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

Back by popular demand, Rhythmic Joy, is an invitation to explore the energy, rhythm, and cultural depth of African Diasporic dance forms. Davente Gilreath, guides participants through quick footwork, layered polyrhythms, step and drill combinations, and vibrant Caribbean influences. Centering the body’s connection to the earth, the class encourages dancers to move with grounded intention while exploring the fluid intersections between traditional and contemporary styles. Open to movers of all backgrounds, this experience offers both physical rigor and cultural resonance—celebrating the resilience and creativity of the African Diaspora.

Three Week Series
Wednesdays of February 11, 18, and 25 from 5:00–6:30pm
Instructor: Davente Gilreath

Recommended for: Adults at all levels of experience (including no experience!) who are looking for opportunities to move in community.
Pricing: The recommended price per session is $15, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds! Rhythmic Joy is a cumulative series, so we recommend signing up for all 3 90-minute sessions.

Accessibility: Please reach out to us at admin@ananyadancetheatre.org to request ASL interpretation, captioning, audio description, or any other accessibility service. We recommend making accessibility requests a minimum of 10 business days before the class or event you plan to attend.

Come join master class offerings with Shane Larson, choreographer, Bill T. Jones Company Dancer, and multimedia artist at The Arena.

Thursdays, February 12 and 19
Tuesday, February 17
Class is from 9:30-11:00am. $10-$17 per class, depending on package. Register here!

During class, we will build bottom to top, floor to standing, a modular class that deepens with task-based repetition. We are encouraged to learn by doing, strengthening and building new pathways with great music. Forms are created, deconstructed, and recycled—allowing us to swing through wild, challenging, and intellectual material.

Shane Larson is a New York City-based movement and multimedia artist whose work explores the intersections of memory, identity, and physicality. Raised in Minnesota, he received his early training at the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists under the direction of Maggie Bergeron before earning a BFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts under full scholarship, with a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. He also studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria.

Since moving to New York, Shane has collaborated across disciplines: punk musicians, filmmakers, improvisational music ensembles, and site-specific visual artists. In 2015, he joined the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, where he has performed over 20 works nationally and internationally, and led workshops and educational residencies across the country. He is also a recipient of a Bessie for outstanding choreography for his collaborative work in 2021’s Deep Blue Sea. In 2024, he was a fellow at Jacob’s Pillow for its inaugural Choreotech AI Lab and part of the NYU Production Lab Artist Development Cohort in 2025.

Beyond movement, Shane is a passionate multimedia artist, using video and sound design to re-contextualize personal environments. His work explores the play between emotion and perception, creating visual and audio experiences that unravel and reconstruct feelings between imagination and expectation.

Embodied Joy Workshop
Thursday, February 12 at 4:30pm

The February 12 workshop was planned for re-energizing. At this time of trauma and stress after the murder of Renee Nicole Good and occupation by ICE, this community is also in need of stress relief and trauma recovery.​

The session will pay extra attention to tensions held in the body because of this crisis, and developing healthy physical coping patterns to release trauma and move on to energized action. While there is a need to protest, it is also important to mind your physical well being in order to be able to take action.

Session starts at 4:30pm for gathering and reflection before moving on to release techniques and floor movement. Music will focus on African and Cuban traditions. We meet off of Minnehaha and 37th, at Zorongo Dance studio across from the Howe Restaurant (alley entrance).

No prior training is required. It is fine to come late! 

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)

In a time of deep unrest and pain here in Minnesota, we are called to remember that our own strength is part of our resistance. That to care for ourselves is to fuel the fight for a more just and compassionate world… for ourselves, for our neighbors, and for our collective future. And because we deserve to meet that work resourced, regulated, and rooted in our bodies.

Femme Fatale is a sacred space to gather, to breathe, to play, to embody our deepest resilience, and to honor the work and the wounds that shape us. Expect a fusion of classic jazz dance, gentle embodiment practices, and space to listen to your body and honor its wisdom.

Saturday, February 14, 3:00-5:00pm
Instructor: Rebecca Stewart
Price: $35

All movement levels are welcome. Please come as you are and wear what feels right (sweats, fishnets, barefoot, heels–whatever makes you feel powerful). Come tend your inner fire so it can keep burning.

Participants are welcome but not required to bring non-perishable grocery or household hygiene items for mutual aid efforts in Minneapolis.

A relaxing activity for all ages and experience.

Join TU Dance for Steps to Connect: A Line Dance Series, a fun and energetic session, ideal for beginners and experienced dancers alike! Our classes are designed to get you in community, connected, and moving. Themed line dance engagements may include 90s retro throwback, 70s boogie down disco fever, country chic, fit and funk, unwrapped and unfiltered, and dance like nobody’s watching!

6-Week Workshop
February 18-March 25
Wednesdays, 4:30-5:45pm
Young adults/adults 18+.
Cost: $90. Online registration required.
For more information about Hassan and to register, click here.

Hassan Ingraham, a Miami native, discovered dance at Charles R. Drew Middle School and refined his craft at the New World School of the Arts and The Juilliard School. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Hassan has worked with renowned artists like Alexander Ekman and Dwight Rhoden. A former dancer with TU Dance, he has also been a guest artist with various companies and taught at the Harlem School of the Arts. Hassan’s contemporary approach to ballet, modern, and jazz techniques encourages dancers to explore new possibilities and understand their anatomy efficiently.

Join us for Rhythm as Fun at TU Dance Center! An any level of dance for adults. Exploring different styles of rhythm with warm-up across the floor and center floor combination.

6-Week Workshop
February 19-March 26
Thursdays, 4:30-6:00pm
Cost: $95. Online registration required.
For more information about Julie and to register, click here.

Julie Warder began dancing with Uchawi African Dancers under the direction of Richard D. Thompson and training under Myron Johnson (Artistic Director of Ballet of The Dolls). Julie graduated with a BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she also trained with Philadanco and was a member of Leja Dance Theater for several years. Julie then danced the last few seasons with Ballet of The Dolls. Read more.

Friday, February 27—Sunday, March 1
Friday, 4:00-8:00pm
Saturday, 11:30am-6:00pm
Sunday, 9:30am-4:30pm

Fee: $549 + $60 materials
Prerequisites: Movement Principles, Reformer 1

Balanced Body® Reformer 2 Instructor Training expands the potential of the reformer with intermediate and advanced exercises and includes associated safety protocols and modifications. Reformer 2 also explores programs designed for specific populations including pre and post–natal clients, clients with osteoporosis, and clients with lower back issues. Class design, dynamic assessment and correcting common dysfunctional movement patterns are also included.

Instructor: Cari Riis Stemmler

How does imagery impact our perception of an olfactory narrative? Start this class by creating a watercolor painting. As it dries, we will dive into learning about scents. Then you will mix your own personal scent based on your watercolor art.

Exploring Scent’s Creative Capacity: Olfactory Experiments with Watercolor
Monday, March 2 from 12:00-1:00pm
Instructor: Mandy Forry

There is a suggested donation of $8-$25 per workshop, whatever you are able to contribute. 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.

Part of the Art Nosh Winter Workshop Series, produced by the Insomnia Salon. Art Nosh workshops are creative cross-training for artists to nourish their development.