Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
HALLELUJAH/MINNEAPOLIS: IN PRAISE OF BEAUTY AND DISORDER

Sunday, June 17, 2001, 2:00 p.m.
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Conceived and directed by Artistic Director and Founder Liz Lerman
Associate Artistic Director: Peter DiMuro
Producing Director: Jane Hirshberg
Choreography by the Minneapolis Project Team:

Peter DiMuro (Leader), Liz Lerman, Pene McCourty, and Kazu Nakamura in collaboration with the remaining members of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange:

Thomas Dwyer, Margot Greenlee, Elizabeth Johnson, Vincent E. Thomas, Marvin Webb, and Martha Wittman

Music Director: Robert Een
Music composition: Andy Teirstein and Robert Een
Original lighting design: Michael Mazzola and Chloe Brown
Production Manager: Chloe Brown
Costume design: Naoko Nagata
Final editing: Liz Lerman

Welcome to Hallelujah/Minneapolis: In Praise of Beauty and Disorder. This is the first time we have brought Hallelujah outdoors, since our dance on the docks of Eastport, Maine, launched this national project – and the new millennium – at dawn on January 1, 2000. Since then, Hallelujah has played varied venues in Tucson, Los Angeles, Houston, Jacob’s Pillow, Burlington, Vermont, and Deer Isle, Maine. As you follow today’s performance through the garden to its finale on the stage, you’ll encounter small pieces and larger sections of some of the choreography created at these other sites, inspired by such themes as "Ordinary Prophets," "Unexpected Ancestors," and "Constancy in the Midst of Change." But you’ll mostly see brand new dances created here in Minneapolis in collaboration with local artists and community partners. We are grateful for their time, energy, and imagination.

The theme of "Beauty and Disorder" came to light at a workshop we did at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center. As you take part this afternoon as a member of our moving audience, you might enjoy watching for how these concepts surface: what’s beautiful, what’s disordered, when are the two the same and when are they next-door neighbors. The way the event is structured is in itself a formulation of some concepts inherent in the theme. But we also hope you’ll find plenty to watch that’s interesting just for what it is – whether inspired by the wonders of the Garden or by the stories of love, death, birth, and creation that kept emerging when we asked people to tell us about a time when they experienced beauty and disorder together in the same moment.

We especially want to thank the remarkable artists, technicians, and administrations of the institutions who partnered to produce this event: Walker Art Center, Intermedia Arts, Minnesota Dance Alliance, and Rimon. We know everybody jokes about "Minnesota Nice," but this group of partners backed up their friendly attentiveness with a level of professionalism, respect, and hard work that went far beyond nice, and far beyond the call of duty. We want to thank them all for their faith in the vision of Hallelujah.

– Peter DiMuro, Project Leader, and Liz Lerman, Artistic Director

PROGRAM

From 1999 to 2002 a wide range of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange activities center on Hallelujah, a national initiative in praise, participation, and performance. In a spirit of celebration and recognition of hard times endured, this project conducts a series of residencies in which community members contribute to a series of dances "In Praise Of…" topics vital to them. Liz Lerman would like to acknowledge that the dances on this program are possible because of the artistic contributions of former and current company members. Both movement and text are developed through a collaborative process that draws upon personal experience, research, and experimentation.

PERFORMANCE IN THE GARDEN

HALLELUJAH/MINNEAPOLIS: In Praise of Beauty and Disorder (Premiere)

Choreography by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in collaboration with the performers
Music composed by: Robert Een, Frederic Chopin, and performing musicians
Additional recorded sound: Lucas Zarwell
Performed by the Dance Exchange with guest artists from the Minneapolis community

PERFORMANCE ON THE STAGE

BLESSED (excerpt)

Choreography by Bebe Miller
Music: Café at the Gate of Salvation
Performed by the Dance Exchange

IN PRAISE OF FERTILE FIELDS

Jacob’s Pillow: Field Section and Jacaranda (2000; excerpt)

Choreography by Liz Lerman in collaboration with the Dance Exchange

Minneapolis: Egg Dances (2001)

Choreography by Peter DiMuro and the Dance Exchange company in collaboration with guest performers from the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women
Music composed by Robert Een
Performed by the Dance Exchange and guest artists

HALLELUJAH: GATES OF PRAISE (1999; excerpt)

Choreography by Liz Lerman in collaboration with the Dance Exchange
Music: Andy Teirstein Set Design: Lewis Folden
Performed by the Dance Exchange

Gates of Praise is inspired by the idea that even in our darkest moments we might discover — or be pushed through — a gateway leading toward praise or celebration.

