Community Class With Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag

Engage your body through the rich, expressive movement of legendary choreographer Ronald K. Brown with a Community Class at TU Dance, led by Brown himself alongside Arcell Cabuag, associate artistic director of Brown’s EVIDENCE, A Dance Company. This 90-minute class will incorporate the varied influences found within Brown’s work, fusing Western dance styles with the traditional rhythms and social dances of West Africa, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Available to participants thanks to a partnership between Northrop and TU Dance, this class is designed for all ages and experience levels, including beginners.

Cost: $20. This class is free for University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. This class has a capacity of 35 students, and registration is required. Participants will receive a 50% off discount code to attend the Ronald K. Brown / EVIDENCE Featuring TU Dance performance on Thu, Oct 30, 7:30 pm at Northrop.

Ronald K. Brown

Ronald K. Brown, raised in Brooklyn, NY, is the recent recipient of the Martha Hill Mid-Career Achievement Award (2024), American Dance Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), and a Dance Teacher Award of Distinction (2024). Other awards include the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award (2020), as well as a Dance Magazine Award (2018) and Samuel H. Scripps/ADF Award (2018). Brown has also received an AUDELCO Award for his choreography in Regina Taylor’s award-winning play Crowns, two Black Theater Alliance Awards, and a Fred & Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Tony Award-winning Broadway and national touring production of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, adapted by Suzan Lori Parks.

Brown has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Philadanco, Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago, Ballet Hispánico, TU Dance, and Malpaso Dance Company.

He has collaborated with such artists as composer/designer Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya, the late writer Craig G. Harris, director Ernie McClintock’s Jazz Actors Theater; choreographers Patricia Hoffbauer and Rokiya Kone; and composers Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, Meshell Ndegeocello, Robert Een, Oliver Lake, Bernadette Speech, David Simons, and Don Meissner. He has performed with Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Jennifer Muller/The Works, as well as other choreographers and artists.

Brown was named Def Dance Jam Workshop 2000 Mentor of the Year and has received the Doris Duke Artist Award, NYC City Center Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship, a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, and The Ailey Apex Award. Brown is co-artistic director of The Billie Holiday Theatre’s Youth Arts Academy and a member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.

Arcell Cabuag

Arcell Cabuag is a first-generation Filipino-American from San Jose, CA. He moved to New York City to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, where he was introduced to Ronald K. Brown. Soon after, he joined EVIDENCE, A Dance Company as its first apprentice, became a company member one year later, and has served as its associate artistic director since 2004.

Cabuag has danced with Camille A. Brown, Mekeda Thomas, and in Rock the House for Paramount Pictures, The Shoji Tabuchi Show (Branson, MO), the Richard Rodgers Centennial Production of The King and I, and dance festivals worldwide. His TV credits include Law & Order: SVU “Choreographed,” and a Codorniu Cava commercial featuring PILOBOLUS for Spanish television. He has assisted Brown in creating repertory on Philadanco Dance Company, MUNTU Drum and Dance Company, TU Dance, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company, and served as associate choreographer for the Tony Award-winning Broadway and national touring productions of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

Cabuag is proud to serve the dance community as a long-standing educator and advocate nationally and abroad. Education, advocacy, and teaching EVIDENCE repertory work include: professor of dance at Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus); co-artistic director of the Restoration Dance Youth Ensemble; Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York University; University of Massachusetts; Boston Arts Academy, The Ailey Fordham BFA and Certificate Programs; Marymount Manhattan College, and Boston Conservatory. Cabuag is a 2004 New York Dance and Performance ¨Bessie¨ Award winner for his performance and work with EVIDENCE, and received the Dance Teacher Award of Distinction alongside Brown in 2024.

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.