Walking Lake Calhoun

Minneapolis, Minnesota


Early evening, 83º, clear skies, perfectly pleasant.… I cannot recall circling this lake during the past 18 months. In many ways, it feels as though those months never happened, but they certainly did. Many relationships changed in those months, some not for the better; but for the first time in my life, I am OK with that.… The lake's water level appears to be higher than it was two and three years ago.… A handful of large trees on the northwest side have toppled, roots and all, probably from Thursday's storm. Two more on the east side, including one that still blocks the bicycle path at the 32d Street Beach.

Gabriel "Gabe" Archangelus, July 4, 2009

Assimilation continues: a number of Somali women retain the long head scarves but show a fair amount of leg.… Not a duck or goose in sight anywhere – nor bald eagle(s).… The weed-cutter that rotates among the city's lakes is stationed in Calhoun right now. With acres of weeds breaking the surface, that machine has a full schedule next week.… A west-side bench provided a restful spot for a woman to surf the web on her phone.… Volleyball games in progress. Frisbees flying. Even a football sailing around.… Halfway round I recalled plans to attend vespers this evening, before realizing it is summer in Minnesota and vespers are on vacation.… I will never understand the logic of wearing saggy pants. If the object is to show off one's butt, just wear your underwear. It's summer in Minnesota and one can get away with that.… Thomas Beach full of swimmers and picnicking, extended families, tables decked in red, white, and blue.… The perfect setting reminded of summer tailgating parties at the old Met Stadium before Minnesota Kicks soccer games.


I do not agree with John Winters, the Minneapolis retiree who wants to change the name of Lake Calhoun. John C. Calhoun was a loud and effective proponent of slavery from South Carolina who served in the United States Senate and as vice president to two U.S. presidents. Calhoun also was Secretary of War when Fort Snelling was established at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in 1823. First, I never think about Calhoun's politics and career when enjoying our lake. Second, we allowed South Carolina back into the Union following the Civil War (although, one might wonder at times why we did so) and, with malice toward none, as Lincoln suggested, we might choose to set some things aside. Third, if we start down this path of renaming things for reasons of political correctness, where to stop? Fourth, slavery and the war that ended it are painful parts of our history – but they are past. We still have unfinished business with racial relations in the present day. Let's tackle that. For starters, one need look no further than the rainbow of people enjoying together Lake Calhoun's environs on a perfect summer evening.


Unlike in my Stevens Square neighborhood this weekend, not a single firecracker sounds on the entire lakefront.… The sunset is an orange magenta.… Very few canines out tonight. Gabriel ("Gabe") Archangelus used to make these rounds with me. In 2004, we walked the lake together 3-4 mornings a week. However, he was six then and 13 now. His spirit remains willing but his flesh is weak.… Five eastern white pine trees were planted along the eastern shore this year. At six feet tall, each cost $217.50, according to their tags. Give them seven years and they will be soaring.… There seem to be more sailboats at anchor than in the past. In addition to the north side, moorings orient more to the east side this year.… The dispensary at the pavilion has long lines. However, the pricing of food and beverages at Calhoun – and at Lake Harriet two weeks ago – does not appear to my eye as being very family friendly. On the other hand, I would not purchase 10 pieces of shrimp for $12.95 anyway.… The canoe racks near North Beach show four vacancies. One wonders how many canoes are stolen each season with the snip of a chain in the dark of night.


Happy Independence Day.

Taking leave of Seven Corners

Minneapolis, Minnesota


For 18 months, I have been present for at least part of most days in the Seven Corners district of Minneapolis. With the conclusion of my employment by the Southern Theater, a district mainstay since 1910, my future visits will be infrequent.


As an amateur historian with an exaggerated sentimentality, I have allowed the historical Seven Corners to occupy a personal mindshare out of proportion to its present reduced circumstances. The ghosts who inhabit the area insist on being noticed and remembered. 

Seven Corners, 1952.

For sure, the anomalous distinctions that gave rise to its name have been bulldozed and paved-over. To a casual eye, Seven Corners remains nothing more than an innocuous intersection that serves as the illogical meeting point of Washington Avenue, 15th Avenue South, 19th Avenue South, and Cedar Avenue. 


For decades, Seven Corners served as a crossroads for the Swedish and other immigrants who flooded Minneapolis in the late 19th century and the early 20th. It provided single room housing for single men, who worked as laborers in construction and the nearby flour mills, and for single women who worked as domestics. While no original churches remain, many structures that housed saloons in the neighborhood still stand, and many still dispense a variety of spirits to ease the pursuit of social intercourse or of psychological survival.


During Seven Corners' history, it became one of two Minneapolis residential neighborhoods to which Jewish and African-American citizens were restricted through the use of land covenants, and in which the poorest of all citizens could find affordable housing. The other neighborhood was that of the near North Side, along 6th Avenue North, in which my paternal grandparents lived.


When the Southern Theater opened in 1910 at 1420 Washington Avenue South, it had been built primarily by the Swedish immigrant community, and named after its sister venue, the Southern Theater located in Stockholm, Sweden. Next door, at 1430, stood Gluek's saloon. Then, as now, Gluek's incorporated the six-pointed Star of David into its logo. Gluek's remains a mainstay of Minneapolis' Warehouse District on 6th Street, just north of Hennepin Avenue.


Today, the Town Hall Brewery occupies the former Gluek's building. The building is owned by Dudley Riggs, founding impresario of the long-running Brave New Workshop comedy venue in Minneapolis.


If not friends, I have become "business acquaintances" with most of Town Hall's personnel. I will dearly miss Matt, Andy, Mithab, Chris, Steve, Rachel, Marty, and others, along with their customers. The establishment insures that Seven Corners remains a crossroads for those who enjoy original, local brews.


