While the Caribbean community in the Twin Cities may not be as large as those in cities like Miami or New York, Minnesota is home to more than 8,000 Caribbean residents representing a wide range of islands, cultures and languages. One annual tradition brings them together: Carnival. 

On Saturday, Caribbean Minnesotans will fill the streets — adorned with feathers, rhinestones, sequins and jewels — to honor generations of cultural pride. 

Here’s what to know about Twin Cities Carifest, Black dance improvisation and new exhibits at the Minneapolis American Indian Center and Soo Visual Arts Center this weekend. 

Celebrating Carnival

Carnival traces its roots to the late 18th century, when enslaved Africans in the Caribbean were excluded from masquerade balls hosted by European plantation owners. They created their own celebrations with music, dance and handmade costumes as an act of resistance against colonial oppression.

More than two centuries later, that spirit of resistance lives on in Minneapolis. The 32nd annual Twin Cities Carifest returns Saturday, bringing a day of live music, dancing, food and storytelling along part of the Mississippi riverfront. The festival will also feature a documentary screening exploring the history and traditions of Carnival. 

“Our main thing is sharing our culture,” said James Byron, Carifest’s program director. “Wherever you are in the world, Carnival brings people together for the fun of it.”

After moving from Trinidad and Tobago to Minnesota in 1989, Byron discovered Carifest unexpectedly while driving through downtown Minneapolis. 

“I was driving around, going home, and I saw people in costume,” Byron said. “Wow, it took me by surprise.” 

He attended the festival year after year before becoming involved with organizing in 2008. Over the years, he’s watched the celebration grow from a small family picnic into a massive street dance party. 

One of the day’s biggest highlights is its 4 p.m. parade, where masqueraders representing different Caribbean islands will fill the streets. 

“Many people, one place,” Byron said. At Carifest, “you could travel to the Caribbean without purchasing an airline ticket.” 

Preserving Indigenous history

In the late 1800s, when Indigenous tribes were forced onto reservations and buffalo hides traditionally used for painting became scarce, artists began drawing on the pages of accounting ledger books to continue telling their stories. 

They drew battle scenes, hunting expeditions, ceremonies, and everyday life — a tradition that Lakota artist Joe Pulliam carries forward in his debut exhibit, “What Could Not Be Erased,” now on display at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. 

Drawing on his upbringing on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Pulliam uses ledger art to explore Indigenous history, cultural survival and politics. 

Embodying improvisation

For St. Paul dancer Leslie Parker, improvisation is rooted in a lifetime of movement, memory and instinct. 

It “emerges anywhere from street dance to free jazz and African aesthetics,” Parker said. “The possibilities are endless for choreography as well as improvisation. It’s not like one is more of something than the other. They’re just different ways of presenting information.” 

This Friday, at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance, dancers Aleigha Mayo and Asha Rowland will bring two evenings of Black Dance Improvisation, sharing techniques developed during Parker’s Black Dance Residency Program. 

The residency continues in September with a second installment, bringing together local and national artists for a collective improvisation intensive and public performance. 

“I hope that folks walk away with an appreciation of what they bring into a room and an appreciation for sharing energy with people who are being vulnerable and honest and authentic in their explorations,” Parker said. 

Finding connection through dance

Dance won’t only take place on Minneapolis streets and stages this weekend. At the Soo Visual Arts Center, it’s woven into Alexandra Beaumont’s latest exhibit, “Sway.” 

Inside the gallery, sheer fabric hangs from the ceiling, stitched with red thread that outlines bodies in motion, while other works feature vibrant colors curling into one another like partners spinning across a dance floor. 

The exhibit draws inspiration from Beaumont’s experience with line dancing and growing up with musician parents. Through textile and mixed-media works, she explores dance as both a form of resistance to isolation and a way of building collective power. 

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