Target Free Thursday Nights: Terrace Thursdays
For Fun. For Free. For Everyone.
June 13, July 11, July 25, August 8 and August 22
Get into your groove on the Walker’s rooftop with hot music, dancing, fashion, and more. Terrace Thursdays showcase a diverse lineup of inspirational individuals breaking boundaries in art and identity. Meet your people, meet new people, grab a drink, and make the more of summer!
Can’t handle the heat? Cool off in the galleries while you draw on the walls in Allora & Calzadilla: Chalk or stroll through Five Ways In.
Programming for Terrace Thursdays 2019 was designed in collaboration with a committee of local artists, activists, and community organizers. Thanks to Scott Artley, Machen Davis, Anthonia Eboreime, Nicky Leingang, Yoni Light, Oskar Ly, Meena Mangalvedhekar, Wintana Melekin, and Taja Will.
Indigenous Spirit: Gender Fluid Fashion by Delina White of IAmAnishinaabe
7:30 pm
Terrace 3
Fashion. Compassion. Identity. Unity. Be the first to see the new collection from Native designer Delina White. Indigenous Spirit: Gender Fluid Fashion is about the celebration, recognition, and inclusion of nonconformity styles with the traditional woodland influence of the Great Lakes natural environment. It will feature ten Two Spirit models from across Minnesota, the US, and Canada to model the premiere of this new line. Hosted by Ondine the Siren Queen and Xochi de la Luna.
Models:
Thor BearsTail (Mandan Hidatsa, Ft. Berthold & Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, ND)
Darcie Big Bear (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, MN)
Orion Dagen-Goodsky (Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, MN)
Rebekah Dunlap (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, MN)
Cecelia LaPointe (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, WI & Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe, MI)
Geo Soctomah Neptune (Passamaquoddy Nation, Matahkomikuk Indian Township, ME)
Niibin Sprague (Saginaw Chippewa, Mt. Pleasant, MI)
Chadrick Toehay (Kiowa & Osage Tribes of Oklahoma)
Tony Villebrun (White Earth Ojibwe Nation, MN)
Art-Making: Maggie Thompson
6–10 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Add to this temporary art installation designed by artist Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe). See your work woven into the fabric of the night!
Music: DJ Bleak Roses
6–7:30 pm and 8:30–10 pm
Terrace 3
Turn it up with DJ Bleak Roses (Kul Wicasa Oyate, SD) and dance away on the rooftop until sundown.
About Two Spirit
A gender role and sacred tradition in Native American cultures and communities across generations, Two Spirit has many definitions, and each is nation specific. The umbrella term, which bridges Native and western understandings of gender and sexuality, describes the embodiment of more than one gender residing in a single person. For more information about the history of the word, check out the video What Does Two-Spirit Mean?, hosted by Geo Soctomah Neptune. According to Delina White, “When we journey beyond tolerance and begin to appreciate individuality, only then can we embrace compassion for others and personal acceptance of ourselves.”
Delina White creates functional art using traditional methods and designs reflective of the natural woodland surroundings. She specializes in working with raw materials (hand-tanned leather, bones, and shells), metal implements (made of copper, silver, and brass), and items emulating the trade goods that first arrived in the Great Lakes area in the 1600s (such as glass beads, sequins, ribbon, buttons, coins, and mirrors). White mixes these traditionally indigenous materials with richly textured contemporary fabrics from around the world and incorporates her designs onto apparel and accessories including bags and moccasins.
Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) was born and raised in Minneapolis. In 2015, she received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Community Partnership Grant and the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Regional Fellowship. Thompson received her BFA in textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013.
Juleana Enright (DJ Bleak Roses) is a Minneapolis-based/Lakota-born, nonbinary, queer femme writer, artist, promoter, art curator, and DJ. Their soundscapes draw from Jersey club, electro, afrobeat, Chicago house, futurefunk, R&B wave, and neo-soul. They are the co-curator of Feelsworldwide, a multisensory queer dance party and performance night at the intersection of art and emotion. They have curated two art exhibitions, including their solo curatorial debut, Soft Boundaries, which explored vulnerability narratives as acts of resistance, liberation, and healing.
Vogue. Fashion. Runway. Realness. The LOVE and the SHADE. Are you ready? Once again, the Walker’s rooftop terraces will transform for a spectacular evening under the sunset for the Twin Cities Ballroom event of the year! With giveaways, competitions, and your host-with-the-most, 2019 Midwest Awards Ball Commentator of the Year Nominee, Fatha Jazz Bordeaux. Dress to impress and you may just be crowned the Best Dressed Spectator in town. Will we see YOU on the runway? With lighting design by video artist Hal Lovemelt.
Vogue Night Sunset Ball Competition (Hosted by Fatha Jazz Bordeaux)
7:30 pm
Terrace 3
Music: DJ Madre T. Rosa
6–7:30 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Music: DJ Neisha
9–11 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Fatha Jazz Bordeaux hosted his first ball in Minneapolis in 2011, as a response to LGBTQ+ youth homelessness in Minnesota, in partnership with Tongues Untied and Youth and AIDS Projects at the University of Minnesota and RARE Productions. By career, Fatha Jazz works in youth homelessness as the program manager for the nation’s first culturally specific LGBTQ+ Rapid Rehousing Program. He has partnered with many organizations and venues in the Twin Cities to provide access to spaces for various LGBTQ+ communities in Minnesota to come together and RESIST systems of oppression out loud through the runway.
