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Weekend Arts Roundup: Hot Happenings

Twin Cities Jazz Festival
Twin Cities Jazz FestivalChris McDuffie
  Play Now [3:42]

by Marianne Combs

June 25, 2015

MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Jill Riley and Sean McPherson to talk about hot new stuff happening in the hot summer weather, including dance, theater and a free jazz festival.

Flamenco on Fire — Susana DiPalma's company, Zorongo Flamenco, will be performing two shows, one each on Friday and Saturday nights, at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis. The program is evocative of Spain with passionate performances of contemporary flamenco dance.

New Arab American Theatre Works — A new collective of Minnesota-based Arab-American theatre artists has put together this festival of new one-person shows at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis; the festival opens Friday and runs through July 12. "I love it that we have gotten to the point where we have a critical mass of Arab-American theater artists that they're coming out and putting together a festival of new works for the Twin Cities theater scene," Marianne says.

Twin Cities Jazz Festival — Starting today in Lowertown St. Paul, this festival brings out lots of free jazz into venues in St. Paul, including the Mears Park outdoor stage. "Chris Potter and Dave Holland are two of the best guys working in jazz right now," Sean says. "The fact that they pull these guys in for events that are free? That's a really big deal." The Twin Cities Jazz Festival opens tonight and continues through Saturday, June 27.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read all the latest arts news from MPR News.