 

Hallelujah/Minneapolis Guest Performers

"All Call" individual artists and community members Ambassadors: Louann Lanning and Sher Demeter Performers: Sandy Agustin, James Brown, Natalie Brown, Jessica Cohen, Cindy Colon, Sher Demeter, Ira Gordon, Emily Hughes, Lisa Lange, Louann Lanning, Betsy Maloney, Jason Misilz, Akiko Mitsuura, Emily Morris, Becky Myrick, Louis Porter II, Sima Rabinowitz, Carole Rastigar, Kimberly Richardson, Maarja Roth, Clare Tallon Ruen, Claire Sandler, Cia Sautter, April Sellars, Avin Honecker Sherman, Rhonda Laurie Smith, Angela Sprunger, Leatha Swinehart, Ramon Tejada, Johan van Parys, Suzanne Wiltgen

Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota Ambassadors: Kiyoko Motoyama Sims and Chao Yang Performers: Chao Lee, Pa Houa Lee, Susan Lee, Nina Lor, Lisa Ly, Kiyoko Motoyama Sims, Choua A. Vang, Mai Lee Vang, Pang Houa Vang, Soua Vang, Chu Xiong, Chao Yang

Jeremiah Program Ambassadors: Sandy Agustin and Karon Sherarts Performers: Amanda LaFrance, Portia Jackson, Dawn Martin

Rimon, Minnesota Council of Jewish Arts/ St. Paul Jewish Community Center/Arts and Religion in the Twin Cities Ambassadors: David Harris, Wendy Morris, Barbara Rhudy Performers: Judy Brier, Joan Calof, Karen Chalom, Jessica Cohen, Deborah Dora, Bette Dudovitz, Jean Greenwood, David Harris, Carole Kastiger, Cindy Kennedy, Harriet Kohen, Pat Levine, Manny Manos, Wendy Morris, Sima Rabinowitz, Barbara Rhudy, Mickey Rosen, Shirley Rosenblum, Greg Ruud, Sandra Self, Carla Vogel, Cia Sautter

Sheridan Global Arts and Communications School Ambassador: Clare Tallen Ruen, in association with Roberta Carvalho-Puzon Performers: Ella Chrenka, Ariel Donahue, Anjanie Duvanand, Carmichael Jones, Crystal Mason, Molly Merz, Arielle Robinson, Ja’keta Scott, Suzy Shufford, Janie Vue, Mai Vue, Pa Nhia Xiong, Bao By Xiong, Tamara Zerahn-Calhoun

Southwest Senior Center/North High School Ambassadors: Kimberly Richardson and April Sellars, with Maria Genne Performers: Iyza Louis, Tamara Massey, Dominique Wells; Alphia Blevins, Grace Jarrett, Diann Storrs, Noma Genne, Lorraine Stafford, Melvin Christianson

Young Dance Ambassador: Leatha Swinehart, in association with Kaori Kenmotsu Performers: Sylvia Braafladt-Banks, Katie Christian, Ana Costa, Kirsten Dehaven, Gillian Jones, Ricky Kimmet, Eben Kowler, Analeigh Sanderson, Diwa Tamrong, Jacqueline Tulloch, Nora Ulseth, Mary Ulseth, Emily Winkler-Morey, Ben Yoder-Henley

Hallelujah/Minneapolis Guest Musicians:

The Basilica of Saint Mary International Gospel Choir Director: Rodin-Ngando Singers: Jan Coursolle, C. J. Ennenga, Lucy Hartel, Mary-Catherine Hartel, Dianne Kraemer, Elaine Klaassen, Barbara Landsteiner, Angela McColley, Brenda Mengelkoch, Caroline Moore, Michele Nguando, Rashelle Ngando, Josephine Nwoke, Vernon Stock

Musicians: Andrea Een, violin, hardanger fiddle; Jim Een, viola, keyboard; Robert Een, cello, voice; Richard Pakse, tuba; Aaron Barnell, percussion

Special thanks to Johan van Parys and Kathy Dhaemers of the Basilica of Saint Mary, Marie Digatono (Minneapolis Sculpture Garden), Joe Chvala, Guthrie Costume Rentals (Deb Murphy and Sarah Bissonette), Carol Olson and Schmitt Music, David Dick.

