Performances and Events

Dances at the Lake returns for its 24th annual season on Friday and Saturday, July 17 and 18, at 7:00pm at the Lyndale Rose Gardens near Lake Harriet. This free outdoor dance concert features two evenings of performances by professional and student dancers in one of Minneapolis’s most scenic settings. The event showcases the vibrancy of the Twin Cities dance community while providing free access to professional-quality performing arts. Guests are encouraged to bring picnics, lawn chairs and/or blankets.

This year’s selected choreographers include Aileen Norris and Daniel Grove, Anda Flamenco, Christopher Watson Dance Company, Cultivate Dance Collaborative, Javan Mngrezzo, KASM Dance Collective, Kinetic Evolutions Dance Company, Mary Willmeng, Minnesota Ballet Collective, Ray Terrill Dance Group, Remnant Dance Conservatory – Romero Cannady, Sansei Yonsei Kai, and 8:20 Dance Company.

Dances at the Lake is presented by KASM Dance Collective.

Rhythmically Speaking (RS) is hard at work on our 18th annual summer show Groovers & Makers 2026, and we’re fortunate enough to be working with tap choreographer Alexis Robbins/kamrDANCE, a visiting artist with a company based in New Haven, Connecticut. We’d love to share with you what she’s creating with us, so we invite you to come get a sneak peek of her new work for the company.

Saturday, July 18 from 3:00-3:30pm
Location: BallareTeatro

Come get a taste of what we’ve been cooking up before catching the whole show at the end of July!

This activity is made possible in part by the Bridge Fund for Dance program through the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.

On July 23, Strip away the big stages and experience flamenco exactly how it was born: up close, raw, and intensely connected.

Flamenco Íntimo welcomes you into the setting of a traditional Spanish tablao—an intimate space where art thrives on personal connection rather than spectacle. World-class guest musicians join forces with a celebrated guitarist and three powerhouse dancers in a spontaneous dialogue of gesture, rhythm, and movement. Together, they shape the performance in real time right before your eyes. Join us for an unforgettable evening of passion and artistry.

Thursday, July 23 at 7:30pm and 9:00pm
Book 7:30pm tickets here! 
Book 9:00pm tickets here!
Seating is limited.

Artists
Artistic Director: Deborah Elias
Guest Singer: José Cortés
Guest Guitarist: José Manuel Alconchel
Guitarist: Ross Fellrath
Dancers: Deborah Elias, Rachel Holmes, and Molly Kay Stoltz

This activity is supported, in part, by the City of St. Paul Cultural Sales Tax Revitalization Program.

On July 24, strip away the big stages and experience flamenco exactly how it was born: up close, raw, and intensely connected.

Flamenco Íntimo welcomes you into the setting of a traditional Spanish tablao—an intimate space where art thrives on personal connection rather than spectacle. World-class guest musicians join forces with a celebrated guitarist and three powerhouse dancers in a spontaneous dialogue of gesture, rhythm, and movement. Together, they shape the performance in real time right before your eyes. Join us for an unforgettable evening of passion and artistry.

Friday, July 24 at 8:00pm
Book your tickets here!

Artists
Artistic Director: Deborah Elias
Guest Singer: José Cortés
Guest Guitarist: José Manuel Alconchel
Dancers: Deborah Elias, Rachel Holmes, and Molly Kay Stoltz

Young Dance is excited to host a Regional Gathering on Dance Education and Disability: A Practice of Belonging, July 24-25, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. This convening is sponsored by Art Spark Texas with financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Part of a national series of gatherings supported by Art Spark Texas and the NEA, this two day event will bring together dance and arts educators, presenters, and creators for workshops, panel discussions, think tanks, and a performance as we explore ways we practice belonging through inclusive dance and dance education.

All events are free for participants and registration is now open!

Presenters and session topics include:

• Daniel Grove and Aileen Norris: Dreaming and Defying: Dynamic Disability in Dance
  
• Taja Will: Writing an Access Rider or Receiving One: Advocacy Tools
  
• Gretchen Pick: Writing Curriculum Think Tank
  
• Pushmakers: Pushing the Boundaries: Cultivating Community Leadership in Disability Dance (Virtual presentation)
  
• Petra Kuppers: Crip Drifts: An Eco Soma Sensing of Our Communal Space
  
• Curio Dance: Launching a Dance Troupe for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Collaboration Between an Occupational Therapist, Professional Dancer, and Self-Advocate
  
• Stephanie Heit: Mad Conductors
  
• Kairos Alive!: Kairos Alive! Dancing Heart™ Workshop: Neuro Arts and Nature
  
• Scott Artley Consulting: A Field Guide to Disability Models in the Wild: mental models of disability and how they shape the everyday practice of access
  
• Feel the Beat: Body Tapping: Rhythm You Can Feel
  
• Dreamstorming Access: A Creative Pedagogy Centering Access and Belonging
  
• Silva Laukkanen: 7 Word Sentences

For the full event schedule visit our website at https://youngdance.org/dance-disability/. Have questions? Reach out to Gretchen Pick at gretchen@youngdance.org.

