The Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT) dance company and school in Minneapolis, Minnesota was founded by Loyce Houlton in 1962 as the Contemporary Dance Playhouse.[1] It was renamed the Minnesota Dance Theatre in 1969. Lise Houlton succeeded her mother as artistic director in 1995. In July 2024 MDT announced Lauren C Post, formally a ballerina of American Ballet Theater will become Head of School on August 15, 2024. Each holiday season MDT presents the ballet Loyce Houlton's Nutcracker Fantasy based on Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.[2] Ballet Arts Minnesota and the company's school joined in 2006 to become The Dance Institute.[3] The organization is based in the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts.
In 2012 as part of their 50th Anniversary season, MDT produced an updated version of their once controversial Carmina Burana, in collaboration with Dominique Serrand, of the former Theatre de la Jeune Lune.[5]
Minnesota Dance Theatre offers classes for students and adults. The school has two divisions, the Young Childrens Division (YCD) and the Performing Arts Division (PAD). Both divisions have performance opportunities including Loyce Houlton's Nutcracker Fantasy and Strawberry Festival: a Student Showcase. MDT offers ballet fundamentals, beginning ballet, intermediate ballet, and advanced professional ballet classes, making it possible for somebody at any level to take a class.
Notes
↑ The history, personnel and artistic achievements of the Minnesota Dance Theatre are discussed throughout Georgia Finnegan's study Grace & Grit: a History of Ballet in Minnesota (Edina: Afton Press, 2024), ISBN 978-1-7361021-3-8.
↑ Palmer, Caroline (April 26, 2000). "Footsteps". City Pages 21 (1012). Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
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