BRKFST Dance Company

Greetings, and welcome to Northrop! I’m delighted that you are joining us during the 2023-24 Northrop Season. In true Northrop fashion, this season brings a breadth of preeminent artists to the Twin Cities, offering audiences the chance to revisit long-time favorites, discover new gems, and even catch two world premieres of works that are part of the Northrop Centennial Commissions program. I hope you will explore everything we have to offer across dance, music, film, and this year’s Spotlight Series, Moving Through Injustice.

The performances that you see onstage are just one facet of each artist’s engagement with Northrop. In support of our mission to cultivate intersections between arts and education, there are a plethora of opportunities to dive more deeply into the artists and their work. Community roundtables, performance previews, workshops, classes, Q&A’s, and more offer insight into artists’ histories and processes, and give context surrounding the works you will see. Make sure to visit the “Learn More” section on each company’s event page on Northrop’s website to find interdisciplinary thematic connections, discover resources that provide more information on the performers, art forms, and artistic processes, and explore questions that will help engage you in conversations and reflections. Each of these elements are intended to complement and add new depth and dimension to the way you see the performances. I encourage you to visit the website now and often, as new engagements and resources are added throughout the year. While you’re there, explore the many other events happening at Northrop including concerts, lectures, comedy, and more!

Thank you again for joining us during the 2023-24 Northrop Season. I want to give a special thank you to our subscribers and donors. Your support is more important than ever before. Through your attendance and contributions, you help to ensure that Northrop can continue to bring world-class artists to the Twin Cities community. Thank you.

Gratefully,

Kari Schloner

Executive Director

Greetings and welcome to Northrop,

We are thrilled, honored, and grateful that you are joining us for this performance. Northrop presents some of the greatest dance and music performers from all around the world and has been doing so for almost 100 years! We are happy that you are a part of our community who supports this amazing work and helps us achieve our belief that the arts are essential to the human experience. We are committed to cultivating intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.  

Northrop has been an integral center for the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota arts community for close to a century and we need your help to continue to do so. We hope you can be a champion and advocate for Northrop by sharing your experiences at Northrop with your friends, family, and community at large, as well as supporting our work financially when you can. You can learn more about how to support Northrop here.

As Chair of the Northop Advisory Board, we are delighted to share that we are growing in our work to increase the impact of Northrop on the stage, in the schools, and in the community. If you are interested in learning more about being part of the Northrop Advisory Board, learn more here or contact Cynthia Betz, Director of Development, at betzx011@umn.edu.

Thanks again for joining us and don’t forget to say “Hi” and introduce yourself when you are attending a performance. I can’t wait to meet you!

Jeff Bieganek

Northrop Advisory Board Chair

BRKFST Dance Company, founded in 2014, seeks to create intellectually rigorous, physically demanding works of art through abstraction, breaking, and contemporary dance vernacular. Exploration of original modes of artistic expression is continuously pursued. BRKFST’s egalitarian and choreographic collaboration is rooted in the hip hop adage, "Each One Teach One". Regardless of class, race, experience, age, or gender, everyone remains both teacher and student. BRKFST's lineage stems from breaking and hip hop culture: earning respect from battles and embodying inclusivity by passing down their knowledge to the new generation. The lived experiences of this collective who identify as working class, queer, and BIPOC, inform their compositions.

BRKFST performs regionally in Minneapolis, premiering work at the Walker Art Center, Southern Theater, The Cowles Center, and Orchestra Hall with The MN Orchestra; nationally at the Belding Theater with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in Hartford, CT, at the Des Moines Civic Center with the Des Moines Symphony in Des Moines, IA, and internationally in Dublin, Ireland for Dance2Connect (D2C) Hip Hop Festival. Their film Dreamers (2019) was deemed an official selection in 11 international film festivals receiving the Grand Jury Award (In/Motion Festival 2021) and Best Experimental Film (Tirana Int. Film Festival 2020). BRKFST has set repertoire and original work with dancers at St. Olaf College in MN 2023, Carleton College in MN 2022, D2C Hip Hop Festival in Ireland 2022, Bates Dance Festival in ME 2022, and the University of MN 2021.

BRKFST Dance Company accolades include: 2024 Caroline Hearst Choreographers-in-Residence (Princeton University), 2024 Creative Residency at The National Center for Choreography (Akron), 2023 National Performance Network Creations and Development Grant, 2022 New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) National Dance Project (NDP) Production Grant, 2023, 2022, and 2021 Minnesota State Arts Board, 2021 NEFA NDP Finalist, 2021 Mid Atlantic Arts USArtists International Grant, and 2024, 2023, and 2019 Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Grant.

