Critical Mass: Professional Dance Companies at the University of Minnesota

The much-lauded University of Minnesota Dance Program hosts an American College Dance Festival Association Conference this week. The U of M faculty will be strutting their stuff for visiting students and faculty in a free concert, featuring work by a diverse group of artists with national as well as local chops. Department of Theatre Arts and Dance Chair Carl Flink's Black Label Movement will perform his "Lost Lullabies," a work of raw physicality that responds to the U.S.'s involvement in ongoing wars. Dance program director Ananya Chatterjea's Ananya Dance Theater presents excerpts from "Duurbaar," a fiercely feminist look at the struggles of women in India for social justice. On a lighter note, Mathew Janczewski's "run with me" features fast-paced fun with a quartet of women in electric-blue gowns, and Joe Chvala peppers the boards with his inventive percussive dance/theater. Other works include offerings from Joanie Smith's Shapiro and Smith Dance, Toni Pierce Sands's TU Dance, Paul Mann's Time Track Productions, and Morgan Thorson. The cost of a ticket? Zero. Being there? Priceless.
Wed., March 18, 7:30 p.m., 2009