Join us for a multi-genre, family friendly performance featuring artists of all abilities as they share their work!
In order to be as financially accessible as possible, this performance features Radical Hospitality, a concept pioneered by Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. A small portion of event tickets may be purchased ahead of time for guaranteed admission, but the majority of the tickets will be available at the door. Patrons will be asked when they arrive “What do you want to pay today?” Answers can be as little as zero or as much as a million dollars (we wish!). We strive to be inclusive of all members of our community, welcome those who may never have attended a performance with us before, and encourage those who are financially able to help us support this vital concept of arts for all. The box office will open 1 hour prior to the performance.
Access accommodations, such as ASL interpretation, assistive listening devices, large print programs, and audio description, will be available for both ADA Retrospective performances. No reservations are necessary.
Artists include
- Dance pieces from…
Cary Bittinger has had the opportunity to share her love of dance and the power of movement with diverse populations that range in destinations from her home state of Minnesota to Chicago, Brooklyn, Harbour Island, Bahamas, Durham, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and even Sydney Australia. Each population she encountered, she saw the essences of what movement provides: joy, freedom, peace, and an understanding of the human connection that is felt through the mind/body/spirit connection. She received her masters degree in Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling from Columbia College Chicago in 2009, which taught her how to approach movement from a different lens. In Chicago, she was able to work with a group of high school students from the westside through a particular style of movement called footworking. Footworking originated in Chicago and allows the people who are dancing to express what they have been through in their lives. Currently, she is working as a Dance Therapist at Head Start in St.Paul, MN and for Young Dance in Minneapolis, MN. Movement has no boundary, it is limitless, even in stillness a dance is being created & with each breath a story is being told through movement.
Angelique Lele has been doing theater for most of her life. Performing in the requisite school plays as a child and then, when she was older and felt she really wanted to make a statement, co-founding an all women’s theater company called Toxic Shock Stage. In TSS, a Los Angeles based theater company, the women wrote, produced and directed all their own work. In LA, Angelique was introduced to the aerial arts and began to do trapeze and silks. It was only a matter of time before she became interested in performing. She began performing around LA and then Minneapolis when she moved to town in 2008. In 2012, an accident while she was training on the trapeze paralyzed her. Introduced to the beautiful world of integrative dance in 2014, Angelique is excited to have the chance to begin performing again and open to the challenge of exploring a new physicality on stage. She feels excited to be performing with Cary and Kathleen.
Kathleen Pender grew up in Northfield and received her B.A. in Dance from St. Olaf College. Kathleen teaches creative ballet, ballet, tap, and modern classes at the Northfield Arts Guild and assists classes with Young Dance in Minneapolis. She is also Company Manager with performance company Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater and performs for Minneapolis-based choreographer Taja Will. With deep passion for dance education and performance, Kathleen is grateful to be teaching for the Northfield Arts Guild’s dance program, which served as her dance foundation and fostered her development as an artist. Kathleen is looking forward to performing with Angie and Cary and returning to the Arts Guild stage.
BUZZ! The Musical. Script and concept by Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha and Michelle Pillatzki Ahmed, with music and lyrics by Lauren Mikeal Weber. Directed by Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha, and performed by the Northfield Arts Guild’s A+ Art Club and special guests Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha, Brian Warzeha, Ryan Puffer 
“Las Chiapanecas” dance piece (music: Traditional music from Chiapas) danced by The Baile Folklórico Mexicano dance group. The Baile Folklórico Mexicano dance group of the Northfield Arts Guild was founded in 2005 by Ana Baez Toquillas. Four dancers, two students and two teachers, will be performing today. Atia Cole has danced with the group for nine years and is a high school student. Liana Cole is also a student and has been with the group for eight years. Ana Baez came to Minnesota from Culiacán, Mexico, after 15 years of dancing professionally throughout Mexico while earning degrees in dance education, choreography, and traditional Mexican folk arts. Kate Stuart has been teaching dance and music for many years, and joined Ana seven years ago as the associate teacher for the group.- Theatre piece featuring the ArtMakers College Apprentice Program, featuring Skye Curtis, Jaynee Purchase, Andrew Rossow, Jim Rossow, Nora Serres
ArtMakers is a new arts organization born in Northfield to create an inclusive, community-centered, career arts day program for individuals of varying abilities. ArtMakers combines a Career Arts Group and a College Arts Apprentice Program to bring artists with disabilities together with students from the colleges and other artists from the community to create and share their work.
“Over the Rainbow” is a story montage that blends works by Robert Munsch, Maurice Sendak, and L. Frank Baum with the music of Paul Williams, Harold Arlen and Edgar Harburg, and Steven Schwartz. ArtMakers is grateful to stand on the shoulders of such wonderful artists.
Dance piece, “Three Little Birds” from Emma Hilson
Emma Hilson is a 10 year old who is new to the MN Dance world has always enjoyed dancing, whether by herself or in front of a group of others. She has recently performed in the Arts Access Chautauaua “Here I am” concert.
Dance piece, “Uptown Funk,” performed by Michael Cohn (music by Bruno Mars)
Michael Cohn was born in Iowa and raised in the Twin cities. Originally he started dancing as a form of therapy and socialization in 2010 and found over time that he has learned techniques and skills that have broadened his scope of dance. He brings a slight twist with his dancing as he utilizes a walker and sometimes a dance wheelchair to help him move across the dance floor. Watch as Mike moves and shows how life can be free as we move with music!