One block away, construction is under way to build a new light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. The train station, a block away, will carry the name "West Bank Station." Matt and I have pursued a campaign – so far fruitless – to convince the powers-that-be to name the station "Seven Corners/West Bank" for the simple reason that "before West Bank, Seven Corners was."


The bureaucrats of the Metropolitan Council, with their soulless, fancy-dancy notions of modern usage and lack of appreciation for historical perspective, have had none of it so far. Nonetheless, we planted the seed, and our hope springs eternal.


I will miss Seven Corners, its buildings, its people, its ghosts, and their stories. They will live in my heart as long as it beats.

Returning to the village

Minneapolis, Minnesota


In the summer of 1954, our family was the second to move into one of the newly-constructed houses on our block on Second Street N.E. in the panhandle of Fridley, Minnesota. The purchase price was $9,900.


I was two years old, my sister, Deb, a few months.


Located in Anoka County, Fridley is a first-tier suburb on the northeast border of Minneapolis. It was incorporated as a village in 1949 and became a city in 1957. In the "Fridley tornados" of May 6, 1965, a quarter of the city's homes were damaged or destroyed.


In short order in 1954 and 1955, other young families took up residence in the remaining abodes, most of them with one or two youngsters in-hand. No one of a certain age required clairvoyance to know what transpired in the bedrooms of young parents throughout the neighborhood. In no time at all, additional younglings arrived to provide playmates for each age cohort.


With no grass at the beginning, nor trees to climb, and no fenced yards, there was no end of open-range play areas. Also, there was "The Field," an expanse of sand and weeds across Main Street that stretched a mile north and south along Main, and a quarter mile west from the street to the massive railroad switching yard.


We learned to ride bicycles on the dirt alleys – which caused fewer injuries than did falls on paved roads, few as those were. (It was a big deal when curbs, gutters, and asphalt eventually replaced tar and crushed rock for street surfaces.)


As grass and a few trees were planted, fences were installed that restricted our range of free movement. Play then came to center on a few front and back yards, including ours. We knew everyone, and everyone knew us.


The Hansens, next door, were Methodists. The Willmans, across the alley, were the token Catholics. Next to them, the Sepples attended First Lutheran Church, which was somehow more conservative than our church, St. Timothy's English Evangelical Lutheran, affiliated with the United Lutheran Church in America. Mainly – owing something to my parents' evangelism – if you were Lutheran in our neighborhood, you joined or attended St. Tim's.


My family were charter members of St. Tim's, organized on Palm Sunday, 1959. My brother, born in April that year, was named after the church. At its peak, 10 years later, the church counted a membership of 1,200, operating on 10 acres of land on the shores of Sullivan Lake.


In those days, most of our mothers did not work outside the home. Also in those days, no 24/7 news cycles convinced our parents that we needed to be kept under lock-and-key or chaperoned. We could roam all day and most of the evening, and got in trouble only if we failed to show up for supper.


Friendships formed, all of them meaningful and some of them lasting.


One of the lasting ties was that between my brother and David William Wicklund. Dave was born in November 1958 and lived across Second street.


Dave died of natural causes on June 2, last week.


Over the years, many of the Second Street parent neighbors have died – Don and Elaine Archer, Harold and Audrey Sepple, Arvid and Fern Hansen, Tom and Tess Thompson, Gene Wicklund – while others have moved away.


Yesterday afternoon, I picked up my mother at her home in Monticello and drove to Dave's visitation and memorial service at St. Tim's. We were way early, so we spent time driving around the old 'hood.


The landscape had an alien feel, what with trees 50+ years old. Our old house has a basketball hoop on the garage. (We never had a garage.) Many of the houses sport bay windows, brickwork, decks, and other affectations.


It was mid-afternoon and no one was extant in yards or on the street.


We arrived at St. Tim's at the stroke of 3pm. Dave had been confirmed in his Christian faith there on May 5, 1974. The photo of his confirmation class is displayed permanently in the lobby, as are those of all of us who passed through from 1959 to the present.


Dave's mother greeted us at the entry and welcomed a long and silent embrace. There are no words that can comfort a grieving mother. Dave was the second son she had lost to natural causes.


It was a blessing to see Harvey and Sylvia at the church, along with their children, Neil, Donna, and Debra. I babysat those children after their parents moved from South Dakota.


Daniel Lloyd held court at the organ and piano keyboards, as he has done since he was a teenager in the 1960s.


Dave's younger sister, Susan, recalled her brother as a man who viewed life as a glass half-full, one who cultivated an encyclopedic and rabid knowledge of the Minnesota Twins baseball team (and, to a lesser extent, of the Minnesota Vikings and the old North Stars).


Friend Randy, who met Dave at Columbia Heights High School in 1975, recalled an intelligent and loyal friend who lived each moment in color.


Randy's sister and Dave's love, Renae, described a man who provided the color to her life and knew how to work an entire room at every high school reunion.


We listened to readings from the Book of Revelation ("the old world has passed away"), Psalm 91 (expressing confidence in God), and the Gospel of John (Jesus taking leave "to prepare a place").


We sang "On Eagle's Wings" and "Amazing Grace."


We adjourned to the church basement for fellowship and a light meal that, in Lutheran fashion, was anything but light.


As she has for more than 50 years, Eva, 88, continued her ministry and constant presence at the food table, assisting in the provision of nourishment to the nuanced ties that bind.


In the fullness of time, all boundaries of time and space pass away and collapse upon themselves. This was expressed best in the handwritten message that accompanied the bouquet placed in the worship chancel by Dave's mother:


"I will love you forever."

Southern Theater moves forward with sustainable plan

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Southern Theater will move into the 2011/12 performance season with a renewed board of directors and reaffirmation of its mission, a sustainable business plan that reduces costs and increases access to performers, and a full-time staff of one.

