DanceMN

Dear Dance Community Members and Supporters,

In an ever-changing world, DanceMN aims to be a constant in your dance pursuits and connections. Our unwavering commitment to communication and to remaining a free-to-use service makes us the most reliable place to spread the word and uplift all things dance across the state of Minnesota. 

Just like different crops sprouting throughout the seasons, our community-submitted listings change week to week as the scene pulses with the new, the veteran, and everything in between:

• Beloved classes that have been in the mix for years have space alongside newly-formed offerings. 
• Performances in all sorts of venues and all corners of the state have equal spotlight at DanceMN. 
• Providers and those seeking services can connect directly without a mandatory advertising or platform fee.
• Our co-editors partner effectively as the farmers tending the crops: they screen for relevance, tidy typos, are always ready to assist posters and readers, and deliver a newsletter every week free of junk and turbulence.

Most importantly, DanceMN welcomes all who have something to share related to dance. We have been working to understand “who is our everyone,” a quest very much informed by those who participated in last year’s survey and sharing forums. We have plans in the works to broaden our reach both amongst dance idioms and across communities state-wide. We have been recently blessed with a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council that supports this work and other costs–80% of the grant funds are designated to projects outside our regular operating costs. We are especially grateful to receive this support and uplift our regional investment in the arts at a time when national resources are targeted. 

You are the sun and the rain! We are so grateful for your interest, your submissions, your insights, and your donations, and we can’t do it without you. It is vital to retain free services like DanceMN, particularly when there are so many forces at work to decenter the arts as essential.

We are your CSA box for dance—a consistently-delivered bounty of information that often includes something you know well alongside several new things to try! And in a world that can feel at times limiting, tense, or upsetting, the best thing we can do for ourselves and one another is breathe, nourish, and remain connected.

How will your DanceMN ingredients combine this week?

PS - Donations help, and so do these actions:

• Like/comment/share on Instagram;
• Forward the newsletter to a friend with an invitation to participate in one of the listed activities;
• Consider including our logo and link in your own newsletter, website, or social media posting;
• Reach out to a Steering Committee member to request a bundle of DanceMN postcards to share at your school, venue, around town, etc.; 
• Reach out to a Steering Committee member or DanceMN Editor if you are interested in becoming a committee member of DanceMN;
• Share information regarding your dance endeavors in our newsletter to help us represent your work.

With gratitude,

DanceMN Steering Committee:

Maggie Bergeron, Jarod Boltjes, Kealoha Ferreira, Joanne Gordon, Sarah LaRose-Holland, Jim Lieberthal, Alys Ayumi Ogura, Eve Schulte, Cheng Xiong

DanceMN Co-Editors:

Annie Carlson, Arcelia Rivera