In a temple, a public school, and a cultural center, the Twin Cities arts scene brings South Indian dance, Afro-fusion beats, Latin American holiday songs and a film event celebrating Hmong politicians. 

A South Indian tradition finds new ground

Every December, Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu in South India, hosts one of the biggest South Indian classical arts festivals in the world. Margazhi (pronounced Mar-ga-li), a season spanning December and January in the Tamil calendar, is regarded as a sacred time when temples become stages for music and dance. 

Traditionally, Margazhi performances unfold in auditoriums or mantapams (open halls without formal stages) where audiences sit on the floor and come and go freely. 

“When I was little, I had the experience of going to the temple in the morning or in the evening and then going to the nearest auditorium to watch performances,” said Sivanuja Balaji, founder and artistic director of the Minnesota-based performing arts school Nritya Kalakshetra Academy. 

Balaji, who grew up in South India, is bringing the spirit of Margazhi to the Hindu Temple of Minnesota for the Kala Triveni Confluence on Saturday. 

The name “Triveni” refers to the sacred confluence of three rivers. The metaphor represents the coming together of dance, music and rhythm at the temple’s Nath Auditorium. 

Saturday’s performance will feature an ensemble of 15 Bharatanatyam dancers alongside 20 student musicians for a Carnatic vocal and orchestral concert. 

For Minnesotans new to Indian classical arts, show up with curiosity: “When you go to the temple, you will experience everything,” Balaji said. “You will see prayer, you will see puja [a Hindu ritual], and you will feel so elevated.” 

As a teacher of Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Indian folk dance and theater, Balaji views dance as a spiritual practice: “I want the world to enjoy India’s beautiful culture. The experience is not just food for your eyes and ears, but for your whole soul.”

Music of the African diaspora

Local artists Carolyne Naomi and Diatoti join dance collective Afrocontigbo to bring “Festive Beats of Afrika” to the Cedar Cultural Center this Saturday. Backed by a live band, the two-hour concert will celebrate Africa’s musical roots and diasporic creativity. Naomi will channel her first-generation immigrant experience into soulful, Afro-fusion holiday songs, while Diatoti will perform improvisational Congolese rumba. Afrocontigbo, led by Nigerian dancer Korma Aguh-Stuckmayer, will fuse traditional West African dance with contemporary forms.

A Latin American Christmas

Singers from Border CrosSing will spotlight Christmas music across South America — from the highlands of Peru and Bolivia to the valleys of Ecuador, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. “Navidad Nuestra” pairs Western classical music with Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez’s 20th-century choral work, celebrating Advent through a Latin American lens.

Meet the Hmong leaders shaping Minnesota politics

While music and dance fill Twin Cities stages this weekend, a St. Paul bookstore offers a look back at the leaders who are shaping Minnesota’s political landscape. 

Before 2002, no Hmong American had ever held a seat in a state Legislature. Mee Moua’s campaign asked a newly arrived refugee community to imagine itself not just as voters, but as lawmakers. 

Xia Books and the Minnesota Asian American Film Festival (MAFF) will screen the “The Time is Right for Mee,” a documentary chronicling Moua’s trailblazing path to the Minnesota Senate. 

After the screening, six Hmong elected officials — including state Sen. Foung Hawj, who produced the film — will join a Q&A reflecting on decades of Hmong political leadership, from Choua Lee’s historic election to the St. Paul School board in 1991 to Kaohly Her’s 2025 election as the first Hmong American mayor of St. Paul.

READ MORE

‘We’re not going to be bullied’: Young Somalis counter racist attacks with social media humor

Kao Kalia Yang gives voice to the Hmong refugee experience at the Ordway

The art of ‘Place-Keepers’: How Latina cultural workers are preserving community space ‘with or without funding’