This gathering also continues Art Spark Texas’ barrier-free dance education research, launched in 2021, and follows the national hybrid convening held in San Marcos, Texas (October 2024), focused on expanding access for people with disabilities. Learn more at: https://www.artsparkdance.org/refocusing-dance-education/.

As part of our Regional Gathering on Dance Education and Disability: A Practice of Belonging, Young Dance will host a public performance on Friday, July 24 at 7:30pm.

This free performance features artists from across the country who are working at the forefront of dance and disability. Performing artists/creators include:

Stephanie Heit 
Petra Kuppers
Daniel Grove
Anat Shinar
DreamStorming Access (Brian J. Evans, Michaela Knox, Kelsey Peterson, Gretchen Pick, Gabriel Rodreick) and more!

Performance information:

Friday, July 24 at 7:30pm
Location: St. Paul Ballet Studio 4
Free (donations accepted)
General Admission seating (limited seats), walk-in only

Part of a national series of gatherings supported by Art Spark Texas and the National Endowment for the Arts, this two-day gathering will bring together dance and arts educators, presenters, and creators for workshops, panel discussions, think tanks, and a performance as we explore ways we practice belonging through inclusive dance and dance education.

All events are free for participants. For the full event schedule and to register to attend, visit our website at https://youngdance.org/dance-disability/. Have questions? Reach out to Gretchen Pick at gretchen@youngdance.org.

This gathering also continues Art Spark Texas’ barrier-free dance education research, launched in 2021, and follows the national hybrid convening held in San Marcos, Texas (October 2024), focused on expanding access for people with disabilities. Learn more at: https://www.artsparkdance.org/refocusing-dance-education/.

Bringing dance to your local coffee shop, Ruby Josephine Dance Theater’s (RJDT) Grounds explores spaces where we experience moments of ordinary and extraordinary human connection.

First meetings, debates, routines, confessions, arguments, plots, and daydreams. Around a shared cup of coffee, we gather and move together. At a Grounds pop-up, you will experience not just an up-close contemporary dance performance, but conversations with strangers, shared creative community, and a new way of experiencing a familiar place.

Monday, July 27 at 7:00pm
PILLLAR Forum Cafe and Bar
Tickets: Free/pay-as-able

This Cultural Districts Arts Fund activation is funded by the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.

Photo by The Studio Aura

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. This performance gathers the experiments and audience discoveries from the series into one last study.

Wednesday, July 29 at 7:00pm
Free. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Performance is about 30 minutes long – just a quick study.

Groovers & Makers 2026 unites a group of movers and shakers in jazz dance—the Rhythmically Speaking (RS) company dancers (the Groovers) and select local and visiting choreographers (the Makers)—to offer four inspiring takes on and via this vibrant art form.

Thursday, July 30 at 7:30pm
Friday, July 31 at 7:30pm — talk-back following show
Saturday, August 1 at 2:00pm — pay-as-able
Saturday, August 1 at 7:30pm

Location: The Southern Theater
Tickets here!

This 18th RS Summer production continues our annual tradition of commissioning new work by local choreographers while providing opportunities for dance artists based outside of Minnesota to show their work here. The show features new dances by Karla Grotting (local artist), Erinn Liebhard (RS Artistic and Executive Director), Maiya Redding (New York, NY) and Alexis Robbins (New Haven, CT), and will be performed by RS company members Malia Craft, Jayde Grass, Doug Hooker, Amy Jones, Sara Karimi, Erinn Liebhard, Kelli Miles, Shannon Mulcahy, Kathleen Pender and Betsy Schaefer-Roob.

The production runs a gamut of feelings and concepts while showing a breadth jazz and American social dance styles, creating meaning and community through shared elements of groove, interaction and improvisation. Come catch the vibes!

Dance Hang is a free Minnesota dance community coming together and sharing space, conversation, resources, works in progress, etc. Let’s just hang and see where conversation takes us, or come with your specific questions, concerns, or ideas.

