Time Piece – Presented by Zorongo Flamenco and the Flying Foot Forum

Time Piece is a moment of convergence between Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre, the Flying Foot Forum, and Katha Dance Theatre bringing the punch, power, and poetry of the human heart and human nature to the matter of time. Each company brings its earthy folk roots and deep connections to their forms while expanding and expressing a creativity that still rings true in these complex modern times. The evening will also include collaborations between these three remarkable percussive dance powerhouse companies, finding new flavors and powers within this melange.

May 8-11 and 15-18
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Sundays at 2:00pm
Location: Park Square Theatre — Andy Boss Thrust Stage
Tickets: $20-$30 plus fees

World premieres include Flying Foot Forum’s “Dandelions or How to Love Your Life”—a romantic, poetic, musical, meditative, extravaganza in nature with live music by Joe Chvala, Karla Grotting, Molly Kay Stoltz, Brandyn Tapio, and Anthony van de Ligt. Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre will premiere “Amor de Dios”, about the stolen babies of Spain, with live flamenco music by Ben Abrahamson, Alfonso Cid, and Tessa Nichols-Meade. Zorongo Flamenco’s Company will also re-stage a favorite traditional flamenco piece, “Jaleos”, choreographed by La Conja. Katha Dance Theatre’s “Rhythms of the Soul: A Kathak Odyssey” is a captivating performance that celebrates the art of Kathak, a classical Indian dance form. Katha Dance Theatre brings its mesmerizing, precise, and pulsating footwork, working against its graceful and detailed carriage, articulate hands, and expressiveness to create peak storytelling in this vibrant and bold evening of thrilling percussive dance works.

Young Dance Performing Company at Luminary

We invite you to witness the Young Dance company explore Inner Connectivity, Outer Expressivity, a concept drawn from the work of Rudolf Laban and Irmgard Bartenieff, onstage May 9-11 at Luminary Arts Center.

This collection of dance works explores the vital link between our inner world—thoughts and feelings—and physical expression. By cultivating this inner harmony, we unlock greater ease and authenticity in communicating ourselves to the world.

The performance features work by guest choreographers Lainey Lee, Gretchen Pick, Judee Shuǐ Xiān, and Laurie Van Wieren. Dancers from Young Dance’s All Abilities Dancing 2, Breaking 2, Hip Hop 2, Modern 4, and Choreography classes will also present work on this program.

Performances:
Friday, May 9 at 7:00pm — audio described
Saturday, May 10 at 7:00pm — ASL interpreted
Sunday, May 11 at 5:00pm

The Young Dance company is a group of passionate dancers committed to exploring themselves and their world through dance. Dancers ages 7-18 work with professional artists to investigate and collaborate on choreography related to the year’s theme and present their work in a high-quality, innovative performance.

Threads Dance Project: Adult Beginning Modern Workshop

Discover the fundamentals of modern dance in a welcoming and supportive environment. This six-week series introduces key techniques such as floor work, center exercises, and basic movement phrases, helping students build strength, coordination, and creative expression.

Designed for beginners and those looking to deepen their confidence in movement, this session is an extension of the early spring series but remains open to new learners.

Registration closes on Sunday, May 11.

Adult Beginning Modern Workshop:
Mondays, 5:30-7:00pm
May 5-June 16; No class on Memorial Day (May 26).
Instructor: Lily Conforti
Cost: $135

Cedarbacke II Performance

Welcome to HoneyWork’s Cedarbacke II! This work-in-progress showing is an extension of Cedarbacke I, which premiered April 2023. Now, two years later, with a new cast and setting, we’re presenting what’s in the works for the next chapter of this three part project.

Thursday, May 15 at 5:30pm and 7:00pm
Tickets: $15-$50

Join us at the Tek Box at Hennepin Center for the Arts for a night you won’t want to miss. Come and experience the magic of Cedarbacke II. See you there!

This activity is funded, in part, by an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund.

Ballet Co.Laboratory’s An American in Paris

Sway through the streets of 1950s Paris with Peter Davison’s An American in Paris. This ballet is inspired by the musical starring Gene Kelly and set to memorable George Gershwin melodies, such as “I Got Rhythm.” Follow along as Jerry, our aspiring American painter, works to succeed in both art and love.

Choreographed by Peter Davison and performed by The Company and School of Ballet Co.Laboratory.

Friday, May 16 at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 17 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Sunday, May 18 at 2:00pm

Tickets:
Adults: $40
Seniors: $35
Children/Students:$30
Group (15+ tickets to the same performance): $35

ARENA DANCES/Walker Art Center: Only the perverse fantasy can still save us

A major new work from Minnesota-based choreographer Mathew Janczewski interrogates binaries and asks how creative repression changes us. After receiving a diagnosis of leukemia, Janczewski learned that his condition was caused by the mutation of a single chromosome. For him, the experience brought new resonance to artist Matthew Barney’s epic five-film The Cremaster Cycle (1994–2002), which considers the embryonic stages of sexual differentiation—another biologically determined process that shapes our lives. Only the perverse fantasy can still save us takes inspiration from Barney and features an original score by Minnesota-based composer Joshua Clausen.

