Archive

A Body (Un)Becoming

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

Kuumba: A Gathering of Black Dance and Theatre

Leanna Browne presents Kuumba: A Gathering of Black Dance and Theatre. Kuumba is a Kiswahili word, which means “creativity” or “to create” and is the sixth principle of Kwanzaa. The evening includes work by guest artist Atlese Robinson who will share Chores, an experimental theatrical work exploring the mundanity of life’s chores as a vehicle for introspection and social commentary. The evening also includes a new dance work by Leanna Browne, which explores Pan-Africanism, particularly the contributions of Black women in Pan-Africanism. Leanna is joined by Melissa Clark, Aneka McMullen, Deneane Richburg, and Taylor West.

Friday, May 22 at 7:30pm — Post-Show Reflection Discussion
Saturday, May 23 at 2:00pm — Pay what you can
Saturday, May 23 at 7:30pm
Location: The Southern Theater

Tickets
General Admission: $25
Student/Senior General Admission: $22
Pay-what-you-can (May 23 at 2:00pm): starting at $10

In addition, participate in Kuumba: The Workshops, which are open to community and happening on Tuesday, May 19 from 5:30-9:00pm at The Southern Theater.

Tuesday, May 19 workshops include:
Sound Bath Healing with Tamiko French from 5:30-6:30pm
Umfundalai with Leanna Browne from 6:45-7:45pm
Storyteller’s Soirée with Atlese Robinson from 8:00-9:00pm

Here is the link for tickets and registration for the workshops as well as more information. Thank you and we hope to see you there!

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.

A Practice of Belonging – Regional Gathering at Young Dance

Regional Gathering on Dance Education and Disability: July 24 to 25 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Young Dance invites artists, educators, and organizers to submit proposals for our upcoming regional gathering. Sponsored by Art Spark Texas with financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), this two-day event is part of a national series dedicated to centering disability in dance education. Specifically, the Minnesota gathering will explore ways we practice belonging through inclusive dance and dance education.

Our Vision
This convening brings together dance and arts educators, presenters, and creators to explore how we foster belonging through inclusive dance. Together, we aim to:

Celebrate work that challenges norms and reimagines dance as an accessible, evolving field.
Investigate access-centered pedagogy, practices, and policies.
Build connections and a lasting network of resources to support and uplift one another.

Session Details
We are looking for diverse formats, including workshops, movement classes, panel discussions, think tanks, or drop-in activities. We anticipate most sessions will run 90-120 minutes. However, we are open to whatever length is best for your work, with a minimum of 45 minutes. Facilitators receive a $150 stipend, plus reimbursement for approved materials. Additional funds may be available depending on session needs. All events are free for participants.

Deadline: Sunday, May 24
Notification: Wednesday, June 3

Submit materials or direct questions to Gretchen Pick at gretchen@youngdance.org. We prioritize accessibility in our application process. Please submit your proposal in the format that works best for you:

Digital — Complete the Call for Proposals Google Form or email a Document (Word/PDF).
Multimedia — Submit a video or audio recording answering the questions below.
Conversational — Email us to schedule a time to discuss your proposal verbally.

Please include the following information in your submission:

Session Title
Format: (e.g., Workshop, Panel, Movement Class, Discussion, Think Tank, Drop-In Activity, or Other)
Short Description: A 1–3 sentence summary for promotional materials.
Full Description: A detailed overview for the review committee to understand your goals and methods.
Facilitator Information: Name(s) and a brief bio of the facilitator(s).
Duration: Requested length of time.
Other: Please share anything else about your offering you would like us to know.

Please indicate all blocks that work for you:
Friday, July 24 — Morning, Afternoon, Evening
Saturday, July 25 — Morning, Afternoon, Evening

Belonging is not a destination, but an ongoing practice. We look forward to seeing how your work contributes to this movement.

Dance Buzz: A Spring Workshop with RJDT

Join us this spring for a one-day intensive workshop designed to energize body and mind, beginning with a shared coffee (or tea) and moving into a day of training, creation, and connection.

Sunday, May 24 from 10:30am-3:00pm
A-Mill Dance Studio
Led by Artistic Director Ruby Josephine Smith.

Registration
Early Bird Registration (April 20-May 20): $65
General Registration (May 21-May 24): $75

Together we will flow, sweat, explore, partner, create, and converse through technique, repertory, improvisation, and collaborative process. Participants will experience movement inspired by recent RJDT works, including Grounds, while diving into their own creative ideas.