The Southern’s 15-member board has taken urgent steps to stabilize the organization amidst its immediate financial crisis and adopted a “Plan for a Sustainable Southern” that projects 40-weeks of performance activity, a first-year budget of $165,600, and a revenue ratio of 2-to-1 earned-to-contributed income.

Since 2008, the theater had presented 28 to 47 annual engagements, with an annual budget of approximately $1.1 million.

“The plan will preserve the historic, 101-year-old theater as a unique venue for artists and the community while laying the groundwork for a viable business model,” said Anne Baker, chair of the board of directors.

“For at least seven years, the theater has shouldered too much of the financial risk of presenting and producing performances of dance, music, theater, and film, and has not effectively made the case to enough individuals, foundations, and corporations that donations, sponsorships, and underwriting will produce sufficient added value to merit full support,” said Baker.

“This plan allows us to stabilize and to focus on the chronic issue of negative cash flows caused by organizational, strategic, managerial, and operational problems,” she added.

Key elements of the plan may be summarized as (a) reducing annual expenses to a minimum in order to make the space accessible to more artists at a cost that is as low as possible, (b) “keeping it simple” by establishing a reliable platform of earned income on which to strategically build future programs, (c) adding fully underwritten programming when feasible, and (d) staffing by a knowledgeable professional who is accountable to an engaged and energized board.

The board of directors has named Damon Runnals to the new position of general manager. Runnals, 32, has served as the theater’s production and operations manager since September 2008. He received a BA degree in Theater Arts from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.

Runnals will assume his duties on June 10, when the position of executive director, held by Gary Peterson since January 2010, will be eliminated. Peterson has been elected to the Southern’s board of directors. Over the past six weeks, the theater has eliminated eight other positions due to adverse financial circumstances.

“On behalf of our board,” Baker added, “I want to offer our sincere gratitude to all of the Southern staff members whose commitment to the performing arts attracted critical acclaim to the theater and inspired us all.”

On April 21, the Southern announced that it needed to raise $400,000 by April 30 in order to provide one year’s working capital, pay vendors, and present a full season of curated work in 2011/12. That plan would have preserved the employed expertise of several people and a range of marketing, front of house, and back of house services for artists and audiences.

On May 3, the theater reported that it had raised $50,000 from its annual gala, held April 30, and an additional $45,000 from online gifts by nearly 300 donors.

Members of the board returned to the drawing board and considered various, alternative business scenarios before settling on the new “Plan for a Sustainable Southern” and its provision for a single employee.

The primary goals of the plan are to keep the theater open and available to artists and audiences, and to protect the basic presentation model supported by rental agreements. However, the Southern and the community will have the capacity to supplement the model further through underwriting opportunities for mission-aligned program activity. The Southern also will have office space available for rent to nonprofit organizations.

Since April 9, in response to its crisis of operational and financial distress, the Southern’s board of directors has taken ownership of past mistakes with an eagerness to restore institutional integrity; examined the financial behavior that led to the crisis and established the policies and procedures necessary to match the theater’s cash position and down-sized requirements; set in motion a process of forensic financial review by an outside party; and renewed efforts to enhance the composition of its membership.

With the Southern’s immediate crisis now under control, the board will re-double its efforts to turn its attention to pay creditors, raise operating and underwriting capital, and find additional ways to take advantage of the many offers of assistance that the theater has received from artists and others.

“As the arts ecosystem and climate continue to change, this plan gives us hope and vision for what the Southern can yet become for artists and audiences, and that it is worthy of support,” said Baker. “We hope to schedule one or more benefit concerts. We also will move forward with our online auction during August and, of course, we will continue to accept donations online” [http://givemn.razoo.com/story/The-Southern-Theater].

As a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial gifts to the Southern are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave., S., Minneapolis, MN 55454. www.southerntheater.org

Southern Theater mission

The Southern Theater, a 210-seat theater in Minneapolis, cultivates artistic exploration by providing a vibrant home for performance, fostering a multiplicity of voices, and catalyzing connections among artists and audiences.

String Theory Music Festival in Twin Cities, April 14-17

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Southern Theater will co-present the String Theory Music Festival, showcasing the work of national and regional composers and musicians, at five Twin Cities venues, April 14-17, 2011. The festival is a joint project of the Southern, McNally Smith College of Music, New Amsterdam Records, History Theatre, Minnesota Public Radio, Invisible Button Entertainment and the Walker Art Center.

Designed to engage music novices and aficionados alike, the festival will shine a celebratory spotlight on the role of bowed-string instruments as a focal point and compositional centerpiece within modern popular, indie/alternative, new music, and classical ensembles.

The four-day event will include six public concerts, a youth recital, workshops, and master classes.

The festival will open at two Minneapolis venues on Thursday, April 14, when Missy Mazzoli and Nadia Sirota will present three, 20-minute sets in the Walker Art Center’s Gallery 2, an event that is part of Walker Free Thursdays.

Across town at the Southern on the same evening, Chris Koza and Adam Levy will host the third installment of the Southern’s 2010/11 Southern Songbook series. Guest musicians for “The Rites of String: Intersection of song, songwriter and strings” will include Dessa, Mississippi Peace, Martin Devaney, Eliza Blue, Chan Poling, music director DeVon Gray, and the instrumentalists of Heiruspecs as house band.

Moving to St. Paul on Friday evening, April 15, a triple bill at the History Theatre will feature Owen Pallett, Nat Baldwin (Dirty Projectors), and yMusic string players performing their own material with new arrangements by yMusic’s Rob Moose.

Events on Saturday, April 16, will get underway with a 2pm performance at the McNally Smith Recital Hall by winners of the Eclectic Strings Competition in three age categories, sponsored by the Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association.

