Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes, and Open Houses

The aerial branch of Sandbox—The Swingset—is again taking flight. Thanks to the generosity of the Minnesota Regional Arts Council, we are able to offer these free beginner aerial trainings. This training is for anyone! We love to use aerial arts to explore story and to feel playfully powerful. Come play and surprise yourself.

You’ll be guided with one-on-one instruction by our resident aerialist Evie Digirolamo who has trained and choreographed performers in the aerial theater productions: Little Pilot, Houdini, Bone Mother, The Matrix (for the 5/5 Fringe Fundraiser), Snow Queen, and Charlotte’s Web. Evie believes you are the expert of you and loves to find adaptations for each person that feel exciting and empowering, and she insists that you’ll be surprised by what you can do.

Tuesday, April 7—Monday, May 18
Different class times between 7:00-9:00pm

Dates through May 5 are currently open for folks to reserve a spot in advance. Class size will be kept small because we will only be working with one person at a time on one aerial silk. Each class will keep 5 spots available for walk-ups. May 16 and May 18 are going to be longer workshops with exploring how aerial silks can be used theatrically. Past explorations have included depicting setting, emotional journeys, relationship dynamics, projections, puppetry and clowning.

You can find the google form to reserve a spot or in our bio on Instagram. You will receive an email informing you if your reservation is confirmed or if we are full. Reserve your spot today! Young folks welcome as well, but will need to be accompanied by a guardian who can sign a waiver for them to participate.

We’re also very excited to be hosted by 825Arts and connecting with their vibrant arts community! Hope to see you there!

Join guest artists Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag for a Community Class at TU Dance Center.

Engage your body through the rich, expressive movement of legendary choreographer Robert K. Brown with a Community Class at TU Dance, led by Brown himself alongside Arcell Cabuag—associate artistic director of Brown’s EVIDENCE, A Dance Company. This 90-minute class will incorporate the varied influences found within Brown’s work, fusing Western dance styles with the traditional rhythms and social dances of West Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S.

Community Class: Thursday, April 16, 9:30-11:00am
Location: TU Dance Center
Cost: $20 — registration is required.

This class is designed for all ages and experience levels, including beginners.

This 90-minute class is intended for intermediate/advanced dancers and will focus on Horton technique—the foundation of many of Alvin Ailey’s works, including “Revelations”. This class, available to participants thanks to a partnership between Northrop and TU Dance, will be led by Alvin Ailey company dancer, Yannick Lebrun, and will begin with warm-up exercises, followed by combinations at the center and across the floor that integrate Horton studies, such as lateral stretches, stags and more. 

Saturday, April 18 from 10:00-11:30am
Location: TU Dance Center
Cost: $20 — This class is free for University of Minnesota students, faculty and staff. This class has a capacity of 34 students and registration is required.

Participants will receive a 50% off discount code to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance on Saturday, April 18, 7:30pm or Sunday, April 19, 2:00pm at Northrop.

Developed by Jinza Thayer and Rush Dorsett of EmbodiedVoice®, Vocal Dance integrates vocalizations and movement to unlock new creative potential!

This is one workshop spread across 3 days: Friday, April 24—Sunday, April 26.
Please register for the first day, and your registration fee will cover all 3 days.

Schedule
Friday, April 24 from 1:00-3:00pm
Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 from 10:00am-2:00pm

What will we do during the workshop?

• Explore Vocal Dance as a performance and healing modality
• Use the vibration of sound to open, access, and align various parts of the body
• Inhabit the voice and body with greater presence and precision
• Learn the anatomy of the vocal apparatus, head, and neck
• Sing songs of resilience and community

If you have any questions, please email movementarchitecture163@gmail.com.

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. Because of this support, this workshop is able to be offered at a low cost.

Join us for a day of exploration, as we guide you through exercises that combine the language of modern dance and physical theatre to open up new generative pathways at SOMA Studios in the Grain Belt Bottling building.

