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In Performance

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: "Ballet Amore" by Cities' Classical Dance Ensemble
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst weighs in on a show by the Twin Cities newest ballet company, "Ballet Amore:" she says it's an ably executed crowdpleaser, the sort that makes for a nice introduction to the form, if you're new to ballet.
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 12, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "House of Usher" by Coin Purse Theatre Company
phillip low

Reviewer phillip low was predisposed to like this show, but despite the "ballsiness" of the project, he found this story-behind-the-story about Edgar Allen Poe's life rang a bit false.
Aug 11, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Fletcher and Zenobia Save the Circus" by Live Action Set
Christy DeSmith

Christy DeSmith finds the aesthetic appeal and visual storytelling of this show (like all Live Action Set productions) utterly compelling - and that's good, because the script itself doesn't quite bear its fair share of the narrative burden.
Aug 10, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by Peterjohn Productions
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst offers a perceptive, fantastically witty review of a show she says "truly reeks of college dorm room." She's got some bracing criticism for the players, for sure, but delivers it with both style and a fair amount of affection.
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 10, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "This is Where Your Free Time Goes to Die" by Screaming Mutes Productions
phillip low

phillip low loved "This is Where Your Time Goes to Die," written by the late Tim Gage, a local playwright who died of melanoma more than a year ago and performed by three different actors.
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 8, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: “Super Spectacular! To Opera with Love” by the Donovan Ensemble
Christy DeSmith

Christy DeSmith took in what looks to be an emerging hit from this year's Fringe, "Super Spectacular! To Opera with Love" by the NYC-based Donovan Ensemble- filled with charmingly irreverent, reworked renditions of opera classics.
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 6, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: "Robot Lincoln: The Revengeance (The Musical)" by OT Pro-Ductions
phillip low

phillip low reviews "Robot Lincoln: The Revengeance (The Musical)," a Fringe debut by Mankato-based OT Pro-Ductions, and he finds it delightfully silly mess of a show that, warts and all, he says is definitely one to see.
Aug 6, 2011
FRINGE SHORTS: “How Do You See It?” by Christopher Watson Dance Company & Jeffrey Peterson Dance
Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre reports back from a collection of thoughtful dance performances at the Fringe, choreographed by Christopher Watson and Jeffrey Peterson - "How Do You See It?"
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 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 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
Smooth Moves, Toothy Smiles and Shiny Pants
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst weighs in on the recent dance performances of "Send in the Jazz" presented by the Eclectic Edge Ensemble.
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.
Jun 7, 2011
Force & Matter in Two Dimensions
Lightsey Darst

Lightsey Darst offers an incisive reading of Kira Obolensky's latest collaboration with Shawn McConneloug, "Force/Matter" - a clever, accomplished bit of physical theater with a hugely talented cast that she says, somehow, nonetheless, feels a bit flat.
Jun 2, 2011
Piano Life
Jeremy Walker

Our jazz columnist, Jeremy Walker, muses on the contributions of two very different, but equally gifted pianists whose playing has left a lasting influence on his own: David Berkman and Marcus Roberts.

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