Action then shifts across the street to Minnesota Public Radio’s UBS Forum for a 5pm concert showcasing compositions and performances by artists of New Amsterdam Records. Members of ACME and yMusic will present a selection of works by William Brittelle, Caleb Burhans, Judd Greenstein, Nico Muhly, and Sarah Kirkland Snider, plus the world premiere of newly expanded arrangements by Rob Moose of his own solo works.

Following a post-performance reception at MPR, the focus will return to the History Theatre and an 8pm string sampler performance by Tom Hagerman of Devotchka (with full band), Anni Rossi trio, Robert Black of Bang on a Can All-Stars (world premiere by Mary Ellen Childs), and Mississippi Peace (Christopher Cunningham, Melissa Matthews, Michelle Kinney, Graham O’Brien, Gregory Reese and Nicholas Gaudette). Each ensemble will present approximately 30 minutes of material.

The festival’s sixth and final performance, Sunday, April 17, will feature the split bill of two of today’s most highly praised classical ensembles, JACK Quartet and Victoire, beginning at 7pm at the History Theatre.

A variety of workshops and master classes throughout the festival will be coordinated by Christopher Cunningham, head of the songwriting and composition department at McNally Smith.

The String Theory Music Festival is the brainchild of Southern music curator Kate Nordstrum and Cunningham, with planning and resource assistance from Judd Greenstein, a founder of New Amsterdam Records.

Nordstrum took the lead in assembling the roster and pairings of musicians and featured-composers from the classical and contemporary music worlds.

“This is an opportunity for classical and non-classical music lovers to converge, listen, and learn,” said Nordstrum. “My hope is that attendees will take a chance on music that is new to them.”

“While the sight of a stage full of violins, violas, cellos, and basses is five or six centuries old,” said Cunningham, “recent years have seen increased visibility of these instruments in popular music. And the use of computers, controllers, software, and artificial intelligence in general have pushed even further the boundaries of what is musically possible.”

Financial and tactical support for the String Theory Music Festival has been provided by McNally Smith College of Music.

Performances: April 14-17, 2011

Venues: Southern Theater; Walker Art Center Gallery 2; History Theatre; MPR’s UBS Forum; McNally Smith Recital Hall

Tickets: Single and package tickets available at Southern Theater box office. Save 15% on 3-5 performances, OR save 15% on first 3 performances purchased & 10% on later add-ons.

Southern Theater box office: 612.340.1725

1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN  55454

www.southerntheater.org/2011_04-14_string_theory_music_festival.htm

Schedule of events, April 14-17

Public concerts

THURSDAY, APRIL 14 6pm-8pm (3, 20-minute sets), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis: Gallery 2

“Sound Horizon” featuring Missy Mazzoli & Nadia Sirota

Non-ticketed event, part of Walker Free Thursdays

www.walkerart.org

THURSDAY, APRIL 14 7:30pm, Southern Theater, Minneapolis

“Southern Songbook” installment 3

The Rites of String: Intersection of song, songwriter and strings

Hosted by Chris Koza and Adam Levy

Guests musicians include Dessa, Mississippi Peace, Martin Devaney, Eliza Blue and Chan Poling

With music director dVRG and the instrumentalists of Heiruspecs as house band

Tickets: $25, $22, $12 student rush

Reserved Seating

www.southerntheater.org/2011_04-14_southern_songbook.htm

FRIDAY, APRIL 15 8pm, History Theatre, St. Paul

Owen Pallett, Nat Baldwin and yMusic strings

A triple bill featuring each artist/ensemble with backing by the others

New arrangements by Rob Moose (yMusic) for music of Owen Pallett and Nat Baldwin

Tickets: $22, $15 student (advance), $12 student rush

General Admission

     

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 5pm, UBS Forum (MPR), St. Paul

New Amsterdam Records showcase concert

Members of ACME and yMusic perform new works for New Amsterdam Records by William Brittelle, Caleb Burhans, Judd Greenstein, Nico Muhly, and Sarah Kirkland Snider, plus the world premiere of new expanded arrangements by Rob Moose of his own solo works.

Tickets: $15, $12 student rush

General Admission

Post-show reception at MPR

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 8pm, History Theatre, St. Paul

String Sampler

Tom Hagerman of Devotchka (with full band), Anni Rossi trio, Bang on a Can’s Robert Black (world premiere: new work by Mary Ellen Childs), and Mississippi Peace

Tickets: $24, $15 student (advance), $12 student rush

General Admission

SUNDAY, APRIL 17 7pm, History Theatre, St. Paul

JACK Quartet & Victoire

Split bill featuring two exciting, virtuosic and oft-praised classical ensembles

Victoire to perform works from their new release Cathedral City. Jack Quartet to perform Contritus by Caleb Burhans (MN Premiere), Dig Deep by Julia Wolfe and Tetras by Iannis Xenakis.

Tickets: $24, $15 student (advance), $12 student rush

General Admission

 

Recitals

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 2pm, McNally Smith Recital Hall

Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association presents winners of the Eclectic Strings Competition, ages 10-25

Non-ticketed event

www.mnsota.org/events

Workshops/Master Classes

THURSDAY, April 14 1pm-5pm McNally Smith Auditorium and recording studios, St. Paul

McNally Smith College of Music presents an in-the-studio master class on string arranging and production with members of yMusic recording original works by two selected McNally Smith composition majors. Open to the public and participating high school music students, including Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. Event will be webcast live.

