At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, a 12-by-48-foot textile installation hangs above Terminal 1, bursting with color. Blues melt into purples, pinks fade into oranges, and bands of yellow and green trace dancers moving across the fabric. “Chorus” holds the collective joy of a dance floor — the kind of joy Minneapolis-based artist Alexandra Beaumont grew up with and now pours back into the Twin Cities. 

“I love dancing but as much as I love dancing, I also love witnessing,” Beaumont said. “I love to see people out on the dance floor just in the full flourishing of their joy. I think it’s a gift to see that. It’s a gift that we give ourselves to be in community with each other.”

Born and raised in South Carolina, Beaumont’s installation echoes the musical upbringing she absorbed from her parents, who performed Motown, funk, swing and reggae in local nightclubs. She trained in dance and visual arts through boarding school, then moved to New York to study fashion design at Pratt Institute. After several years working in menswear, she found herself longing to return to fine arts — a shift that eventually brought her to Minneapolis. 

“New York is incredible but if you’re not taking advantage of all the juice that it has, then it’s just a hassle,” Beaumont said. “It was time for a shift. I was really excited to enter into the creative community here. It just felt like a lot more accessible, a lot less competitive — a place where I could try some things out and feel less pressured.” 

In an interview with Sahan Journal, Beaumont shared the local artists she admires, the venues she keeps returning to and the question guiding her latest work.

Below, get to know Beaumont — and then explore more of what’s happening around the Twin Cities this weekend, from Cinefilmu’s second festival of work by queer, trans and filmmakers of color, to the Serpentina Arts Film Festival and Teatro del Pueblo’s rare 1993 musical revival. 

Inside the Minneapolis art scene with Alexandra Beaumont

The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Who are some Twin Cities artists whose work inspires you? 

I love Dyani White Hawk. Her work and her practice are just a real touchstone for me. Just a huge fan of hers. Let’s see, I really love the dancer José Luis. He just had a performance at Red Eye a couple months ago and he’s just so deeply thoughtful about what he’s trying to say with his work. I could watch him water his lawn. He’s just gorgeous to watch move. I’m a big fan of Maiya Lea Hartman. Maiya is such a technically impressive artist and their work is so sensual in the classic sense. It’s really about embodiment and feeling and I have a deep respect for that. Man, there’s so many great artists in the city. So many. 

What are some of your favorite local art venues to spend time in? 

Public Functionary is top of the list for me. It’s such a multimodal space, like there’s great visual art and there’s great music. I think when it comes to other great spaces in the Twin Cities, Hair + Nails surpasses my expectations every time. There have been a few openings where I’m like, “Oh, I should go and support this artist. I’m gonna see some people,” and I kind of have to make myself go and then I see the work and I’m like, “Damn, I’m so glad I didn’t miss this.”

For dancing these days, I like to follow DJs that I know create a good space, so I like Samambo. They do a lot of stuff at the Green Room. DJ McShellen is one of the best DJs I feel like I’ve ever heard. She just makes you listen to music differently, and it’s just so fun. 

What questions are you asking yourself in the studio right now? 

How much do I need the work to translate as I’m moving into more abstraction? Like, I know where my work is coming from in terms of my inspiration sources and what I’m trying to say but as you abstract further and further, you can’t assume that the audience or the viewers are going to make that connection on their own. 

Join Beaumont this Saturday for an artist talk about the installation.

A classic musical brought to life

Catch the final weekend of Teatro del Pueblo’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical,” a 1993 musical that inspired a recent film adaptation starring Jennifer Lopez, now on stage at The Southern Theater with Twin Cities performers. 

Directed by Teatro del Pueblo founder and artistic director Alberto Justiniano, the production follows two men imprisoned under a repressive regime in Argentina. Molina (played by Zakary Thomas Morton), incarcerated for a sexual relationship with a minor, escapes his grim reality by fantasizing about glamorous movie star Aurora (Maria Isabel Gonzalez), who transforms into the Spider Woman. 

These fantasies help Molina endure torture, boredom and fear, while also allowing him to process his feelings for Valentin (Silvestrey P’orantes), a revolutionary imprisoned for his political activism. The musical explores queer identity and the human need for connection under oppression. 

Experimental storytelling on screen

The Cinefilmu Fest returns to St. Paul on Saturday, spotlighting the work of queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and filmmakers of color. The one-day festival will feature more than 50 shorts from local and international artists, including works-in-progress, Indigenous-inspired animations, live screenplay readings, stories of migration, and films exploring the Black experience in the Midwest. Workshops will cover disability and queerness in media and attendees can learn how to create personal and family archival projects. 

A screening highlight is “Amor Eterno” a short film by emerging immigrant filmmaker and activist Nia Navarro, starring Twin Cities artists Isavela Lopez and Max Lopez. The film follows Monse, a young Mexican American woman navigating the sudden death of her younger brother, Felix. 

A night of Latine shorts

The Serpentina Arts Film Festival will spotlight more than 20 local Latine storytellers on Tuesday, showcasing the range of contemporary Latinidad through documentary, narrative, experimental and animated shorts. 

Among the highlights is Natalia Rocafuerte’s “Dream of Emma and Tony,” which reimagines her dream as a late-night TV broadcast using found footage, home video and lo-fi visuals. Also featured is Graciela DeAnda’s “Sacred Lives, Stolen Identities: The Power of Belongings,” an immersive black box installation centering the experiences of four Mexican migrants in the U.S. through portraiture, recorded interviews and photographs of personal artifacts that hold memories and identity. 

A panel of three jurors — photographer Drew Arrieta, multidisciplinary artist Hedgiee, and writer Gabriel Antúnez de Mayolo Kou — will select one standout short to receive a $250 prize in an award ceremony. 

READ MORE

Vietnamese folklore meets Midwestern landscapes in playful University of Minnesota show

World premiere of ‘Abuelita’ at the Capri delves into a journey of cultural reconnection

Yasmin Yassin’s ‘Woman Land’ brings coming-of-age story to MSP film fest