Saturday, August 1, 12:00-2:00pm
RSVP by Friday, July 31.

In-Person: Hosted by Strange Loop Laboratory
1629 Hennepin Avenue, Ste 100, Minneapolis, MN 55403

Parking: Free parking under the bridge adjacent to the Basilica. Loring Corners spots are fair game, as well as any other spots. There are also meters on the street and a pay lot on Harmon Place. Strange Loop is between hi-fi hair and the Basilica (not in the alley, as some people’s Google sometimes brings them). Strange Loop’s door is the very first one on the right as you enter.

Virtual:
Join Zoom Meeting
Join Meeting Chat
Meeting ID: 815 2167 1235
Passcode: 520563

Do you like what ARENA Dances offers the community?

Raise a glass with us at Uncorked, ARENA DANCES’ wine tasting benefit, on Wednesday, August 12 at The Carlyle in downtown Minneapolis.

Your support helps make contemporary dance accessible through performances, arts education, Open ARENA classes, and community gatherings that connect more than 2,000 audience members, students, and participants each year.

Wednesday, August 12
Location: The Carlyle
5:30-6:30pm: Curated Wine Tasting Experience — $200/ticket
6:00-8:00pm: Sip & Social featuring pop-up performances, raffle, and more — $100/ticket

Hosted by Phil Johnson and Don Donahugh, Uncorked is an evening of great wine, lively conversation, and support for the future of contemporary dance.

Reserve your spot today—we’d love to celebrate with you!

Megan Mayer’s Resurrection Fern is a new dance supported by an inaugural 2025-2026 Bridge Fund for Dance grant from the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department that funded a 40 hour Development and Research Residency.

Resurrection Fern is:
A body resting across a skyline
A phone call to grief
A trio and an uninvited guest
A nostalgia for analog technology
A love letter to labor
A reflection of a sunsetting democracy

Tuesday, August 18 — one night only!
7:00-8:00pm
Doors open at 6:40pm
Location: Hennepin Arts, Downtown Minneapolis
Free, but RSVP so we can save your seat! Email pitchred@gmail.com for seats, exact location and parking information.

Featuring performers: Charles Campbell, Matt Regan, and Greg Waletski

This activity is made possible by the Bridge Fund for Dance program through the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.

Off-Leash Area celebrates the 10th anniversary of its popular Neighborhood Garage Tour community program, bringing original, professional dance and theater directly to Twin Cities neighborhoods. Just step out your front door, and join your neighbors at the show!

This year’s tour features a remount of Off-Leash Area’s magical and comical production, Stardust Rendezvous, in which three wayward space travelers from three remote galaxies simultaneously crash-land on an asteroid at the edge of nowhere. As they comically circumnavigate their wildly different cultures, will they finally come together to defy the gravity of their situation and succeed in a valiant attempt to shoot for the stars?!

Weekend 1 — Hosted by Erin Landers and Jonah Udall
Friday, September 11 at 7:00pm
Saturday, September 12 at 7:00pm — ASL Interpretation
St. Paul: 1380 Charles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104

Weekend 2 — Hosted by Christina Stensby
Friday, September 18 at 7:00pm — Audio Description
Saturday, September 19 at 7:00pm
Brooklyn Park: 6349 Rhode Island Avenue N, Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

Weekend 3 — Hosted by Larry Christian
Friday, September 25 at 7:00pm — ASL Interpretation and Audio Description
Saturday, September 26 at 7:00pm
South Minneapolis: 3524 34th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Weekend 4 — Hosted by Turbo Tim’s Anything Automotive Northeast
Friday, October 2 at 7:00pm
Saturday, October 3 at 7:00pm
Northeast: 2823 Central Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

Admission is by sliding scale with a $5-$30 suggested donation. Audience seating is fully accessible at all tour locations (restrooms have limited accessibility).

Stardust Rendezvous continues Off-Leash Area’s 27-year run of wildly imaginative, physically dynamic, visually striking, and award-winning work, and features choreography, script, music, projection design, lighting design, and performances all by Twin Cities artists. Additionally, with The Neighborhood Garage Tour program Off-Leash Area continues to center inclusion and access for artists and audiences of all abilities. Verbal and non-verbal communication will be artistically crafted as part of Stardust Rendezvous, weaving art-making and accessibility together. Featured on TPT’s MN Original program and Fox 9 News, Off-Leash Area’s Annual Neighborhood Garage Tour has delighted over 3600 Minnesotans of all ages with 120 performances of four original productions presented throughout the Twin Cities metro in 44 neighborhoods of 17 municipalities.

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.