Visit the Blog each Tuesday for Venue Highlight. Here, we look at different Minnesota properties, often reaching back into our archives and revisiting a Location Location or Spaces department from the magazine.
The Twin Cities rank fifth among U.S. cities for dance, with more than 15 dance companies. And now these dance companies will have a central home for performance. This weekend, the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts opens on Hennepin Avenue.
A massive moving effort marked first step in creating the Cowles Center. In 1999, the Historic Shubert Theatre building relocated to make room for what’s now Block E on Hennepin. Listed on the National Register for Historic Places, the 5.8-million-pound Shubert Theatre building earned a place on the Guinness Book of World Records for its impressive move down the street.
Today, the Shubert Theatre, built in 1910, has been renamed the Goodale Theater. The Goodale now sits adjacent to the Hennepin Center for the Arts, built in 1888, a home to numerous performance groups. The Cowles Center comprises these two historic buildings and a modern atrium between. The renovated Goodale features a 500-seat theater (300 seats in grand tier and 200 seats in orchestra level). Currently, guests may dine in the lobby bar Cravings (from Crave); there are plans to open a restaurant on the main floor of the Hennepin Center for the Arts in the future.
Other spaces include the Target Education Center, a rehearsal and event space that's also the new location of their distance-learning program. Contact the Cowles to get more information about their meeting and event space.
The Grand Opening gala features performances from Savion Glover, James Sewell Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Zenon Dance Company and more on Friday and Saturday. This Sunday the venue opens up to the community with free activities from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
--Ellie M. Bayrd
Associate Editor
[photo by Todd Buchanan]
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