Hallelujah/Minneapolis: In Praise of Beauty and Disorder was commissioned by the Walker Art Center and developed in partnership with the Walker, Minnesota Dance Alliance, Intermedia Arts, and Rimon: Minnesota Council of Jewish Arts.

The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange residency is made possible in part by generous support from the Walker’s Doris Duke Fund For Jazz and Dance; the National Endowment for the Arts; The Pew Charitable Trusts; the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund; and the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon and the Philip Morris Companies, Inc. This residency is also part of Minnesota Dance Alliance's Dance Infusion program funded by the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; and part of THICKER THAN WATER: Art as a Family Value®, an Intermedia Arts program dedicated to building intergenerational understanding through creativity, sponsored by Target Stores, with additional funding from the Medtronic Foundation and United Arts. Additional support provided by the Minneapolis Downtown Council and TownePlace Suites by Marriott.

The music for Hallelujah/Minneapolis was composed by Bob Een, through a co-commissioning project by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in partnership with Walker Art Center, and the National Performance Network Creation Fund. The Creation Fund is sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The NPN is an independently incorporated organization, originally founded by Dance Theater Workshop in cooperation with arts organizations across the United States. The Network is made possible with major funding from The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency).

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange’s Hallelujah Project is supported by AT&T Foundation, The American Composers Forum, The Animating Democracy Initiative (a program of Americans for the Arts, funded by the Ford Foundation), The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Dallas Morse Coors Foundation, The Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Family Foundation, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, The National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (with funding from: National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Philip Morris Companies, Inc.), The National Endowment for the Arts, The Raymond Family Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation--Multi-Arts Production Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, Target Corporation, and Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds Program for Leading Dance Companies.

Biographical Information

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange was founded in 1976. Its unique brand of dance/theater breaks boundaries between stage and audience, theater and community, movement and language, tradition and the unexplored. Through explosive dancing, personal stories, humor, and a company of performers whose ages span six decades, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange stretches the expressive range of contemporary dance. Its work consists of formal concerts, interactive performances, specialized community residencies, and professional training in the art of community-based dance. An artist-driven organization, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange employs a collaborative approach to dancemaking, administration, and implementation. The Dance Exchange is one of the largest employers in downtown Takoma Park, Maryland, a small town on the border of Washington, DC. At this location in January 1998, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange opened a school for dancers, children, senior adults, and anyone else who is interested in exploring the connections between artmaking and community life. The Dance Exchange would like to hear from you. If you have thoughts about this performance or would like to find out more about us please contact us at: Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, 7117 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912, www.danceexchange.org, or mail@danceexchange.org.

Liz Lerman (Artistic Director) has choreographed works that have been seen throughout the United States and abroad. Combining dance with realistic imagery, her works are defined by the spoken word, drawing from literature, personal experience, philosophy, and political and social commentary. Over the past 20 years she has received recognition for her work with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and as a solo artist. She has received an American Choreographer Award, the American Jewish Congress "Golda" award, the first annual Pola Nirenska Award, the Mayor's Art Award and Washingtonian Magazine's Washingtonian of the Year. Ms. Lerman's work has been commissioned by Lincoln Center, American Dance Festival, Dancing in the Street, BalletMet, and The Kennedy Center. In 1997, Ms. Lerman directed and collaborated with The Music Hall in creating "The Shipyard Project" in Portsmouth, NH. Her choreographic work has received support from AT&T, Meet The Composer, American Festival Project, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network Creation Fund, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Ms. Lerman is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist for arts and community organizations both nationally and internationally. She is an active participant in Harvard University’s Saguarro Seminar which gathers thinkers from around the United States together in order to promote growth of social capital and civic connectedness in America. Her book, Teaching Dance to Senior Adults, was published in 1983. She is married to storyteller, Jon Spelman; they are parents of Anna Clare, born in May 1988.

