an experiment

With Leslie Parker & Collaborators

Leslie Parker Dance Project brings together improvisers in the Twin Cities who practice various models of improvisation around the world, for the Black Dance Improvisation, BDI, Intensive this June. The intensive culminates with a free admission, open public sharing of Black Improvisation in dance and music at The Cedar Cultural Center.

Performers include participants of Black Dance Improvisation Intensive & Music Collaborative,  with Michael Wimberly, Farai Malianga, Dameun Strange, and DeCarlo Jackson. This public event is in partnership with Leslie Parker Dance Project, The Cedar Cultural Center, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, and Northrop. Please note that the event will begin outdoors on The Cedar Plaza with a welcoming performance at 4:30 pm and continue to an evening-length work inside the concert hall at 5:00 pm.

The Black Dance Improvisation summer intensive is a no-cost opportunity to study with Parker as well as Ishmael Houston-Jones, Merián Soto, and Cynthia Oliver. Sessions will take place in three different studio locations on the University of Minnesota campus and in the St. Paul community. Black Dance Improvisation, BDI, Intensive 2024 is an extension of the Call to Remember methodology, open to all bodies and experiences while centering the embodied stories and lived experiences of Black, Native, Indigenous, and People Of Color. This opportunity is for, but not limited to, dance creatives steeped in performance practices.