Other workshops and master classes will be announced soon on the Southern’s event page:

www.southerntheater.org/2011_04-14_string_theory_music_festival.htm

Venue information

History Theatre – Fri. Apr. 15, 8pm; Sat. Apr. 16, 8pm; Sun. Apr. 17, 7pm

30 East 10^th Street, St. Paul, MN

Parking: Free street parking after 4:30pm & all day Sunday; Allright Parking, Exchange Street

www.historytheatre.com

McNally Smith Recital Hall – Sat. Apr. 16, 2pm

19 East Exchange Street, St. Paul, MN

Parking: Free street parking after 4:30pm & all day Sunday; Allright Parking, Exchange Street

www.mcnallysmith.edu

UBS Forum at Minnesota Public Radio – Sat. Apr. 16, 5pm

480 Cedar Street, St. Paul, MN

Parking: Free street parking after 4:30pm & all day Sunday; Allright Parking, Exchange Street

www.mpr.org

Southern Theater – Thu. Apr. 14, 7:30pm

1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN

Parking: Seven Corners Ramp, 1504 Washington Ave. S. 

www.southerntheater.org

Walker Art Center Gallery 2 – Thu. Apr. 14, 6pm-8pm

1750 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN

Parking: City of Minneapolis garage, Vineland Place at Bryant Ave.

www.walkerart.org

6th Minnesota SAGE Awards for Dance: Special Citation

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The 6th Annual Minnesota SAGE Awards for Dance recognized 11 people connected to Minnesota's dance community at ceremonies held Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010, at the Southern Theater. As one of 13 members of the panel that reviewed performances during 2009/10 and selected the awardees, I was given the privilege of presenting the Special Citation, with the comments below.

•••

The SAGE Awards Special Citation is presented at the discretion of each year's panel to one, living or dead, person or organization, connected to Minnesota dance. 

Each of this year’s three nominees has inspired us with their creations, their performances, their teaching, and their leadership. If, in their leading, they ever felt fear or trepidation, they never let it show. I have known all of them for decades, and I encourage you to do  yourself a favor by befriending them and receiving for yourself the blessings of their experience and wisdom. Their resumes are lengthy, and I provide only a few highlights of each.

Where is Susana di Palma?

Susana, stand up, dear, so that we can admire you and your jewels.

In the 1970s, a colleague invited me to a restaurant and club over by Saint Anthony Main. The Hauser brothers were playing flamenco guitar, and you were dancing solo. It was the first professional dance performance that I ever saw as an adult. I had never seen anything like it. 

You founded Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre in 1982 as your vehicle to create traditional flamenco and full-length works of theater-flamenco. In doing that, you regularly brought a stable of international flamenco artists to America and Minnesota, and all of us have been richer for it.

You have known the slings and arrows of working in the nonprofit arts. Once, when we were working together and Zorongo was performing in this very theater, after two days no one was coming in the door. We called the radio station down the street and had them broadcast the message that anyone who turned up would be admitted for free.

 

A short time later, your work sold 97% of the seats a week of performances at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Reviewing that production of "Dona Flor & Her Two Husbands" for the New York Times, Jennifer Dunning observed that "This is possibly the most imaginative production that has ever appeared at the Joyce."

 

The Joyce Theater invited you and Zorongo back for the following year, but you said "no," showing us that one can pick and choose the opportunities that present themselves.

 

With the Zorongo school you have raised up a new generation of flamenco artists to engage and beguile us.

In the panel we talked about how you are a self-made artist and a self-made woman. You are a true, Minnesota original. We bless you, and look forward to your new work, later this fall, at the Ritz.

 

Olé, my dear!

 

Patrick Scully! Stand up, man, so we can look up to you as we have for these many years!

 

From 1976 until 1980, you were a member of the Contactworks Dance Company. Your performance of "A Personal Goodbye" at the Mixed Blood Theatre in 1981 was the second professional dance I attended as an adult. Like a good audience member, I signed your mailing list and, months later, joined your Wednesday night improvisation class held on Block E. But for stumbling upon that performance, someone else would be talking to you right now.

You have performed in Boston, New York, Washington, D. C., Germany, Ireland, Argentina, and all over Minnesota. The New York Times included your 1992 performance at Dance Theater Workshop as among that year's best!

 

You founded Patrick's Cabaret in 1986. The earliest years of cabaret performances took place in the gymnasium of St. Stephens' Church school. After a time, you moved the cabaret  to "your living room" off of 5th Avenue South by the freeway wall, and later to its present location in the Longfellow neighborhood. 

It was in your living room, while you were out of the country, that Ron Athey presented a performance that tempted  Congress to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts, because the Walker Art Center had allocated $250 of  taxpayers' money for a performance whose notoriety and legend far exceeded the reality of what actually took place.

The essence and meaning of Patrick's Cabaret is found in the permission it gives people - artists and audiences alike - to live their dreams. Patrick's Cabaret gives a hand out, a hand up, and 15 minutes of fame that empowers people to reach for and express the higher angels of their nature.

 

You are no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the cabaret, but you continue to share with it your wisdom, insight, and inspiration. Like these other two nominees, you are awesome, and we thank you as we look forward to your return to the stage at Patrick's Cabaret in October and November.

 

Where is Linda Shapiro? Please stand up so that everyone will know who that woman is that writes about them.

 

A performance by the New Dance Ensemble – the company that you founded with Leigh Dillard in 1981 – was the third professional dance event I attended as an adult. It was a free performance at the Nicollet Island Amphitheatre.

Your titles varied, but you served as the resident choreographer for New Dance, with your work presented on the same stages as those of the national and regional choreographers that you and Leigh commissioned. You also made time to create work on the dancers of Zenon Dance Company.

New Dance Ensemble performed in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and in Paris. It was also – until this new season that is upon us – the only Minnesota ensemble to have appeared on the Northrop Dance Series.

You paid your company of dancers a decent, living wage. Some of us grumbled and actually found fault with the fact that you were trying to do the right thing – envious that we could not do the same with our dancers. Thankfully, no one complains anymore when companies pay their dancers something more than a stipend and sometimes offer them health insurance.

Times and finances changed, however, and you closed New Dance with grace in 1994.