Peter DiMuro (Associate Artistic Director) has choreographed and collaborated with professional artists and those new to art-making throughout the United States and abroad. Peter teaches and facilitates other artists’ creative process throughout the country, in addition to leading Dance Exchange residency work, including the two-year community interactive The Music Hall Shipyard Project in Portsmouth, NH and the recent Hallelujah collaboration with University of Arizona, Tucson, "In Praise of Ordinary Prophets." His evening of solo works, Light Reading/Male Monuments and the repertoire of his Boston-based Performance Associates, have been seen around the country and in Europe. Peter has created new work for Dance Umbrella, Boston Ballet II, and for the "Something Different" series at the Kennedy Center. With an eye toward making art that illumines our human connections, Peter has spoken on creative process experiences at numerous engagements including the 1995 National GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educators Network) Conference, state arts councils in Oklahoma and New Hampshire; numerous sites as a residency-leader with the Dance Exchange and as a solo artist. Originally from Round Lake, IL, he now lives in Washington, DC.

Chloë Brown (Production Manager) is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer and production manager. Her work in the dance and theater community has given her the opportunity to travel the world, lighting things up wherever she goes. Some of the artists she's traveled with include David Dorfman, Susan Marshall, Merce Cunningham, Michael Moschen, Dan Froot, Lisa Race, Marty Pottenger, Doug Elkins, Bebe Miller, Eric Bogosian, and Jennifer Blaine. She loves her work.

Thomas Dwyer began a dance career with Liz Lerman, after retiring from the U.S. government service, in June 1988. During his time with the Dance Exchange he has become a teacher of creative movement for senior adults in community settings. His choreography, known for modern dance employing community-based seniors, has been presented at Dance Place in Washington, DC, and The Church Street Theatre.

Robert Een (Composer) is an acclaimed composer, singer, and cellist. He has written extensively for film, dance and theater, including the score for the feature film Mr. Jealousy, starring Eric Stoltz, Annabella Sciorra and Bridget Fonda, as well as music for choreographer Yoshiko Chuma’s award-winning Unfinished Symphony. The recipient of a 2000 "Bessie Award" for sustained achievement, Een has performed his music on stages and in unusual venues throughout the world, including the Buddhist caves of Ellora, India; a Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan; a theater in Bodo, Norway above the Arctic circle; and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. The Village Voice said of his work, "Joyous...a roller coaster of postminimal-jazz energy that could engage any audience". "Mesmerizing," said the Louisville Courier-Journal. Known for his use of extended vocal and cello techniques, he has recorded six albums, including his most recent, Mystery Dances being released spring 2001 on the Starkland label. His scores for film include Trouble on the Corner, starring Tony Goldwyn, Debi Mazar and Giancarlo Esposito; The Rook, starring Martin Donovan; Dirt starring Mary Schultz; Guts, starring Kristen Johnston; and the documentaries Shalom Y’all and Carnival Train. Robert Een’s music for dance can be heard in the repertories of Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Sara Pearson/ Patrik Widrig, Jennifer Muller, Irene Hultman, Yoshiko Chuma, and Ron K. Brown, among others. As a teacher he has been a guest lecturer and an artist-in-residence at colleges, universities and professional schools around the globe.

Margot Greenlee, performer and choreographer, is an Ohio native. While there she conducted dance residencies for the Ohio Arts Council and Greater Columbus Arts Council. Additionally she taught at Ohio Wesleyan for four years and founded Total Theatre, Inc., a multidisciplinary performing lab, currently in its sixth production season. Her work has been presented at Wexner Center for the Arts, Third Avenue Performance Space, and Davis Discovery Center. In 1999 she completed her MFA at Ohio State University.