Body Mind Centering

Body Mind Centering Class: May 24 at 10:30am
Please call 612-432-1512 to RSVP.
Instructor: Jennifer Arave
At the Ivy Building.

This month it will be a touch class. It’s about using touch as a catalyst for listening to the rhythms and hints of the body. What can we learn by listening to the non-verbal vibrations and pulsations? What is the body trying to tell us? Can we begin touch without expectation, and can we remain in the question and allow the body to reveal itself?  What if we touch other living things? What can we learn by touching an animal? What about a tree? What do we learn from touching a tree? Can we pick up on its vibrations? Are we sensing its language and truly remaining with our questions? What can we learn without having to name?

We will begin with sensing into our cellular selves and movement.

Bring weather-appropriate clothes that you might need to work outside for about 20-30 minutes. We will begin inside.

Quick Study: A Series of Dance Experiments

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.

Each performance includes dancing, direct address, and a couple informal experiments. Audience participation is voluntary. Shows are approximately 30 minutes long—just a quick study.

Wednesdays of May 27, June 24, and July 29 at 7:00pm
All shows are free. Attend one night or all three—each show is different! Seating is first-come, first-served.

Works-in-Progress 30: DejaJoelle, Kat Purcell

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.

The 2026 artists bring varied approaches to performance processes—calling on dance, installation, sound, storytelling, textile, devising, satire, meditation, personal narratives and more—with a shared commitment to questioning artistic form and challenging dominant culture. Their works traverse themes including community distress and bodily peace, global conflict, grounding, absurdity, grief, desire, threads and uprising. They explore these themes through dance, sound, assemblage, multimedia installation, celebration and satire.

DejaJoelle: Spiritual Interlude
DejaJoelle is a Black Centered Healing Artist, Choreographer, Director, and Cultural Healing Curator. She believes Dance serves as our connection to ourselves, our communities, and our overall Divinity. DejaJoelle creates Sacred Black Space to discover ancestral/intuitive Rituals and Practices that move toward Healing using Dance, Body Reclamation, and Revolutionary Love Practices.

Kat Purcell: un//be//done
In collaboration with The People’s Closet and an ensemble of six players, not a fashion show, a bricolage of discards and further distressed, the deconstruction of categories for new assemblies, the questioning of garbage, and being okay with ends (of threads).
Kat Purcell is a nonbinary transexual performer, lighting designer, experimental producer, installation artist and anarchist pursuing the work of cultivating new/old formations of community inter-dependence alongside many incredible caregivers and culture bearers.

Thursday, May 28 at 7:00pm — requires masks and offers a discount to our Elders 70+
Friday, May 29 at 7:00pm — post-performance engagement, ASL interpretation
Saturday, May 30 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.

Zenon Dance Zone and Block Z Spring Showcase

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
Location: Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts
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.

Contemplative Dance Practice

Tamin Totzke and Lindsay Forsythe are facilitating a 3-hour Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP), consisting of three 1-hour cycles: 15/20/25 minute format, back-to-back, with no pauses in between. CDP is a meditation-based movement practice developed by Barbara Dilley, and cultivates present-moment awareness, spontaneous movement, and group awareness. Please read this link to learn more details. 

Saturday, May 30 from 12:30-4:00pm
Location: Center For Performing Arts, Chapel Studio
$10-20 suggested

A chime will begin the practice promptly at 1:00pm. The extra half hour allows time for opening and closing circles. We request that you do not enter mid-practice, however you may begin the first cycle with the group and leave thereafter if needed. Bring a cushion for comfort if you wish—a limited number will be provided. All are welcome.

Threads Seeks Company Members for 2026-27 Season

Threads Dance Project is seeking a diverse group of dancers ages 21+ who are versatile, expressive, quick learners, and fluent in a variety of dance forms.

Audition: Saturday, June 17, 9:00am-12:30pm
Registration and self-warm-up: 9:00-9:30am
Audition: 9:30am-12:30pm
At Threads Dance Nexus.

Registration: Dancers are encouraged to pre-register by Wednesday, June 24, and upload a headshot and resume via the Google Form. In-person registration will also be available, but we prefer interested dancers to pre-register online. 

A virtual audition format is available upon request; however, in-person auditions are preferred. Virtual auditions must be arranged with the Rehearsal Manager, Maddy Harper, by Monday, June 1, and virtual audition materials must be submitted no later than Friday, June 12. Please email Maddy at mharper@threadsdance.org for additional information on virtual auditions or for any other audition/registration questions.