As an affiliate faculty member with the University of Minnesota’s dance program, you encouraged and shaped the lives and prospects of countless young people.

For a younger generation, it is your renown as a writer with which most members of the SAGE panel are most familiar.

From January 2001 until last week, you have had 152 articles published by City Pages. I did not try to count your writings for the Star Tribune, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, and other print outlets.

You love writing about dance – and the diligent care that you bring to your writing shows. You have told me that you spend anywhere from 3 to 5 hours on a single review – worrying that you get it exactly right. We have noticed. And we care because you make permanent what is ephemeral on our stages.

Thank you, my dear, for caring. Thank you for writing. You may have come here in 1972 – as a mere child – but you have become a Minnesota original.

To each of our Special Citation nominees, let me say that you are appreciated, you are admired, you are respected, you are our friends, and we love you!

The 2010 SAGE Award for Dance Special Citation is given to Patrick Scully. 

Sound Unseen 2010: Film+Music+Art: Oct. 7-9

Six SOLO dances premiere at Southern Theater July 8-11

Minneapolis, Minnesota
 

Review: "Renovate" choreographers' evening at the Ritz

Minneapolis, Minnesota


"Renovate," the 3rd Annual Choreographers' Evening presented by the Ritz Theater, May 20-22, held together as a cohesive and engaging entertainment, even as it showcased a variety of talents and dance forms ranging from ballet to post modern. As she did twice previously, North Dakota native Lisa Conlin, a member of the Ballet of the Dolls, curated the lineup of 12 dance works for 16 dancers, with advisory assistance this year from Mariusz Olszewski and Vanessa Voskuil. The major aim of "Renovate" is to introduce and highlight new choreography and new choreographers – or both – along with the dancers who perform their work, by giving them a stage, publicity, and an audience.


This year's effort was the best and most satisfying such presentation of multiple artists that I have seen in years. Collectively, the evening included some of the best dances I have seen all year.


The top of the program began with demonstrations of dance basics as choreographer and soloist Elizabeth Bergman, attired in black leotard with spaghetti straps, opened "I don't feel it is necessary to know exactly what I mean" while standing in ballet's first position enveloped in a pool of downward white light. From that humble beginning, Bergman moved through a series of balletic poses and phrases, accented by occasional distortions of limb and line. Her music mix from GoGoo and Aphex Twins sounded like a ticking toy clock accompanied by a drone-like background of distant, electronic church bells. Bergman is a Nebraska native who received an MFA degree in dance from the University of Iowa.


Cade Holmseth, a graduate in dance from the University of Minnesota, has performed with several Minnesota companies and was cast by a number of "Renovate" choreographers in 2009 and 2010. I do not recall seeing his choreography in the past. However, based on "Just One More," his solo work for Brian Evans, we should encourage Holmseth to continue developing what could be a promising dance voice. A barefoot Evans cut a distinctive figure with his springy mop of black hair, white shirt, and gray suit coat and slacks. Moving athletically against a musical background from Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," Evans addressed the audience with personality-plus, offering to be any kind of friend that one of any persuasion might need or want: from cute, romantic, and sensitive to rugged and rough-around-the-edges.


One would not be entirely wrong in characterizing this year's "Renovate" as The Brian Evans Show. It was impossible to miss his charismatic presence in the five works in which he danced. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, Evans is completing his third season as a member of the Stuart Pimsler Dance Theatre. As a performer who has come into his own, he also appeared in the 2009 "Renovate" dances by Jim Lieberthal, Marciano Silva dos Santos, and Julie Warder.


Terpsichore, the ancient Greek muse of dance, received a solid work-out in a duet choreographed by Taja Will for herself and Blake Nellis. The title, "Terpsichore Told Us to: 23 gestures, 11 poses, 2 solos, and 1 duet," provided an accurate description of the dance. Will, who was born in Chile, raised in Iowa, and attended Luther College, works with structured improvisation, and has performed with Body Cartography, Miguel Gutierrez, and Cathy Wright. Her instant work drew its theme from the neuroscience of dreams and served up an exceedingly fine and compelling improvisational performance by both dancers. Both performers wore basic black, she with red accents and he with yellow. From separate pools of downstage light, two soloists responded to irregular and staccato recorded directives to fall, jump, pose, point, stomp, lunge, sit, shimmy, stir, kneel, spiral, grasp, etc., before continuing the movements as a duet at center stage and again as soloists. As the movement accelerated, the voiced directives dissolved into an electronic score from which emerged a full-blown dance of sustained intensity. Nellis performed in April at Northeast Community Lutheran Church with Tracy Vacura, and has taught improvisation at Zenon Dance School.


Years ago, John Munger presented "An Evening of Classical Modern Dance." It remains highlighted in memory as a delightful and contemplative entertainment. While his dances always have been inhabited by idiosyncratic characters and personalities, each clearly drawn, his recent efforts, such as his "Nutbuster" solo at the Bryant-Lake Bowl last December, depict a darker element missing from his earlier work. So it is with "Wrath," accompanied by music from David Byrne. Munger moves with an enviable agility that belies his status as a sexagenarian. He described "Wrath" on a recent Facebook post as "watching somebody being dead serious about being angry about who knows what." Munger founded and directs the Third Rabbit Dance Ensemble, teaches at Zenon Dance School, and directs research for Dance/USA.


If one underlying factor allowed Denise Armstead to perform scores of choreographic styles and personalities during her 20 years as a member of the Zenon Dance Company, one might suspect it was release technique. It seems also to have played a role in her work as a choreographer since forming DAdance in 2007. I last saw Armstead dance in the visual arts gallery of the Burnsville Performing Arts Center in July 2009. Then, as now – in excerpts from "In Between-Between Places" – her angular vocabulary hints at the emergence of a distinctive style and voice. In this quartet for herself, Evans, Holmseth, and Sharon Picasso, Armstead displays a talent for choreographing whole movements or sections of dancing, but not necessarily for their ordering and grouping. The overall work felt disjointed. This was my first time seeing Picasso, who holds a dance and choreography degree from the Boston Conservatory.


