Dance Like Everyone’s Watching

Twin Cities dancers find a home at the Cowles Center for Dance & Performing Arts

Image credit: Photo by Drew Kerr

By: Morgan Halaska

Perhaps you were witness to the flash mobs on Nicollet Mall. Or maybe you’ve walked past the glimmering marquee on Hennepin Avenue at night.

Either way, it’s increasingly evident that dancers have found a home in Minneapolis.

It’s called the Cowles Center for Dance & Performing Arts and, after years of intense labor, it opens this weekend with three nights of community and dance.

Friday and Saturday evenings are black-tie galas featuring toe-tapper Savion Glover, Clifton Brown, the Minnesota Dance Theatre and the James Sewell Ballet are among the performers.

On Sunday, the community is invited to an open house that will give visitors a chance to roam through the Cowles’ assets: the Hennepin Center for the Arts, the newly refurbished Goodale Theater, the Target Education Studio and the U.S. Bank Atrium.

On-stage performances will also run throughout the day featuring Matthew Janczewski’s ARENA DANCES, James Sewell Ballet, Gretchen Larson and Friends, Buckets and Tap Shoes, Shapiro & Smith Dance Company and Green Tea Productions, the winners of The Cowles Center Groundbreaker Battle.

The dancing won’t be reserved just for the professionals, either: 40-minute workshops in Middle Eastern dance, African dance, hip-hop and tap will be offered as part of the event.

For Frank Sonntag, the Cowles Center’s executive director, the  weekend events underscore the idea that the new space is more than just a building. 

The Cowles Center, he says, should serve to elevate the entire Twin Cities’ dancing community, which has previously been scattered at locations around the region.    

“The center will raise the level for dance in the city, to that which has been enjoyed by music and theater already,” Sonntag says.

For Minneapolis dancers – and those who enjoy their work – it’s good to have a home.

The Cowles Center Community Day is on Sunday, Sept. 11 from 11 a.m.to 5 p.m. Gala performances are at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 9 and 10. Friday night’s performance is sold out, but a limited number of tickets priced at $150 are still available for Saturday by calling 612.206.3621.