Performing Arts
Sep 1, 2011
McQueen's Delicious Delirium
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre reflects on the "delicious delirium" of seeing the Metropolitan Museum of Art's recent NYC exhibition of the fashion, performance art, and fetish objects created by the late "hero-artist" Alexander McQueen, 'Savage Beauty."
Aug 24, 2011
A Pop-Up Space for Dance
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey Darst took in some dance at Soo VAC recently, featuring work by Kristin Van Loon, Katherine Hawthorne and Chris Schlichting. The pop-up show offered its own rewards, and she articulates them - but it also made her really miss the Southern.
Aug 12, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Longing for Qeej" by Iny Asian Dance Theatre
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey says you should go see "Longing for Qeej" - not for the usual "cultural blahblah" reasons - but for the glitter and incandescent smiles, and to encourage more working in these dance forms to make forays outside specifically Asian audiences.
Aug 10, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "The 612" by Rogues Gallery Arts
Christy DeSmith
Christy DeSmith had high hopes for this show after seeing the cheeky, local-music themed marketing postcard. While she liked "The 612" fine, it didn't quite live up to her expectations.
Aug 10, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Attic Room" by RE/Dance Group
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre raves, "After years of watching dance at Fringe and writing aimed at encouraging the almost-there, it's a joy to discover a fully-formed show that, even in its youthful vigor, engages the intellect and resonates with the heart and spirit."
Aug 8, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Flesh" by Present State Movement
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey Darst reviews one of this year's most buzzed-about Fringe performances, "Flesh" by Present State Movement: five solos by five stellar Twin Cities dancers: Tamara Ober, Leslie O'Neill, Laura Selle Virtucio, Nic Lincoln, and Amy Behm-Thomson).
Aug 6, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: “Sousepaw: A Baseball Story” by Shelby Company
phillip low
phillip low joins the ranks of mnartists.org's theater critics with this year's Fringe coverage. Read on for his assessment of Shelby Company's "Sousepaw: A Baseball Story," a show he's deemed his first five-kitty review of the year.
Aug 6, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Grim Walks Tonight" by Rainy Day Cabaret
Camille LeFevre
As happens at the Fringe, Camille LeFevre caught a show she'd not put in her itinerary, while waiting for another to begin. She found Rainy Day Cabaret's "Grim Walks Tonight" to be an intriguing, if not quite fully realized big-ideas dance production.
Aug 5, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "You Only Live Forever Once" by Four Humors Theater
Christy DeSmith
Christy DeSmith took in Four Humors' puppetry-laden spoof on the spy-thriller, "You Only Live Forever Once." It wasn't the funniest Four Humors show she's seen, but as long as she lingered over the ensemble's subtler jabs at the genre she liked it fine.
Aug 5, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Buckets and Tap Shoes" by 10 Foot 5 Productions
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre kicks off our 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage with an enthusiastic review of "Buckets and Tap Shoes" by brothers Rick and Andy Ausland, who've been putting on some iteration of this toe-tapper in every Fringe since 2004.
Aug 4, 2011
Freedom Movement
Lightsey Darst
Dance critic Lightsey Darst reports back with a vivid dispatch on both the vibe and gravity-defying moves at the recent hiphop dance extravaganza, the annual Cowles Center "Groundbreaker Battle."
Jul 27, 2011
The People You Meet
Jeremy Walker
Composer Jeremy Walker reflects on the notion of "work as both an expression and a point of connection," how the most effective art reveals something true about the artist and, sometimes, unexpected truths about yourself as well.
Jul 26, 2011
MOMENTUM: Kenna Cottman and Mad King Thomas
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey Darst reviews the second and final weekend of this year's MOMENTUM festival, co-presented by the Walker Art Center and the Southern Theater, with lively shows by Kenna Cottman (aka Kenna Sarge) and the madcap dancers of Mad King Thomas.
Jul 20, 2011
Putting on a Show with the Neighbors
Alison Morse
Alison Morse talks with the collaborative team behind "Ku soo Dhawaada Xafadeena (Welcome to Our Neighborhood)" - helmed by Mixed Blood and Bedlam Theatres, with a script by David Grant and the efforts of the Cedar-Riverside East African community.
Jul 18, 2011
MOMENTUM: Chris Yon and Kaleena Miller
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey Darst took in the first weekend of this year's MOMENTUM series, presented by the Walker and the Southern Theater. The festival returns triumphantly after a one-year hiatus, with strong performances by choreographers Chris Yon and Kaleena Miller.
Jul 1, 2011
Love and Beauty and Other Big Sticky Things
Lightsey Darst
Lightsey Darst reviews two shows from Red Eye's recent New Works 4 Weeks series of works-in-progress: "Awaken Absurdity" by Taja Will and "I Like You" by Laura Holway.