Minnesotans have been lucky to have in their midst Alanna Morris, a graduate of the Juilliard School, as a two-year member of TU Dance. In "Dreams: A Solo," a work in progress, the Brooklyn native dances "for all who dream of something better" to sounds of So Percussion, Zaire school children, and excerpts from Martin Luther King speeches. A straw sun hat, red umbrella, and orange dress were perfect accessories. One looks forward to the completed work.


Just as time and effort often can shape the development of an artist's work, so it can influence the perspective of individual and collective members of an audience. The first time I encountered Jaime Carrera in November 2007, he was standing naked, center stage at the Walker Art Center, with waist-length hair that moved as his head tilted back-and-forth. I still don't know what that was about. I thought that "Frontera," his solo offering in the 2009 "Renovate" program, was coherent but weakened by its attempt to include too many ideas and elements. This time, to my eye, he has it together. "Madurez," using music of Final Fantasy, celebrated the resourcefulness and determination of artists who stay connected to the creativity of their childhoods. Carrera brought the house down in his lime green t-shirt, black denim shorts, black towel super hero cape, newspaper pirate's hat, and cardboard sword. Carrera hails from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, by way of Kansas City and Chicago.


When Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig, co-artistic directors of Off-Leash Area, presented "The Jury" at The Red Eye earlier this year, the buzz was incredible. So was the 75-minute show, based on a murder trial for which Ilse served as a juror. An excerpt, "Love Triangle," featured Ilse (red tank top, blue denim cutoffs), Evans (white t-shirt, green khakis), and Bryan Gerber (white tank top, blue Levis), all of whom appeared in the earlier, full production. Set to sound by Reid Kruger and text by Max Sparber, the dancing was, simply, hot. Compelling. Unnerving. Gerber, a dance graduate from Minnesota State University, Mankato, is a member of Ballet of the Dolls; he presented a solo work for "Renovate" in 2009, and appeared earlier this month as Wolf in the Actors Theater of Minnesota production of "Bent."


After the show, friends and I asked each other, "Who are these people, and where have they been all our lives?" These people would be the dancers Angharad Davies and Alex Grant, who performed "Security," the most cogent work of the evening, choreographed by Davies. Start with a quote from Cary Grant: "I get up in the morning, go to bed at night, and occupy myself as best I can in between." Add the dark, drop-dead gorgeous looks of both performers. Add for each the buttoned-down uniform of security guards: white shirts, black ties and slacks, brown shoes with laces, and, for him, a slight 5-o'clock shadow. Provide a backdrop of stacks of used, styrofoam coffee cups. Mix-in the mad and endless stirring of coffee in cups to raise walls of security and ward off reality. Infuse focused and committed pedestrian movement to get through a few hours of the day. Underlie it with charming, sublimated and unrequited passion that leads to one conclusion: if they won't jump each other out of their boredom, someone from the audience surely will. All I know about Davies is that she holds an MFA degree in dance from the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City and moved to Minneapolis from Berlin. Don't know anything about Grant. I want much more of both. 


Julie Warder, who began dancing with Myron Johnson at the Children's Theatre Company School, has presented choreography in three rounds of "Renovate." In 2009, her "Jammin'" was awarded the evening's closing slot; but for the competitiveness of this year's program, so might have been "Abandon Me," her entry as choreographer/director for 2010. Her placement, once removed from penultimate, hurt not a bit, however. "Abandon Me," with its examination of paternal legacies among generations, set to Kirk Franklin's music, provided an emotional tour de force for Evans (proof positive of his ability at barrel turns) in front of Mark Hanson's haunting videography. The work of Kortland Jackson, who choreographed the Krump (U.S. street) dance, will be featured in the Hip Hop Choreographers' Evening at Patrick's Cabaret, June 18-20.


To my regret, I have little recollection of Erin Drummond and her solo performance, "Rebeca Eats Dust," set to music by Chuck Jonkey. Her placement before the closer, and following all that preceded, set her up for perceptual obscurity. After dancing for Ballet Arts Minnesota from the age of eight and attending Columbia University, she deserves another, better chance.


One word, "brilliant," describes the excerpt from "A Word With You Dear," choreographed by Kari Mosel. Performing to spoken text, Evans, Mosel, Holmseth, and Kathryn Jacobs portray two halves of the same couple – one communicating verbally, the other physically – at "the root moment in a relationship when it is discovered if you love enough to let go." Mosel comes originally from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and holds a BFA from the University of Minnesota. She has danced with Shapiro and Smith Dance and Stuart Pimsler Dance Theatre.

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281 metro arts grants approach $2 million

Minneapolis, Minnesota


With its April award of $433,556 to 51 organizations and projects in the Arts Learning grant program, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council has increased to 281 the number of grants it has awarded during the fiscal year ending June 30. Grants awarded to-date total $1,925,155.


The Arts Learning grants will fund extended learning experiences that develop knowledge, skills, and understanding in a variety of arts disciplines. Earlier announcements named grantees in the Arts Activity Support, Capital Grants, Community Arts (1st and 2d rounds), Creative Intersections, and Organizational Development programs.


Arts Learning grants to 51 organizations or projects in April totaled $433,556, an average of $8,501 each:

Dakota County: Allegro Choral Academy, $4,864; Lifeworks Services, Inc., $10,000; Vecchione/Erdahl Duo, $7,816.