Start Here: A Loom Lab Workshop on Devising Across Disciplines
Saturday, April 25, 10:00am-4:00pm
We will take a 45-minute lunch break, as well as breaks throughout.
We recommend bringing water, snacks, and knee pads if you have them.
Sliding scale $50-$100; reach out to obriencalm57@gmail.com if cost is a barrier.

Loom Lab is a collaboration between movement artist Re Edahl and theatre artist Cal O’Brien. Founded in 2017 and born of a desire to create truly interdisciplinary work, Loom Lab uses devising as a frame upon which to weave stories, finding our voice at the intersection of genre, identity, and form. Our desire to devise new work is emergent of our commitment to process and development.​

We strive to facilitate a space that emphasizes care and maintains an awareness of the world beyond the walls of a studio. Guided by the belief that development processes can and should be joyful, we recognize that artists are humans with full lives and that everyone’s time and lived experience are deeply valuable.

With our collective experience in dance, theatre, film, stage combat, independent production, and the development of new works, we are eager to expand our community of collaborators of all mediums.

Lucid Movement is a guided practice where we move, write, draw, and create together with the aim to explore ideas and themes through our creative intuition. As facilitators we draw on our backgrounds in yoga, Alexander Technique, and devised theater.

For us, it’s a practice that brings joy, curiosity, and discovery. How often as adults are we invited to play? How often do we get to explore movement as a way of knowing?

Sunday, April 26 from 2:00-4:00pm
Register here!

Lucid Movement is donation-based with a suggested donation of $25-$35. This helps cover the space, time, and supplies for the practice. Please choose any amount that is sustainable for you, and if you are ever in a place where you just need to receive, please still come!

Meet the Facilitators:

Sarah Zuber (E-RYT 500, YACEP) works as a trauma informed yoga teacher in a clinical setting, is a mover and artist, a singer and somatic educator. She has been a registered yoga teacher since 2013 and is in her final few months of Alexander Technique Teacher training with Soma Studios/Joe Krienke, with anticipated graduation in June 2025. She loves supporting her students to expand their sensory awareness and present moment experience, undo patterns of tension and imbalance, and to embody their most essential expressive self. Sarah also loves gardening and learning about plants, hiking with her dog Clover, reading, and making music and art and community with others.

Evie Digirolamo (she/they) is a physical theater practitioner and teaching artist based in the Twin Cities, and they have been making spaces for health equity through the arts for over 15 years. She has practiced with Sandbox Theatre since 2012 where they use generative practices and collaborative process to create new work. Evie also founded the aerial theater The Swingset, which explores dynamic movement as storytelling and empowerment. As a teaching artist, she has received training in drama therapy techniques and uses expressive arts to communally practice expanding: access, advocacy, bodily autonomy, balanced relationships, personal boundaries, healthy risk taking, process grief and change, and spread the joy of expressing ourselves together. The Art of Relationships curriculum she wrote in collaboration with Upstream Arts is used in schools and day centers all over the metro area.

This workshop is part of the Art Nosh Spring Workshop Series, produced by the Insomnia Salon. Art Nosh workshops are creative cross-training for artists to nourish their development. Art Nosh offers opportunities to dancers to inform their dance practice through a collaborative multidisciplinary lens, with the goal of further inspiring their dance work and broadening their community of potential collaborators.

Loss and life’s unexpected challenges can leave emotional cracks that feel difficult to mend. Inspired by the Japanese art form of Kintsugi, we’ll uncover the beauty in the scars through this hands-on workshop. We will transform broken pieces into a new creation, highlighting the unexpected opportunities imperfection provides.

This project is supported by Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council, a program of the Minnesota JCC.

Friday, May 8—Sunday, May 10
Friday, 3:00-8:00pm
Saturday, 11:30am-7:30pm
Sunday, 9:30am-6pm

Fee: $599 + $120 materials ($649 after April 18)
Prerequisites: Mat 1 and Reformer 1

Balanced Body® Pilates Chair and Barrels Instructor Training: This weekend module encompasses both the Pilates Chairs and the Pilates Barrels courses. The Pilates chair is great for strengthening athletic clients, and as an addition to group programming. The chair can be used to incorporate standing and upright core work into a client’s studio experience. This course includes exercises, programming, and variations for the original Wunda Chair, the EXO Chair, and the split pedal Combo Chair.

