Arts and Culture

The third annual North Coast Dance Festival will be held July 24-26 at Northern Michigan University. It will feature a free master class and two performances by professionals from across the country, along with NMU's CO/LAB Dance Company. Ballet dancers Mate Szentes, Julia Feldman and Ava Chatterson will return to the event. Giordano Dance Chicago, “America's original jazz dance company,” will make its first appearance at the festival, performing a new work, Gershwin in B, by Emmy-winning choreographer Al Blackstone.

Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies is featured prominently at the beginning of a PBS North "Native Report" episode addressing Indigenous education. The episode premiered on the Duluth-Superior station earlier this year and has aired on other PBS affiliates since, including a June 16 broadcast on WSWP-TV in West Virginia. 

The Second City 65th Anniversary Tour will make a stop at Northern Michigan University for two improv comedy shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 27, and Friday, June 28. The opening night performance will be followed by a party in the Forest Roberts Theatre lobby.

Northern Michigan University will host Fresh Voices from the U.P., a new summer camp for all ages in which participants will adventure along the trails and Lake Superior shoreline and engage in workshops for all skill levels that promote storytelling through writing and music. They will also learn about the Upper Peninsula, the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabe Three Fires Confederacy. Fresh Voices from the U.P. will be held Monday, July 15 through Thursday, July 18, leading up to the 44th annual Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in Marquette.

Northern Michigan University's School of Art and Design has opened its annual exhibition featuring the works of graduating seniors at the DeVos Art Museum. A series of related events is planned on Friday, May 3: a screening of student digital art from 6-7 p.m.; a closing reception beginning at 7; and the announcement of gold, silver and bronze award winners at 8. The exhibition runs through May 4. 

At the end of World War I, American soldiers—mostly from Michigan—were deployed to join the Northern Russian Expeditionary Force for a vaguely defined mission. They found themselves embroiled in a civil war, battling Bolshevik revolutionaries for months after the Armistice ended fighting in France. A new play inspired by these men, known as the Polar Bears for enduring harsh winter conditions, will have its world premiere May 9-11 at Northern Michigan University. The idea for Ghost Soldiers by Keli Crawford-Truckey stemmed from a war-time journal bound by leather from the boot of a dead Bolshevik soldier. It was kept by the grandfather of NMU employees Dan and Paul Truckey.

Northern Michigan University's open mind improvisational ensemble, under the direction of Patrick Booth, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in Reynolds Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public. 

Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance will present “Anything Goes” April 11-13 and 18-20 in Forest Roberts Theatre. The Golden Age musical is set in the 1930s aboard the ocean liner S.S. American. It is directed and choreographed by assistant professor Kristen Beth Ludwig, who was an ensemble member and understudy for the lead role of Reno Sweeney in the 2011 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival at the Roundabout Theatre. She is now sharing her qualified insights with students involved in NMU's production.

High school students interested in attending the Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance Wildcat Performing Arts Academy's summer musical theater intensive can register through April 15, or possibly later if space is still available. It is scheduled for June 23-30. Two additional summer intensives in dance and theatrical design/production will both be offered July 20-27. All require audition/placement video submissions to apply. 

Northern Michigan University's annual Jazz Festival will open and close with performances by guest pianist and composer Ellen Rowe and the NMU Jazz Band and Jazz Combo. The opening concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in Reynolds Recital Hall. The closing concert is a repeat performance at the same time and location on Friday, April 6.