TU Dance addresses social issues in program

Minnesota’s TU Dance opens its 13th performance season on November 18-20 with choreographic responses to contemporary tensions of race, culture and identity. The esteemed Saint Paul-based dance troupe will be on stage at The O’Shaughnessy.

Since the company’s founding in 2004, TU Dance has often navigated complex themes of social change. For this program, two world premieres will reflect on these challenging topics. 

In the TU Dance-commissioned In Witnessing, New York choreographer Francesca Harper will examine the current state of justice and humanity. Her work asks, “How does the human body respond to injustice and violence? How do we empathize? How do we heal?” With movement influenced by inclusivity and love, In Witnessing will feature the full company and a guest appearance by Artistic Director Toni Pierce-Sands. 

Choreographer Uri Sands will premiere Matter, a work created in collaboration with TU Dance company members to address recent local and national tragedies involving racial bias and profiling.  

Artistic Director Toni Pierce-Sands said, “In the process of creating these courageous new works, Francesca and Uri have each made room in the studio for that which is difficult to freely occur, drawing on the personal responses of our dancers to recent incidents of racism and violence. For everyone at TU Dance, the experience of creating this choreography together has been astonishing.”

Also on the program is a reprise of Sands’ 2005 work Tearing, originally commissioned through the Princess Grace Fellowship in Choreography and inspired by the emergence of ribbon campaigns. Tearing uncovers how communities come together in expressions of grief and celebration.

The TU Dance Company features the talents of dancers Darwin Black, Tara Cacciatore, Taylor Collier, Youthen Joseph, Adam McGaw, Alanna Morris-Van Tassel (2015 McKnight Fellow for Dancers; 2012 Sage Award for Dance’s Outstanding Dance Performer), Randall Riley, Kaitlin Setzke, Alexis Staley and Elayna Waxse. 

Tickets are $24, $29 and $34 with discounts for students, seniors, military, MPR, TPT and groups of 10 and more. For more information and tickets, contact The O’Shaughnessy Ticket Office at 651-690-6700. Tickets can also be purchased online 24/7 at oshag.stkate.edu.

To learn more about TU Dance, head to www.tudance.org.

Photos by Michael Slobidian.