STUDIO STORIES: REMINISCING ON TWIN CITIES DANCE HISTORY

Frances Machala Cerro Grew up in Cumberland, Wisconsin, graduated from St. Catherine’s College in 1965. She met Loyce Houlton there in 1963 when Mrs.
Houlton began teaching at St. Catherine’s.

Loyce Houton had started the Contemporary Dance Playhouse in
Dinkytown by the U of M campus. It was an old Masonic Temple above
a Cleaners that later burnt down. Mrs. Houlton took Frances under her
wing and studied, taught...

Kaleena Miller makes sound-focused dance and installation work, rooted in tap dance technique and deep listening modalities. Named one of DANCE Magazine’s 25 to Watch, she has received a McKnight Fellowship for Dance and a Sage People’s Choice Award, and has presented work at the Walker Art Center, Icehouse, First Avenue, Jazz Central and the Southern Theater in Minneapolis, as well as at Arts on Site, Center for Performance Resear...

Dancer and Choreographer Aneka McMullen is an independent performing and teaching artist who lives to dance through life, inspire & connect with all people through her passion for movement of all types.  She hails from Minneapolis and holds a BFA in dance from The Ohio State University.  Her extensive dance experience spans more than two decades and includes dynamic skills in performance and instruction in the genres of West Af...

Jennifer Hart - Hailed as a choreographer “with an imagination so exuberant that one could not be sure how one movement led to the next” and “not only inventive but heart-rending,” Jennifer Hart has been commissioned by Ballet Austin, Ballet Austin ll, Ballet Nouveau Colorado (now Wonderbound), James Sewell Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theater, The Walker Art Center’s Momentum Series, The McKnight Fellowship for Dancers, Metropolitan Ba...

Sam Aros-Mitchell (he/him) is an enrolled member of the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians and an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and educator. His work spans performance, sound, light and scenic design, choreography, and embodied writing. Rooted in Indigenous cosmologies, his practice activates performance spaces as sacred sites of transformation, remembrance, and futurity. Through embodied scholarship, he interrogates colonial histor...

Mathew Janczewski’s inquisitive, immersive and heartfelt approach to contemporary dance reaches beyond the surface and holds the viewer in its embrace. With over 40 works in his repertoire and more than two decades of experience as a choreographer, Mathew has cultivated a highly diverse and personalized style of movement. Increasingly, his performances explore pressing social issues, providing a platform for dialogue and action.

Mat...

Cheng Xiong is a local artist, teacher, and community leader. Xiong grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and received his Bachelors of Art in Dance at the University of Minnesota. Though he began his journey as a street dancer, through his studies, he was able to broaden to different styles and professional skills. Xiong is also a Hmong dance artist/researcher who is among the first in Minnesota to fuse forms of Breaking, Contemporary, a...

Joe Chvala (Artistic Director/Flying Foot Forum) is the founder and artistic director of the highly-acclaimed percussive dance company, the Flying Foot Forum. In addition to the Flying Foot Forum, Chvala has directed, choreographed, and been commissioned to create new works for a variety of theater and dance companies including the Guthrie Theater, the Walker Art Center, the Ordway Music Theater, the Minnesota Opera, Chicago Shakes...

Under the direction of Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Doma Dance Theater creates dance works for the stage and screen that explore the body as a tangible site of culture. 

Doma, the Carpatho-Rusyn word for “at home,” cultivates a sense of belonging, curiosity, and exuberant self-expression for its performers and audiences. Doma’s cross-cultural approach creates powerful contemporary dance works that examine shared experiences of diaspora and...

NERVOUS THEATRE is a nomadic theatrical collective creating ensemble-driven productions. Their work celebrates and exploits the ‘liveness’ of theatre for all its physical and communal possibilities. Founded by artistic director Connor Berkompas, NERVOUS THEATRE has been hailed as "Ambitious and Fabulous" by The San Diego Reader and recognized as "an electrifying company to keep a close eye on" by The Arts Busine...

Dive into a world devoid of time that witnesses two people attempt to navigate their relationship while questioning their boundaries, perceptions of reality, and conflict resolution skills within the confined space of a growing cardboard set. 

Nieya Amezquita is a Minnesota-based artist currently working with Threads Dance Project, Rhythmically Speaking, Elayna Waxse Movement Projects and eMartin Dance while collaborating with indep...

Yukina Sato is a Japanese dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker whose work explores the dynamic interplay of movement, identity, and culture. Her artistic practice delves into the liminal space of hybridity, capturing the unique experiences of living between two countries and navigating overlapping cultural landscapes. Yukina has collaborated with acclaimed performing artists and companies, including Abby Zbikowski, Crystal Perkins,...

Marge Maddux was born on December 28, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
She graduated from Oak Hills High School in 1962 following a successful
stint as a baton twirler and majorette.
She graduated from Denison University in Granville Ohio in 1966 with a
Bachelor of Arts degree.
She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1968 with a Master of
Arts degree, following her studies under Bessie Schoenberg.
She taug...

Jennifer Glaws is an artist who makes body-based work, who believes in elevating a deep-rooted felt experience for the audience, performer, and participant with the presentation of her work. She probes the physical psychology of SPACE and EFFORT, scrutinizing these elemental contemporary dance themes to recognize human and humane connection, time, push the proscenium, and inspire inquiry. Jennifer works as a choreographer, contempo...

Nancy J. Duncan has had an eclectic career spanning over 50 years of experience in the performing arts as a dancer, educator, producing director, manager, and arts management consultant.

Nancy’s dance training started under Nevorah Adams in South Dakota and it was through Nevorah’s hosting of a summer dance residency taught by Loyce Houlton and two of her dancers, Frances Machala and David Voss, that her passion for dancin...

Susan Delattre was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from
Barnard College and earned an MFA in Dance from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro. She continued in the academic world
teaching in the University of Minnesota’s Dance Program. As a member of
the Minnesota Independent Choreographer’s Alliance, she choreographed
and produced dance pieces, including a solo evening and collaborations<...

Justin Leaf is a Minneapolis-based ballet teacher, choreographer, and performance artist whose multifaceted career spans over two decades. A graduate of The Juilliard School with a BFA in Dance Performance, Justin’s training also includes The Kirov Academy, School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School.

As a dancer, Justin was a company member with James Sewell Ballet and Minnesota Dance Theatre, and has also perfor...

Scott Killian has composed scores for Zvi Gotheiner (over 30 works), Shapiro & Smith Dance, Cherylyn Lavagnino, David Dorfman, Susan Marshall, Ralph Lemon, Bebe Miller, Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis. His works have been performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Limon Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, PACT Dance (South Africa), et al. Venues include The Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center, New York City Center, N...

Born in Chicago, Wendy began dancing with nuns who taught from ballet records.  Her vast experiences in dance crossed the country from UCLA to Colorado College to NYU and landed her in Minnesota where she taught at Carleton College and served as a Roster Artist for the Minnesota State Arts Board, teaching in hundreds of schools across the state. Always a fighter and an advocate for a better tomorrow, she served as Board member duri...