Performance
RED EYE X Cynthia Oliver | KIN Artist Partnerships
Cynthia Oliver | Turn. Turning. TURNT
Dates
Fri, Apr 30, 2027, 12:30 am
Sat, May 01, 2027, 12:30 am
Sun, May 02, 2027, 12:30 am
Pay as you wish, suggested $18-80.
If cost is a barrier, please email communications@redeyetheater.org for discount ticket options. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
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April 29, 2026 — May 1st, 2026
Cynthia Oliver, based in Illinois and the project is supported by the National Performance Network, brings Turn. Turning. TURNT — a triptych of movement experiments spanning before, during, and after the global pandemic. Drawing on double dutch as life skill training, AfroFuturist aspiration, and the hard-won wisdom of collective fallow, Oliver's work asks what we have summoned through difficulty — and what we owe ourselves as we return to moving, remembering, and recovering for a world anew. Cynthia has deep ties to this region, and her arrival here is a return as much as a debut.
https://www.cynthiaoliver.com/
Red Eye presents KIN Artists Partnerships, a four part series of artists that pass through Red Eye with one animating principle: relationship. Enduring relationship.
Red Eye is part of a national network of artistic inquiry — and KIN is a significant step toward showing up to that conversation with intention and honesty. KIN is a response to the shifting needs of commissioned work, an experiment in interrupting the transactional way we value artistry.
Every artist that is a part of KIN brings something different — different resources, histories, forms of capital. Every artist has a relationship to real people, to Red Eye, Minneapolis, to the Twin Cities, to people and practices and communities that make this ecosystem what it is.
If KIN is about relationships– relationships to people and places - KIN is also about relationships to commissioning models, and artistic inquiry as transcontinental experimentation. KIN artists are sifting through the tethered immediacy of today. KIN is about queer tragedy, reflection, bending autobiography, and grief. KIN is about what is summoned through difficulty, what we owe ourselves, and what happens after collective life changing conditions. KIN is the most hopeful survival strategy we can muster: make it up again and again. Believe in body, dancing and each other.
Photo by olivia moon photography
Funding
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. This project is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC), thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. This activity is made possible by the Cultural Districts Arts Fund granted by Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs. Red Eye Theater is additionally made possible by grants from the Jerome Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and the Ruth Arts Foundation.
Turn. Turning. TURNT is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Lead Partner / Bates Dance Festival, in partnership with Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, Red Eye Theater of Minneapolis, The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org. TURNT is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, with additional commissioning funds provided by Harlem Stage’s WaterWorks program and a technical residency at the Maya Brin Institute for New Performance at the School of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies – University of Maryland, College Park. Other support has been provided by the Doris Duke Foundation and the Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The National Performance Network is the Fiscal Sponsor of Turn. Turning. TURNT/Cynthia Oliver Co. Dance Theatre
Accessibility
Red Eye’s space is fully wheelchair-accessible. Masks are highly encouraged. Some events require masking and masks will be available at the venue if you don't bring your own. Please only attend if you are feeling well, and if not, we are happy to change your tickets to a different day at no charge.
About the Artists
Cynthia Oliver
Cynthia Oliver (choreographer/Director) is a Bronx born, Virgin Island reared dance maker and scholar. Her work incorporates textures of Caribbean performance with African and American aesthetic sensibilities. She has toured the globe as a featured dancer with numerous contemporary dance companies, including David Gordon Pick Up Co., Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Bebe Miller, Tere O’Connor Dance and in theatre works by Laurie Carlos, Ntozake Shange, and Deke Weaver. She earned a PhD in performance studies from New York University, is widely published, and has won numerous awards including a New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award, United States Artist, Doris Duke and Guggenheim Fellowships. She is a Gutgsell Professor of Dance at the University of Illinois and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Arts Integration.