Elizabeth Johnson, Education Community Assistant and Company Member, acts as a coordinator and teacher for the Teen Initiative Program and School Registrar. She is in her second year as a faculty member at Liz Lerman Dance Exchange; along with teaching in the Teen Initiative Program, Elizabeth has taught adult modern dance classes, children’s creative movement and composition classes at Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. In May Elizabeth choreographed a piece for Teen Initiative participants that was performed in two local venues. Elizabeth is active as a dance artist in the Washington, DC area, performing for choreographers Adrienne Clancy and Gesel Mason in independent productions as well as creating her own work which is driven by words and sound. She graduated from Connecticut College with a B.A. in dance and a minor in theater. Elizabeth assisted and taught at the Connecticut College Children’s Dance Center, and studied at London Contemporary Dance School.

Pene McCourty strives to create as well as perform work that addresses intimate and personal journeys of the human soul. For the past four years, she has taught theater/movement/dance and performed as a member of Marlies Yearby's Movin' Spirits Dance Theater, which has gone into communities varying from elementary and junior high schools to dance festivals throughout the country. As a choreographer, she has worked collaboratively with writer Suhier Hammad, jazz percussionist Leon Parker and his ensemble, vocal stylist Elizabeth Condomble, and has also shown her own creative processes throughout greater New York. Her avid interest in the therapeutic aspects of dance/movement as a way of healing physically, emotionally, and spiritually led to her certification as a yoga teacher/therapist in 1996. Pene has taught ongoing yoga workshops at Sivananda Vedanta Yoga Center, Healing Works, Maria Lawton Senior Center, and several other venues throughout NYC.

Bebe Miller (Choreographer, Blessed) reset Blessed on the Dance Exchange’s intergenerational company while in residence through the National Performance Network. A native New Yorker, Ms. Miller has been making dances for twenty years. In order to further a process of group inquiry, she formed Bebe Miller Company in 1985. Bebe Miller Company was the first American company to perform in South Africa.

Naoko Nagata (Costume Designer) is an avid collector and restorer of 19th and 20th century clothing and lace. She has had a long interest in the movement of clothing, the body, and the relationship between the two. Ms. Nagata has costumed 48 pieces of choreography in two years, including Doug Elkins Dance Company, David Dorfman Dance, Zvi Gotheiner and Dancers, Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig and Dancers, Cheryln Lavagnino, and Janis Brenner among others. Her background is biochemistry. What changed her life is a long story. Nowadays her laboratory is a rehearsal studio.

Kazu Nakamura is originally from Japan where he appeared in Japanese musicals. He moved to New York in 1991 to study modern dance at Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Since then he has worked with H.T.Chen, Nicholas Rodriguez and Dance Compass, Despina Stamos, Christine Sang, Jennifer Chin, Kristin Jackson, and Tomoko Imanaka, among others. He is also currently dancing with Yasuko Yokoshi.

Andy Teirstein (Composer) inspired by the rich and diverse folk roots of modern culture, is a student of Leonard Bernstein and Henry Brant. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his music, theater and concert music, including three National Endowment for the Arts awards, ASCAP Awards, and Meet the Composer Awards. He is the recipient of a Continental Harmony Award from the American Composers Forum which resulted in a symphony, Landscape Changing that premiered in Washington State on March 26, 2000. He is on the faculties of New York University and Marymount Manhattan College, where he is Music Director of the Dance Department. Mr. Teirstein writes music for the concert hall, film, theater, and dance.

Vincent Thomas received his MFA in dance from Florida State University in 1998 and a BME in music from the University of South Carolina in 1987. While teaching music in the South Carolina public schools, he danced with Dancework Jazz Company, serving as Associate Director. He attended the American Dance Festival from 1995-1997 as a scholarship student and staff assistant. He is actively involved as a choreographer, designer, and consultant for color guards, marching bands, and drum and bugle corps around the country.

