Photo of dancer Lue Thao by Jania Xiong

Dancing While Hmong
Part 19 of MN Dance & the Ecstasies of Influences

In partnership with The Hmong Museum
Sunday, November 1, 2020, 2-4pm

Hosted by and in collaboration with East Side Freedom Library
Curated and produced by Michèle Steinwald
Documented by Tori Hong, Kristin Van Loon, and Flywheel Media Productions

Speakers: Melvina Cha, Cheng Xiong, Shawn Vue, Lue Thao, Mai Moua Thao, Nancy Xiong

About our partner:
The Hmong Museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota is the first museum of its kind, dedicated to the preservation of Hmong history, arts, and materials, in the nation. Established in 2015, they are currently a museum without walls and instead partner with local cultural organizations to bring engaging intergenerational programs to the community. The Hmong Museum exists to recognize and acknowledge the intersections of all things Hmong. This includes the documenting of arts, history, folk tales, personal and family histories, traditional knowledge, current issues, and many more. They envision a thriving community with a heightened Hmong consciousness. Learn more Hmong stories here.

Learn more about the Hmong Museum on Facebook, Instagram, and their website!

Dancing While… is a three-part mini-series—within the larger discussion series, MN Dance & the Ecstasies of Influences—that centers individual stories by dance practitioners and organizers from immigrant and refugee communities in Minnesota.

Launched in fall of 2014, MN Dance & the Ecstasies of Influences has presented 16 unique events in collaboration with The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts, Ordway, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and covered varied topics while focused on artists’ influences as a way to begin unraveling the histories that are part of the Twin Cities dance communities. Now in its fifth season, the series is partnering with East Side Freedom Library, where story is a major theme of the library’s mission.

For the series, Michèle Steinwald works in consultation with Kristin Van Loon, choreographer and curator; and in council with Judith Brin Ingber, choreographer and writer; Cecily Marcus, curator of the Performing Arts Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries; Nancy Mason Hauser, videographer, and Linda Shapiro, choreographer and writer, founders of the Minnesota Dance Pioneers Oral History Project. MN Dance & the Ecstasies of Influences is an ongoing partnership with the Performing Arts Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries and The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts. More information on the series here and the archive here.

View this event LIVE at the East Side Freedom Library Facebook page

Funded by Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Arts Project Support Grant and Minnesota Historical Society’s Minnesota Historical & Cultural Grant