Kaleena Miller went from bopping around the dance studio where her mother was a teacher to producing a show as a senior dance major at the University. And Karla Grotting - University dance instructor and...

Emerson Drive doesn't exactly have the stereotypical look of country musicians. Among them, the group wore a Hollister shirt, a track jacket and a faded Vikings jersey. Yeah, one had a cowboy hat. But...

In terms of the artistic hierarchy of the early 20th century, one would think that Europe " and its meccas, London and Paris " would claim the top spot. After all, countless writers, painters and poets...

The ideals of honor, duty and sacrifice play out more often in a military academy than a film about love. "Tristan & Isolde" sets itself against bloody battle scenes, jealousy, betrayal and brutality...

Love is never easy, especially when surrounded by the piranhas, crocodiles, poisonous snakes and disease-carrying mosquitoes packed in the novel "The Sunflower." And writing a book about love has just...

Students who complete the competitive, rigorous Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art at the University often take one of two roads when they finish: pursuing a graduate degree or working professionally...

Like it or not, Thanksgiving is over and the holiday season is in full swing. But before you say "Bah, humbug" to all the celebrating, try out the theater shows and the parades and the holiday displays...

He's a spoken-word artist. She's a second-year medical school student with a 6-year-old son. University students Ismail Khalidi and Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr are student-activists. They fight for justice in...

Maybe this book is supposed to be a clever way to approach the failure-riddled world of dating. Maybe we're supposed to laugh at the stories about booty calls and friends with benefits. This book claims...

The theater is silent. Then we hear a piano " the introduction to "Seasons of Love" " an anthem both on and off Broadway. But this is not a staged production of the beloved musical that shook up Broadway...

We don't even have time to catch our breath. But she tells us to hurry, so we do. We run to our places for what seems like the hundredth time so Briana Kennedy-Coker can start. The stereo blares Christina...

More often than not, directors hold a clear vision of what they want in a show. But, as Jonah Winn-Lenetsky found out, sometimes a director has to be flexible. The theater arts graduate student directs...

The last home football game was Saturday, but the season isn't over for the University Marching Band. Another week of high-stepping, keeping in time and staying in tune " all at the same time " doesn't...

Bowling pins, like middle-school crushes, are fickle. Just ask University sophomore Cloid Green. Out with some friends at Coffman's Goldy's Gameroom, Green stood, prepared himself and took a deep breath....

Tales of young, tragic love are as popular as, well, "Romeo and Juliet." But other stories of star-crossed lovers are often thrown aside in favor of the tearjerker about teenagers in Verona. Just don't...

Don't be surprised if they sing snippets of songs in lectures and practice bits of choreography on the bridge. It's simply because they spend their days on campus and their nights on a stage in Bloomington...

This could be big - bigger than learning that Dad's been eating the cookies left out for Santa, that the money from the Tooth Fairy really came from Mom's purse. Of course, this has nothing to do with...

In the rock musical "Rent," the performers declare that dance is no way to make a living. They sing of "masochism, pain, perfection, muscle spasms, chiropractors, short careers, eating disorders." And...

The play's the thing," quoth Shakespeare's Danish prince. But it takes more than writing a play to win a Nobel Prize. Sometimes a playwright is awarded for writing the silences. The University's Xperimental...

Clad in a leotard, cut-off tights and a "Flashdance"-style sweat shirt with her hair pulled back into a neat bun, Roshaunta LaBroi looks like a typical dancer. But her road to the University's dance department...

The higher and quicker you climb, the harder you fall. In "Two for the Money," directed by D.J. Caruso, a good guy gets caught up in a game of excess - too much excitement, and too much fame and glory,...

Science can explain only so much. When science fails, we can remember that, as Henry Miller said, "Every man has his destiny." And every woman hers. And in the case of "Just Like Heaven," every couple...

The lines between the genres of art are often blurred. A singer may use a painting for inspiration, while a theater production might incorporate dance. In this case, architecture molds the art. The Walker...

Charlie Schaller does it all. He sings, plays the piano and guitar, and writes his own songs. But, unlike the majority of up-and-coming singer-songwriters, music wasn't Schaller's first choice. The University...

On one hand, Don Giovanni is a manipulative man bent on conquering as many women as possible. On the other hand, he's a misunderstood character who embodies all the extremes of human nature. The University...

