Art Hounds: Threads Dance Project asks what shoes say about us

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Dance a mile in another’s shoes

Erinn Liebhard is the artistic and executive director of Rhythmically Speaking, a jazz and American social dance-based company.

She’s looking forward to the Threads Dance Project’s fall show, “Impressions,” this Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis. 

Erinn elaborates: Their artistic director, Karen L. Charles, is a really fascinating artist. She was a mathematician and statistician who ended up shifting into dance education and eventually was able to open her own company. So she’s got a really sort of methodical yet artistic way of creating choreography.

Something that I love about Threads’ work is that I feel like it’s really artistic and accessible at the same time. So it’s saying something, but you don’t have to have special training in dance in order to understand.

(As part of the show), Threads is going to be re-exploring a piece about shoes. The piece is called “Abolition in Evolution, Part 2 – Shoes,” and it’s based upon the shoes we wear and what they say about us.

I think it’s really interesting that they’re taking this metaphor of walking in someone else’s shoes into a visual and artistic representation that causes you to ask questions about identity, race, class and how we see each other.

— Erinn Liebhard

Alice in Northfield

Margit Johnson of Northfield appreciates the work of ArtMakers, and she’s looking forward to their new, original musical, “Alice’s Wonder.”

Shows are this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. (with audio description) at Northfield Arts Guild Theater. Admission is free for this family-friendly show. 

Margit says: What I like about ArtMakers’ storytelling through music and theater is the genius of the artists with and without disabilities.

For 10 years now, ArtMakers start with individuals from the Northfield area, from Colorado and even from Norway; they craft a production around and adapt to the talents and special needs of each participating artist. This way, they create authentic, artist-centered projects in the community.

I know that “Alice's Wonder” is going to surprise and delight me. Alice is blind, and so is her friend, the White Rabbit. Their Wonderland is going to come alive with sound and what they call the brave idea of living your life as you choose. The ensemble includes local performers with disabilities alongside professional musicians from Northfield and the Twin Cities.

— Margit Johnson

Take me to the river

Author Marcie Rendon of Minneapolis recommends that people see “The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki,” written by and starring Oogie Push.

Originally a one-woman show, the multimedia performance has been expanded to a cast of five. Full Circle Theater is producing the show, which will be staged at Park Square Theatre in downtown St. Paul.

There’s a preview performance tonight ahead of the opening Friday. The show runs through Nov. 24, and tickets are pay-as-you-are-able. 

Marcie says: It follows her adventures as she’s exploring and working with other Native people around issues of protecting the water.

It’s broader than just the water: it incorporates many of the things that she’s learned on all of these different travels that she’s done, from Alaska to Vancouver to Washington to California to out East. As a young person, she was a pow wow dancer. So she’s also got stories from that part of her life that she incorporates into her work. 

The thing to know about Oogie is that she has a wonderful sense of humor. She can also go really deep into the emotional aspects of a piece, like into a character that she's taking on.

— Marcie Rendon