohort 2026

This show brings together 24 Minnesota dance artists/choreographers presenting short works that have all been rejected in some way or another!

Friday, January 30 at 7:30pm
Saturday, January 31 at 7:30pm
All tickets are pay-as-able with a $12 suggested donation.
Show is 65 minutes with no intermission.

Friday Presenters: Remi Blakesley and Claudia d’Auria, Romero Cannady, Erin Evans, Lillian Kline, Michelle Lowden, Sophia McLaughlin, Sudarsna Mukund, Arcelia Y. Rivera, Addie Smith and Kendall Edstrom, Holly Trenbath/O.V. A., and Taja Will.

Saturday Presenters: Sandra Carlo, Kaitlin Craven, Allison Durham, Philip Hommes, Nritya Kalakshetra Academy of Performing Arts, Lilly King, Jillian Kramschuster, Taryn Meyer, Javan Mngrezzo, Rachel Rettmann, and Olivia Woebke.

We have ignited this annual show to cultivate community among non-recipients and also to find a creative way to give voice to the heightened discussions surrounding dance funding in the Twin Cities. We intend to activate a space not designed for dance, pushing dance into new theaters, expanding our audiences, and the reach of our work!

Come be part of the second iteration of this annual event; where the unexpected happens, and new possibilities for art, community, and creative expression unfold!