The witches in "Macbeth" would have had a ball with a cauldron like this. With the concentration of a brain surgeon and the dexterity of a circus juggler, the participants in Pour Bastards: The 36th Annual...

Nobody ever knows what to do with them. Nobody else would want them or care about them. Nobody, that is, except Chris Pennington. Pennington is the man behind the Ten-Second Film Festival, set for July...

The original choreographers of "Swan Lake" would pirouette in their graves at this production. Australian Dance Theatre's "Birdbrain" takes the classical ballet technique of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's...

Some people have too much time on their hands. Imagine a CD that takes 47 recording sessions during 2 1/2 months and a "record" button that's pushed more than 3,000 times. And it's all just for fun. Army...

Two groups with divergent but complementary styles join forces this weekend. Between Measures, a newly formed barbershop quartet, and 7 Days, the University's a cappella choir, appear Saturday at Ted Mann...

The transition from student to professional is difficult in any area of study but especially in the performing arts. Ballet Arts Minnesota, though, has a solution to that. Springboard Dance, an intensive...

The oldest proverb of entertainers is simple: The show must go on. But some shows are so radical and provocative it's hard to keep the audience in the theater. And that's just how Jerome Bel likes it....

Dance is a language of the body, not of the tongue. For Benjamin Rasmussen, though, the constriction that silence puts on dance is something to be broken. Rasmussen, a dance student in his fifth year at...

The world is indeed a stage, and the Guthrie Theater makes the best of it. Love, war, mistaken identities, a gay subtext and a happy ending mark "As You Like It" out as definitely a Shakespearean comedy. Joe...

Holly Williams sings, plays the piano and plays the guitar. And one more thing: Hank Williams Sr. was her grandfather. As a performer with some of country music's biggest legends in her family album, it's...

With more than a century of experience among them, the artists in this exhibit deserve to curate it themselves. "Retrospectives: Bethke, Cowette, Hoard," the new exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery,...

A single explosion can shatter more than a single life. We witness the aftermath of devastation on our televisions. The destruction is neatly printed in the clear black type of our newspapers. No matter...

It's back. And, unfortunately, it's more irritating this time around. "Son of the Mask," the sequel to the 1994 Jim Carrey film "The Mask," brings back the eponymous magical object, plus over-the-top special...

Parents say it'll give us acne. Magazines tell us it has a marvelous effect on women. It apparently helped the Aztec Emperor Montezuma with his, ahem, bedroom antics with his 200 wives. Now, approximately...

Oh, the sordid world behind the scenes of the music business. There's backstabbing, catty behavior and sex jokes. Sounds just like high school. Tom Matthews' novel, "Like We Care," is a satirical look...

."Alfred Maurer: The First American Modern" is a traveling exhibition that has made a temporary home in the University's Weisman Art Museum until April 24. The 52-piece exhibit covers the artist's journey...

Sometimes, it's lonely when you play by yourself. Ani DiFranco did it all on her last album, "Educated Guess" - she played all the instruments, recorded all the tracks and even sang backup for herself. This...

Tiresias, the blind prophet, warns Oedipus with a curt "It is a curse to know too much." But humans have always hungered for knowledge, always yearned to know more. We can't leave well enough alone and...

For a film that features sword fights, sopranos and subterranean intrigue, "The Phantom of the Opera" is surprisingly humdrum. Director Joel Schumaker ("Phone Booth," "Batman Forever") has brought Andrew...

There might be a lot more single women out there soon, thanks to this book. Come to think of it, there'll probably be a lot more single men, too. "He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding...

Now this is a symbiotic relationship. Swiss graphic designer Niklaus Troxler combines a love of jazz music with a similar affection for visual art to create an array of posters that advertise performances...

Hold onto your sleighs, folks, it's gonna be a bumpy night. Santa's in a forest with a shovel stuck in his throat, and a blond guy in a trench coat is searching the streets for little children. This book...

When will we wake up? "The Plot Against America" is akin to the middle of a nightmare. All you can do is pray you awaken and realize, thankfully, it was just a bad dream. Written by acclaimed author Philip...

Her growing popularity is not due to chance or accident. Chicago-based singer-songwriter Rachel Yamagata's "Happenstance," released earlier this year, is a mellow, piano-heavy album that's perfect to listen...

From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" to Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot," British mystery writers have a knack for creating just the sort of detective who keeps things quirky while solving...