This module also includes exercises and variations for the Step Barrel, which is a great addition to group classes, and the Ladder Barrel, most commonly used in a studio setting. Both are excellent tools for enhancing spinal mobility and core strength.

Instructor: Matthew Hodge-Rice

Come move in the classical modern world of the Jose Limón Technique and Repertory taught by current Limón  company members Joey Columbus and Mariah Gravelin. Then, dive into the athletic and flying contemporary dance styles and Repertory of Carl Flink’s Black Label Movement. This 5-day workshop offers participants rigorous, 8-hour days that will challenge and delight those looking to deepen their artistic and physical practice in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota—one of the United States most dynamic dance communities.

Through this residencies, Carl Flink, a former member of the Limón Dance Company and Endorsed Limón Technique Expert Teaching Faculty member, seeks to facilitate participants discovering the intersections between the Limón Technique and his own choreographic exploration with Black Label Movement.

Tuesday, May 26—Saturday, May 30

Daily Schedule
8:45-10:15am: Limón Technique
10:15-10:30am: Break
10:30am-12:30pm: Limón Repertory – Missa Brevis
12:30-1:00pm: Lunch
1:00-2:15pm: Black Label Technique
2:15-2:25pm: Break
2:25-4:30pm: Black Label Movement Repertory – Carl Flink’s Riding the Maelstrom

Special Events
Tuesday, May 26, 4:45-6:00pm: Day One Mixer
Thursday, May 28, 4:45-6:00pm: Repertory Video Watch
Friday, May 29, 4:45-6:00pm: Layers of Touch Partnering Workshop
Saturday, May 30, 5:00-5:45pm: Public Sharing of Work

If you are in need of a partial financial scholarship please email sherisa@blacklabelmovement.com to request options.

Minnesota Dance Theatre’s (MDT) Summer Program is designed to expand upon MDT’s classical ballet-based curriculum, seamlessly integrating contemporary dance styles, innovative choreography, and classical repertoire in a conservatory-type setting. All classes are led by the esteemed MDT faculty and exciting guest teachers, with live piano accompaniment enriching most classes.

All classes are aimed at dancers who have mastered the fundamentals of ballet technique. Classes will include: ballet technique, pre-pointe, pointe, men’s repertoire, choreography, contemporary, partnering, jazz, character, strength and conditioning, and more.

Session Dates: Monday, June 15-Thursday, July 2
Week 1: Monday, June 15-Friday, June 19
Week 2: Monday, June 22-Friday, June 26
Week 3: Monday, June 29-Thursday, July 2

The 2026 Summer Program is divided into 3 levels:
Level 1: Ages 8-10
Level 2: Ages 11-13
Level 3: Ages 14-18

Please register for the level that coincides with your dancer’s age. Please note that placement classes will occur every Monday of each week, and that level placement is subject to change. Class sizes will be limited.

Registration is open until Monday, May 18. For more information regarding guest teachers, sample schedule, and discounts, please visit mndance.org/summer-program.

In these fun-filled weeklong camps, young dancers discover the joy of movement, music, and imagination. Students enhance their coordination, develop fundamental dance skills, and challenge their brains in learning basic choreography!

Ballet classes are held daily in the morning, and are supplemented with afternoon jazz classes, choreography, themed arts and crafts, stretching and conditioning, story time, dance media, and more. An end-of-week showing for parents and families gives dancers a “performance” opportunity to share all they have learned throughout the week!

July 6-10: Theme is “Adventures at Sea”
August 3-7: Theme is “Forest Creatures”

Schedule: Monday-Friday
Half-day: 9:30am-12:30pm
Full-day: 9:30am-3:00pm

The Young Children’s Summer Program is divided into three classes by age:
4 year olds (half-days only)
5-6 year olds (full and half-days available)
6-7 year olds (full and half-days available)

Registration is open until Monday, May 18. For more information regarding schedule, instructors, and pricing, please visit mndance.org/summer-program.