Hennepin County: ARENA Dances, Inc., $10,000; Copper Street Brass Quintet, $9,200; Franklin Art Works, $7,750; Indonesian Performing Arts Association of Minnesota, $8,000; Junior Composers, $10,000; Kairos Dance Theatre, $10,000; Struthers Parkinson's Center, Kaleidoscope Place, $10,000; Les Jolies Petites School of Dance, $9,550; Live Action Set, $8,500; Minneapolis Pops Orchestra Association, $8,163; Northstar Storytelling League, $10,000; Old Arizona Collaborative, Inc., $10,000; OverExposure, $10,000; Plymouth Christian Youth Center, $10,000; Red Eye Collaboration, $3,600; She Rock She Rock, $10,000; Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater, $10,000; Twin Cities Jazz Workshops, $10,000; Walking Shadow Theatre Company, $2,577; Weaver's Guild of Minnesota, $10,000; West Bank School of Music, $8,915; Young Dance, Inc., $10,000.

Ramsey County: ArtStart, $10,000; Deborah Elias Danza Espanola, $3,116; East Side Arts Council, $10,000; Flying Forms, $10,000; Grace Minnesota, $7,472; Lex-Ham Community Arts, $1,200; Minnesota Chinese Dance Theater, $10,000; Nautilus Music-Theater, $8,800; Pan Asian Artists' Alliance, $10,000; Saint Paul Almanac, $10,000; Saint Paul Jaycee Foundation, $10,000; Sounds of Hope, Ltd., $4,300; Walker West Music Academy, $6,158; Zeitgeist, $10,000.

Scott County: Jordan Community Education, $10,000; New Prague Schools Community Education $9,830; Savage Arts Council, $4,720.

Suburban Hennepin County: Continental Ballet Company, $7,860; Harmony Theatre Company and School, $9,175; Minnesota Creative Arts and Aging Network, $10,000; Partnership Resources, Inc., $9,490; The Depot Coffee House, $4,500.

Suburban Ramsey County: Ashland Productions, $10,000; Lakeshore Players, Inc., $10,000; White Bear Center for the Arts, $10,000.

Washington County: FamilyMeans, $8,000.

In the 281 grants made through April, 38 organizations were awarded multiple grants (AA=Arts Access, AL=Arts Learning, C=Capital, CA=Community Arts, CR=Creative Intersections, OD=Organizational Development) as follows:

ARENA Dances, Inc. ($10,000 AA; $10,000 AL); ArtStart ($10,000 AL; $8,700 C); Ashland Productions ($10,000 AA; $10,000 AL; $10,000 C; $10,000 CA); Caponi Art Park ($10,000 C; $10,000 CA);  Continental Ballet Company ($7,860 AL; $4,697 C; $5,000 CA); Copper Street Brass Quintet ($9,200 AL; $2,500 CA); Dakota Valley Symphony ($8,480 C; $5,000 CA); East Side Arts Council ($10,000 AA; $10,000 AL; $6,080 C; $10,000 CA; $10,000 CR);

Frank Theatre ($10,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Katha Dance Theatre ($10,000 C; $10,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Lakeshore Players, Inc. ($10,000 AL; $5,000 CA); Les Jolies Petites School of Dance ($9,550 AL; $5,000 CA); Lex-Ham Community Arts ($1,200 AL; $920 CA); Live Action Set ($10,000 AA; $8,500 AL); JazzMN, Inc. ($10,000 CA; $3,840 OD); Masquers Theatre Company ($8,905 C; $5,000 CA); Minneapolis Pops Orchestra ($10,000 AA; $8,163 AL; $6,480 OD); Minnesota Freedom Band ($9,038 C; $2,500 CA);

Music Saint Croix ($1,163 C; $5,000 CA); Nautilus Music-Theater ($8,800 AL; $10,000 OD); Off-Leash Area ($10,000 CA; $5,000 OD); Old Arizona Collaborative, Inc. ($10,000 AL; $8,120 C); Open Eye Figure Theatre ($10,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Plymouth Christian Youth Center ($10,000 AA; $10,000 AL; $10,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Rainbow Rumpus ($5,000 CA; $6,225 OD); Red Eye Collaboration ($10,000 AA; $3,600 AL; $8,700 C; $10,000 CA); Rosetown Playhouse ($5,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Saint Paul Almanac ($10,000 AL; $5,000 CA; $10,000 CR); Sample Night Live! ($5,000 CA; $10,000 OD);

Savage Arts Council ($4,720 AL; $4,000 CA); Sounds of Hope, Ltd. ($10,000 AA; $4,300 AL; $6,125 C); TU Dance ($10,000 C; $10,000 CA; $10,000 OD); Twin Cities Jazz Workshops ($10,000 AL; $5,000 CA); Walker West Music Academy ($6,158 AL; $5,000 CA); Walking Shadow Theatre Company ($10,000 AA; $2,577 AL; $6,813 C; $10,000 CA); Weaver's Guild of Minnesota ($10,000 AL; $5,000 CA); West Bank School of Music ($8,915 AL; $3,500 CA; $10,000 OD); Zeitgeist ($10,000 AA; $10,000 AL; $10,000 OD).

MRAC is one of 11 regional arts councils serving the state of Minnesota. It makes grants to organizations with budgets less than $300,000 located in the seven metropolitan counties of greater Minneapolis and St. Paul. MRAC operates on a fiscal year of July 1 to June 30, and receives its grant funds from the Minnesota State Legislature, the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the McKnight Foundation. In its 2009 fiscal year, MRAC received 384 applications and awarded 254 grants totaling $1,007,491.


Review panels will meet June 16-18 for second round applications for Arts Activities Support grants, and May 21 for second round applications for Creative Intersections grants. Applications for the 2011 year are posted on MRAC's website.


The Minnesota State Arts Board makes grants statewide to organizations with budgets exceeding $300,000.

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