The Twin Cities art scene this weekend offers a multicultural dance performance exploring grief and identity, a solo exhibit showcasing futuristic-inspired glass art, and a four-woman play addressing reproductive rights.
Dance performance embraces fluid identities in motion
Red Eye Theater, an artist-run organization supporting Twin Cities performers, is presenting “Vastnessess,” a dance performance choreographed by Valerie Oliveiro, the theater’s co-artistic director.
As a commercial photographer, Oliveiro’s work ranged from portraiture and landscape to documenting productions. Their journey into dance began when Oliveiro was invited to document the works of a choreographer. As they documented the behind-the-scenes activities, Oliveiro found themselves participating in the warm-ups, exercise, and dancing scores.
“I really started to understand the kind of expansive space or the possibilities of my body,” Oliveiro said. “It’s really powerful once you start to understand it and move, and feel like you have agency.”
After relocating to Minnesota, Oliveiro immersed themselves in the local dance community, attending classes and workshops. The transition from photography to dance represented a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance as Oliveiro navigated their identity.
“I was a lighting designer and a technician and a stage manager, and I toured and worked in a lot of rooms with a lot of creative people,” they said. “But dance offered me a different kind of possibility—a way to integrate my various interests and experience into a single, cohesive practice.”
Oliverio’s choreography in “Vastnessess” embodies their belief in dance as a medium for embracing diverse experiences and identities. The performance weaves together various styles, from Trisha Brown-inspired modern dance to elements of K-pop and Bollywood, while exploring themes of grief, fluidity of identity, and the dancers’ devotion to their craft.
“In ‘Vastnessess,’ there’s a lot around my experience of grief as part of the process,” Oliveiro said. “I have a really good relationship with my family; however, my parents do not accept that I am gay. My mom just passed and my dad and I, we just never talked about it.”
For Oliveiro, “Vastnessess” transcends mere performance—it serves as a celebration of human connection and the vast possibilities of understanding and relating to the world.
“Dance is such a container to hold all the spaces of who you are at one point in time,” they said. “It really can hold all of it, and it’s not just like a technical move of your arm moving across space or something like that.”
The performance features choreographers Sam Johnson, Judith H Shuǐ Xiān, and Pramila Vasudevan. Oliveiro emphasizes the importance of creating a space where the dancers can bring their whole selves into the performance.
“There’s a lot of binary culture around us, you know, this or that, and it’s kind of manipulative. I just feel like it’s possible to find common ground,” they said. “It’s always a negotiation of what it feels like and what it looks like. We are always dancing together, and it’s about intention.”
Date: Friday, March 1 to Saturday, March 9
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Red Eye Theater, 2213 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis
Cost: $25. Buy tickets here.
For more information: Visit redeyetheater.org.
Play tackles reproductive rights head-on
Frank Theatre, a platform for productions exploring social, political, and cultural issues, is bringing “Fetal” by playwright Trista Baldwin to Minneapolis.
Set in a Texas clinic on the day of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, “Fetal” examines women’s experiences amidst evolving reproductive rights in the United States. The play follows the intersecting journeys of four women who meet in the waiting room of an abortion provider. Among them are a queer graduate student, a corporate finance worker with an 8-year-old daughter, a teenager whose parents hold anti-abortion beliefs, and a clinic worker. Together, they navigate the personal and complex decisions concerning their bodies and futures.
Date: Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 10
Time: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday. 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Location: Frank Theatre Studio, 2637 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis
Cost: $30 for general admission. $25 for students and seniors.
For more information: Visit franktheatre.org.
Glass art inspired by pop culture, marine life
Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Arts is hosting “Wonderlands: Occupying the Space between Whimsy and Mystery,” a solo exhibit showcasing 15 glass works by Michael Lizama.
Lizama’s artistic journey, influenced by printmaking, graphic design, and biomedical illustration, has led him to create stained glass windows featuring futuristic and extraterrestrial characters. His work reflects his childhood memories of growing up in Hawaii during the 1960s, as well as his passion for nature, marine life, comics, pop culture, and Japanese aesthetics.
Using glass recycled from cathedral windows, Lizama’s work explores an imaginative world where childhood memories and diverse interests converge.
Foci will also host an artist talk with Japanese glass artist Sayaka Suzuki Friday, March 8 at 6 p.m.. Following the discussion, Suzuki will demonstrate a glass art technique, using colored glass powders and fruit.
Date: Friday, March 1 to May 16.
Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
Location: Foci Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, 2213 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis
Cost: Free
For more information: Visit mnglassart.org.