Marvin Webb has a BSBA in marketing and management from Creighton University, Omaha, NE, a Certificate in Dance from the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and a MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since 1994, MarvinDance, his company, has had seasons at The Cunningham Studio, University of Illinois at Urbana, at Dancespace, and at The Joyce SoHo. He has toured and danced the works of The Martha Graham Ensemble, Up With People, The Illinois Dance Theater, Pascal Rioult, Martita Goshen, Second Avenue Dance Company, Ralph Lemon, Ronald K. Brown, Doug Varone, and Shapiro & Smith. His works have been produced at The University of Illinois's Studio Dance III Concert, at NYU's Second Avenue Dance Company's 1998 Major Retrospective Show, Downtown Arts Festivals 1998 & 1999, The 1998 Joyce SoHo Presents Spring Series, and the 1999 Dixon Place New Works Series.

Martha Wittman. A native of Philadelphia, Martha has been a teacher, dancer, and choreographer for the past 40 years. As a young performer, she danced with Juilliard Dance Theatre under the direction of Doris Humphrey and in the Ruth Currier, Joseph Gifford and Anna Sokolow dance companies. From 1968 to 1996, Martha was an associate choreographer with the Dances We Dance Company directed by Betty Jones and Fritz Ludin. Her awards in choreography include three fellowships from the NEA and the Doris Humphrey Fellowship from the American Dance Festival. For many years, Martha was a faculty member at Bennington College in Vermont. Martha is a practitioner of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing. Most recently, she choreographed a duet with Judith Jourdin, which had its premiere in Washington, D.C.

Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota (AAHWM) In 1981, AAHWM was formed as the first non-profit origination operated by Hmong women in the U.S. to address the evolving needs of Hmong women and their families in our new community. AAHWM offers dance classes for young people (6-18) to learn traditional Hmong, Lao, and other Southeast Asian dances, and develop cultural pride and self-confidence. Public performances throughout the years also enable the participants to share their culture and traditions with the larger community.

Intermedia Arts Hallelujah/Minneapolis is a part of Intermedia Arts' THICKER THAN WATER: Art as a Family Value®. Through its emphasis on building intergenerational understanding through creativity and art, Intermedia links families together to experience the value of interaction, self-expression, and creative thinking. Since 1997, Intermedia Arts has presented the work of families who perform, paint, sing, dance, and create together as models for creative interaction and communication. In connecting Intermedia Arts' THICKER THAN WATER® program, and the Hallelujah project, we focused on partnering individuals of diverse ages and cultures. Intermedia partnered seven North High School students and twenty senior citizens from the Southwest Senior Center in a series of workshops that encouraged all participants to tell stories and find ways to create dances together from their common, and sometimes very uncommon, lives. Over the course of this year-long residency with the Dance Exchange, both students and seniors found new ways to communicate and found new friendships through exploring the theme of "Beauty and Disorder."

The Jeremiah Program is a broad-based collaborative community initiative, designed to assist low income mothers with children to help themselves complete their education and achieve economic self-sufficiency through access to affordable housing, childcare, health care, support services and meaningful employment. The Jeremiah Program mothers and children have the opportunity to develop positive self-esteem and clarify their values on which they will build successful lives.

Minnesota Dance Alliance’s mission is to create an environment that values and celebrates dance; our programming aims to facilitate dialogue, partnerships, and networking, as we assume a leadership role in advocating for dance in the region. The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange’s Hallelujah/Minneapolis is part of MDA's Dance Infusion program, which aims to connect local and national dance artists with each other and with new communities.

RIMON: Minnesota Jewish Arts Council promotes and strengthens Jewish identity through arts and culture, supports artists who broadly explore Jewish themes, and assists the greater Jewish community in developing a collaborative involvement with the arts. RIMON has been a catalyst for community-building through ambitious collaborations, such as the Sukkot Project, which have combined the arts with issues of social justice and education. RIMON works to stimulate greater appreciation for the arts in Jewish life and to cultivate relationships between Jewish artists, the Jewish community, and non-Jewish arts institutions. Past projects have also included a regional Jewish artists directory and two widely praised conferences (Arts and the American Jewish Experience, Arts and the Jewish Community) produced in collaboration with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. RIMON is an initiative of the Department of Identity and Continuity of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

Young Dance, directed by Kaori Kenmotsu and Gretchen Pick, is a unique dance company of young people, ages 8 — 18, from around the Twin Cities. The company is committed to giving Twin Cities’ youth a voice through the creation and performance of contemporary dance.