Improve your technique and advance your artistry in a positive and welcoming environment with one of the top dance companies in the Twin Cities!

Classes in our Summer Dance Intensive are taught by multiple instructors and include Musical Theatre Jazz, Classic Jazz Technique, Ballet, Leaps and Turns, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, and more. Students may register for one or both weeks: July 13-17 and/or July 20-24. Classes are taught by multiple instructors from 9:30am-3:30pm each week.

The Intensive culminates with our Collide Showcase. Video will be taken so dancers have a professional-grade copy to use for future auditions and submissions. Local students are also invited to perform excerpts from the Intensive at the Minnesota State Fair in August!

Open to intermediate and advanced dancers ages 12+. Advanced placement requires a referral from a teacher or Collide company member. In lieu of a referral, the student may submit a 2-minute video. Please send the video or referral name and contact information to education@collidetheatrical.org.

Beginning this summer, Young Dance will host a 120-hour DanceAbility Teacher Certification for anyone interested in teaching integrated groups in dance, improvisation and movements arts.

Facilitated by DanceAbility Master Trainer, Michaela Knox, this course prepares participants to teach DanceAbility classes for any population, to create mixed-abilities dance choreography, and provide leadership and development skills that can enable participants to create organizations in their own communities.

The certification is taught in three modules:
Module 1: July 14-17 and 20-23 (break for the weekend)
Module 2: October 15-18
Module 3 (2027):  July 7-9 and 12-16 (break for the weekend)

Registration is now open! Cost is $1,600 for all three modules. A $50 deposit is required at the time of registration to secure your spot. However, Young Dance is committed to making this program financially accessible to participants. If you indicate on your registration form that you are in need of financial assistance or require a payment plan, we will reach out to you to discuss options.

Young Dance is a nonprofit dance school located in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul. Our mission is to transform lives through movement. Our approach to dance education centers on artistic expression, creativity, and a deep investigation into the art form. In exploring elements of Body, Action, Space, Time, and Energy through an array of techniques, students develop self-awareness and critical thinking skills through dance.

We are an inclusive community where creativity flourishes, encouraging personal and artistic excellence through diverse forms of dance. At Young Dance, we believe that everyone can (and should) dance.

The TU Dance Intermediate and Advanced Program is an intensive course of study integrating modern, ballet, African dance, and creative workshops for students ages 11-24.

For level placement, please contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708. Placement can be done by attending an in-person class (by appointment only, a class fee applies) or by submitting a video link (modern and ballet phrase), or during the first day of classes of the intensive.

To register, please complete the four-step registration process:

• Please find the online pre-registration below under the specific level you are interested in and select a payment option.
• Make a tuition payment in full or by selecting a payment plan. If requesting a payment plan, please submit the Summer 2026 Payment Plan Form and submit a 2026 Intermediate Summer Intensive online registration form or 2026 Advanced Summer Intensive online registration form.

Registration Deadlines:
Youth and Teen Intermediate Levels: July 3
Advanced Level: July 31 (single-week registration available)

Full and partial scholarships available. Contact us at education@tudance.orgor (651) 724-9708 for more information.

The TU Dance Children and Teen Program introduces the joy of creative movement and beginning dance technique. Classes, divided by age, provide a comprehensive base on which to expand by developing body awareness, coordination, balance, flexibility, strength and musicality.

For questions and level placement, please contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708.

To register, please complete the four-step registration process:

• Please find the online pre-registration below under the specific level you are interested in and select a payment option.
• Make a tuition payment in full or by selecting a payment plan. If requesting a payment plan, please submit the Summer 2026 Payment Plan Form and submit a 2026 Creative Movement and Beginning Level Summer Program online registration form.

Registration Deadlines:
Creative Movement: July 31
Beginning Youth and Teen: June 12

Full or partial scholarships are available. Contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708 for more information.