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Emma Marlar

Emma Marlar graduated from the UMN Twin Cities with a BFA in Dance in 2016. Since then she balances a career in the performance, creation/curation, and technical aspects of dance, focusing on work that allows her to support others, create collaboratively, and pursue endless explorations in movement. Marlar served as the Production Manager for Ananya Dance Theatre and has toured both nationally and internationally with the company from 2014-2022. She has performed locally and on tour with Body Watani, Slo Dance Company, Jagged Moves, and Shapiro & Smith. She has also danced in works by Maurya Kerr, Justin Jones, and Nora Chipaumire. Her choreography has been set at Carleton College, presented by Tomorrow River Homestead, and premiered at Rhythmically Speaking. Emma also co-founded dance trio Kelvin Wailey, who has created and performed over 20 original works during the years of 2015-present. She has produced an interdisciplinary showcase called PATTERNS and recently opened a community arts space, RESOURCE, in collaboration with Alexander Kollman and neighbors. Through these projects she creates and holds space for artists to workshop new and old ideas, and for audience members to relish in high quality work in casual, comfortable spaces.

Rhiannon Fiskradatz

Rhiannon Fiskradatz is a multidisciplinary storyteller who has worked in theatre, dance, circus, music, and visual art for more than twenty years. In her capacity as a costume and accessory designer, she has worked with more than fifty professional, amateur, and educational organizations. She has an Upper Midwest Emmy, has been featured in Beadwork magazine, and was awarded the "Spirit Of Powderhorn" at the Powderhorn Art Fair.

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Northrop and BRKFST wish to thank the Walker Art Center for providing its McGuire Theater and staff management support at a time of pressing need due to the unexpected closure of Cowles Center for the Arts.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

STORMCLUTTER is originally commissioned by The Cowles Center, Northrop, Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts’ Caroline Hearst Choreographer-In-Residence Program and is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation and Development Fund Project co-commissioned by John Michael Kohler Arts Center, National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron, Bates Dance Festival and NPN. The Creation and Development Fund is supported by The Doris Duke Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). BRKFST Dance Company is the recipient of a creative residency at The National Center for Choreography-Akron. The development of STORMCLUTTER was made possible in part by The National Center for Choreography-Akron.

The creation and premiere of Dancers, Dreamers, and Presidents was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation and was also commissioned by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra of Hartford, CT and the Minnesota Orchestra of Minneapolis, MN. 

Northrop and BRKFST wish to thank the Walker Art Center for providing its McGuire Theater and staff management support at a time of pressing need due to the unexpected closure of Cowles Center for the Arts.

The Northrop Advisory Board

The Northrop Advisory Board is committed to the growth and awareness of Northrop’s mission, vision, and the continued future of presenting world-class dance and music in our community. If you would like more information about the advisory board and its work, please contact Cynthia Betz, Director of Development, at 612-626-7554 or betzx011@umn.edu.

Thank you for supporting Northrop!

Making Legendary Performances Possible!

At Northrop, we believe in connecting great artists and ideas with our community and to a new generation of audiences. Your gift helps make memorable arts experiences possible by supporting extraordinary performances and new arts commissions, and helping ensure accessibility to everyone through live-streamed programming, outreach to diverse communities and subsidized student tickets. Our Friends are at the center of Northrop’s biggest ideas and brightest moments on stage.

Become a Friend of Northrop today! 
Donate online at northrop.umn.edu/support-northrop

Ways to Give:

• Annual Giving, a yearly gift amount of your choice.
• Monthly Giving, choose a recurring gift amount that works for you.
• Stock Gifts, Northrop accepts charitable gifts of stock.
• Planned Giving, consider a legacy gift by including Northrop in your will or trust, or by designating Northrop as a beneficiary of a retirement plan or life insurance policy.
• Matching Gifts, double your gift through your company’s matching gift program.

To learn more about supporting Northrop please contact:
Cynthia Betz
betzx011@umn.edu or 612-626-7554 

Friends of Northrop

A special thank you to our patrons whose generous support makes Northrop's transformative arts experiences possible. Make your mark on Northrop's future by becoming a Friend today, learn more by visiting northrop.umn.edu/support-northrop.

We gratefully acknowledge the support from Curtis L Carlson Family Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, project support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Givens Foundation, and event sponsors PNC Bank, and RBC Wealth Management.

Northrop's Aeolian-Skinner Organ

Thank you to the generous donors who continue to support programming for Northrop’s beloved Aeolian-Skinner Organ. It is because of you that this magnificent instrument’s voice will be enjoyed by many for years to come.

The Heritage Society Members

The Heritage Society honors and celebrates donors who have made estate and other planned gifts for Northrop at the University of Minnesota. 

• Nancy M. Allen*
• Jerry L. Artz
• John W. Follows*
• Stephen Gordon and Pat Gavan-Gordon
• Gail and Stuart Hanson
• Peter S. Lund
• Darlene M. Sholtis

*Deceased

This season’s listing is current as of 4/8/24

Please contact Trisha Taylor at taylort@umn.edu if you have any corrections or questions.