May 16-17 at 7:30pm
McGuire Theater
Tickets are $15-$35, fees included.

Only the perverse fantasy can still save us is commissioned by the Walker Art Center.

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.

Photo by Galen Higgins

ORACLE – A Spellbinding Outdoor Experience Forged in Dance, Music, and Fire

ORACLE is an awe-inspiring outdoor theatrical experience transporting audiences to a realm where nature, myth, and art collide. Experience the myth and majesty of Ancient Greece as critically acclaimed Vox Medusa, in collaboration with Infiammati FireCircus, ignites the stage this May with ORACLE! This mesmerizing fusion of mythology, dance, music, theatre and fire performance is set against the enchanting backdrop of Caponi Art Park’s Theater in the Woods.

ORACLE is a stunning outdoor theatrical experience, blending haunting electronic music, riveting contemporary dance, electrifying breakdance, soul-stirring choral arrangements, vibrant light design, and heart-pounding fire performance. This outdoor spectacle revives the ancient traditions of the Oracle of Delphi through six spellbinding performances, created by a stunningly talented 28-member ensemble​, where every moment unfolds under a canopy of lush trees.

Rediscover the Oracle’s tale through a modern lens, as ORACLE reimagines the story of Delphi’s High Priestess on the fateful day Apollo lays siege to her temple. The Oracle’s voice, once a channel of wisdom and prophecy from Mother Earth (Gaea), is challenged by Apollo’s ambition. This epic tale, told from the Oracle’s perspective, follows her courageous fight to preserve her power, her legacy, and her role as a symbol of feminine strength.

Do you have a burning question for the Oracle? Your questions may be drawn by the Oracle and included in the show! Audience members may also create an offering of what they wish to let go of. These offerings will be burned by the Priestesses during the performance.

For 30 years Vox Medusa continues to find an endless well of inspiration from feminist mythology, in both muse of creativity and mission to bring awareness to domestic violence and assault. All survivors of Domestic Violence and or Assault  and those who have benefited from Minnesota women’s shelters, please contact Vox Medusa at voxmedusadance@gmail.com for a VIP experience at ORACLE.

ORACLE 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.

TU Dance: 2025 Student Spring Showcase and CULTIVATE, A Trainee Program

Join us for TU Dance’s annual Spring Showcase featuring students from The School at TU Dance Center, dancers from CULTIVATE, A Trainee Program, and students from TU Dance partner school, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.

The program will include CULTIVATE trainees’ self-choreographed solos as well as a work entitled “ALLHIMOD” by Yusha-Marie Sorzano. Students from the Children & Teen and Pre-Professional Programs will share technique demonstrations in modern, ballet, hip hop and African dance as well as perform in works by TU Dance Center teaching artists Sa’Nah Britt, Davente Gilreath, Suzette Gilreath, Tumelo Khupe and Anna Pinault. Please join us in celebrating these inspiring dancers and their dedication!

Friday, May 16 at 7:00pm  
Saturday, May 17 at 1:00pm and 6:00pm
Sunday, May 18 at 1:00pm 
Location: Barbara Barker Center for Dance—Studio 100
Tickets: $22 for adults; $12 for children 3 and older (General Admission, in-person only)

Matinee performances will include all students from the Children & Teen Program (except Creative Movement), Pre-Professional Program, CULTIVATE, A Trainee Program and students from TU Dance partner school, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.
Evening performances will include Teen, Pre-Professional Program and CULTIVATE, A Trainee Program.
Saturday’s performances will be accompanied by a bake sale, all proceeds help support the production of the Spring Showcase.

Intensive Audition/Master Class with Kirill Bak-Stepanoff

Train with Ballet Master Kirill Bak-Stepanoff on Sunday, May 18.

Minnesota Ballet Theatre and School (MBS) invites aspiring dancers to a special master class and audition led by Kirill Bak-Stepanoff — former soloist with Eifman Ballet and dancer with the Mikhailovsky Theatre, graduate of the prestigious Vaganova Ballet Academy, and Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Minnesota Ballet Theatre and School.

This event offers a rare opportunity for dancers ages 9-18+ to experience world-class training while auditioning for MBS 2025 Summer Ballet Intensive, a program designed to inspire, challenge, and elevate each student’s artistry.

Word Dances: Poetry in Motion

Word Dances: Poetry in Motion is a unique fusion of poetry, music, and modern dance that evokes the joys and sorrows of life, offers renewed hope, and kindles a sense of wellbeing and joy.

The performance is based on the book, Time to Soar: Word Dances and Bird Songs for Every Season, written by poet-dancer Katie Bruckbauer of Fargo, North Dakota and illustrated by Mary Jo Savageau of Bismarck, North Dakota. With birds as guides, the poetry brings messages of healing, harmony, and hope.

Sunday, May 18 at 2:00pm
Tickets: $15 for adults, $10 for students

Choreographers Bruckbauer and Barb Wieland of Park Rapids, Minnesota, accompanied by a small ensemble of dancers, bring the poetry to life onstage. Viewers have called Poetry in Motion “brilliant” and “life altering.”