Music: DJ Chamun
6–7 pm & 9–10 pm
Terrace 3
Music: The Florists
7:15–8 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Music: Seaberg & the Black Velvet Punks
8:15–9 pm
Terrace 3
Performance: Taja Will’s Blood Language
Garden Terrace Room & Terraces 1, 2 & 3
Seaberg & the Black Velvet Punks is a hip-hop, jazz punk, and neo-soul band fronted by black genderqueer guitarist Taylor Seaberg, with drummer Traiveon Dunlap (Traiveon and Candi) and bassist Roderick Glasper (Blvck Madonna). Seaberg has also performed at an album release show for Chastity Brown’s Silhouette of Sirens at the Fitzgerald Theater, a Greenroom Magazine–sponsored show for Oshun, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Third Thursday Art + Lit events.
DJ Chamun is Chamindika Wanduragala, a Sri Lankan American visual artist, stop-motion animation filmmaker, and puppeteer based in Minneapolis. She is also the founder and director of Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop, which supports Native people and people of color in developing creative and technical skills in contemporary puppetry. DJ Chamun spins everything from roots reggae, Latin, Arabic, afrobeat, and bhangra to soul, funk, R&B, hip-hop, electronica, and jazz.
The Florists are Minneapolis-based pop performers Jo Kellen, Jared Hemming, and Luke Michaels. They recently released their debut LP Prayer Starter dropped on Active Lutheran Stoner Records. Combining spastic arrangements, catchy, rhythmic hooks, and an intense live presence, this trio storms the stage with manic glee.
Taja Will’s Blood Language is a new contemporary dance that creates a ritual of identity that centers on experiences of otherness and belonging and is authored by black, Indigenous people of color, queer people, and artists with invisible disabilities. Queer Chilean choreographer Taja Will and collaborative performers bring audiences an immersive performance meditation on power, privilege, stress, love, wisdom, seduction, servanthood, judgement, detective work, trauma, and healing.
Art-Making: Kao Lee Thao
6–9:30 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Music: Indigo Crew
6–10 pm
Terrace 3
Pop-Up Performance: New Black City
7, 8 & 9 pm
Garden Terrace Room & Terraces 2 & 3
Music: Dua Saleh
8 pm
Terrace 3
Dua Saleh, who identifies as gender non-binary and goes by they/them pronouns, began recording music two years ago. Their first EP project Nūr (pronounced “noor” and meaning “the light” in Arabic) is full of infectious bravado and haunting gloom. With a trademark fluidity—of sound, form, and self-presentation —Dua Saleh creates music conveys the fight for the right to define themselves for themselves.
New Black City is an urban dance crew that has a mission “to change the world, one booty cheek at a time.” This collective of powerful young artists and community activators creates a more accepting and inclusive hip-hop community, where all individuals—including, but is not limited to, black, brown, queer, trans, impaired, polka-dotted, spotted, etc.—are safe to express themselves.
Dua Saleh, 2018. Courtesy of Izzy Commers.
Kao Lee Thao runs a 3D animation company called Folklore Studio, which produces animation for television and film.
Indigo Crew, which includes DJ Michel.Be, TaliaKnight, QueenDuin, and DJ Lady Em, spins house, electronica, reggaetón, old school funk, soul, Latin trap, 80s, hip-hop, Afrobeat, cumbia, rap, and dancehall music. Indigo Crew promotes womyn’s empowerment and celebrates community through music. According to the collective: “We are a movement, we are an atmosphere, we are INDIGO.”
Art-Making: La Luchadora
6–10 pm
Terrace 3
Art-Making: Women’s Woodshop
6–10 pm
Garden Terrace Room
Music: DJ Rowsheen
6–10 pm
Terrace 3
Performances: ARENA DANCES
6:30, 7:30, and 8:30 pm
Garden Terrace Room & Terraces 1, 2 & 3
ARENA DANCES is a contemporary dance company performing the abstract work of Mathew Janczewski, which gives shape to emotions, exploring the depths and the limits of what drives us as humans to connect, to break away, to survive. Since 1995, ARENA DANCES has aimed to make dance accessible to all through the presentation of contemporary dance, educational outreach, and community gatherings that inspire and promote dialogue and diversity.
Minneapolis-based DJ and event producer Rowsheen has toured and performed with international artists such as P.O.S and Peaches. A founding member and curator of HOOPS, a DJ duo with Babyghost, Rowsheen has also been featured at Minneapolis Open Streets, Zombie Pub Crawl, X-Games 2017 & 2018, Soundset, and Eaux Claires.
Women’s Woodshop empowers women and non-binary makers through the art of woodcraft. Woodworking is a creative and practical skill that can build confidence and strengthen the imagination. They foster community by introducing women and non-binary folks to tools and techniques through their classes as well as providing equipment and workspace.
Jessica Lopez Lyman, PhD, is an interdisciplinary performance artist and Xicana feminist scholar. She researches Midwestern Chicana/ox and Latina/o/x experiences, social movements, and arts engagement. Lyman is an assistant professor in the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota. La Luchadora is an interactive, mobile, screen print cart designed to produce and circulate social justice art to the broader public. The evening’s prints focus on the water protector’s movement, Indigenous resistance, and Latina/o/x solidarities in Minnesota.