Like many holidays in the calendar year, Mother’s Day can be over-commercialized. But does it really hurt to get a little reminder to celebrate one of the most important bonds in life? Blood related or otherwise, mothers can make such a difference in everyone’s life, so make some time to show them just how much you love them with these events around the Twin Cities.

Woman Power

This trio of events is all about mom and woman power. Listen To Your Mother (May 10) reflects on the trials and treasures of motherhood with live, onstage readings. Minneapolis’ takes place in the historic Riverview Theater, but these events are also happening across the continent. Two days later, the Minnesota Lynx are taking on the Chicago Sky. Ok, game day is the day before Mother’s Day, and it’s not necessarily Mother’s Day-themed, but we would have egg on our face if we didn’t mention some of the strongest women in the state as they warm up for a run at a fifth championship title in the last eight years. As Mother’s Day wraps up on Sunday, May 13, go to the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant for Soul Women: Three local vocalists are going to bring the house down.

Get Active, Get Outdoors

On Mother’s Day, moms get in free at the Minnesota Zoo, and they are also treated to discounts at the gift store and IMAX Theatre. Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is always free, and while they don’t have long outdoor trails filled with sea otters, farm babies and Asian wild horses or a red panda on their Tropics Trail, they have a special Mother’s Day bonsai show in addition to their polar bear, great apes and spectacular conservatory.

On May 12, you can get your hands dirty with the Three Rivers Park District’s Mother’s Day Weekend Tree Planting. Otherwise, on Mother’s Day, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary’s special Mother’s Day Wildflower Walks at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. will get you outdoors in nature as will the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s 1,200 acres and vibrant tulip show. For a different change of pace outside, take advantage of the DNR’s Take a Mom Fishing Weekend, where moms can fish without a fishing license all weekend—children under 16 can always fish without a license—or go on one of the first Mississippi River tours of the season at Paradise Charter Cruises. For the really active, run or walk a Mother’s Day 5K together.

Get Artsy

Creators Space in St. Paul has a handful of crafty classes for Mother’s Day the entire weekend you can do with your mother, such as painting a flower still life, making herbal healing salve or even painting a portrait of your pet. If you’re on the west side of the cities on May 13, St. Louis Park’s Pinot’s Palette offers an all ages (13-plus recommended), no-experience-needed, discounted art class with available refreshments—and your mom will get to sip on a free mimosa—while you paint Van Gogh’s “Daisies and Poppies.” If you have a child ages 7 to 15, check out Mother’s Day Tea at Way Cool Cooking School for a morning of baking goodies for a tea with mom.

It’s Showtime

With such a bustling arts and culture scene, check out these performing arts options you can treat your mother to. On May 12, see the decadent and emotional opera Thäis in St. Paul, or see the St. Paul Ballet all weekend in their 1920s adaptation of Bizet’s “Carmen.” At the Guthrie, they’re doing the classic “Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner?” among other shows, and for a whole family affair, consider the Children Theatre Co.’s whimsical “Lorax” or the high energy “Newsies” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. (For a taste of both of the latter, check out our reviews here and here, respectively.) And, of course, who could forget the St. Paul Civic Symphony’s annual free Mother’s Day concert? This year it features Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite” at the Landmark Center at 1 p.m. on May 13.

Getting Gifts or Time Together?

The day before Mother’s Day, JB Hudson Jewelers on Nicollet is offering an upstairs children’s beading clinic where they’ll make a bead bracelet for mom with a personalized metal charm, and downstairs in the main area, the Mother’s Day trunk show will be out and glimmering. (In short, the perfect way to either get a last minute Mother’s Day present or bring her along so there’s no guessing what she likes.) Another pre-Mother’s Day event that could either be a gift, bonding or both are the Mother’s Day Arrangement Classes at Block Studios on May 10 where she can take home a vase of flowers specially arranged by you.

Talking about the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) ends up including a huge line of astounding numbers: Two hundred sixty-eight films from 75 nations, six screening venues, and more than 40 screenings with the director and subjects attending all pack into the 17 days that make up the festival’s 37th year.

While MSPIFF has a number of program categories, such as Science on Screen, Nextwave, Minnesota Made and Dark Out, the spotlight for 2018 is Chasms and Bridges: Cinema and the Search for Common Ground. Stories and art have long been recognized as a way to bridge perceived divides and to bring to light to obscured voices, and these films, whether fictional or real, show how no matter how old we are, how we identify ourselves, where we live and how much money we have, common threads still unite us.

Check out 10 films from this Spotlight category plus a note on one of the three short compilation screenings. However, as this list makes up a mere 9.5 percent of the total feature length films at the festival and a quick sentence doesn’t begin to encapsulate them, make sure to look through the MSPIFF website or the MSPFilmSociety app to find what films speak to you April 12-28.

“RBG,” April 12, two screenings. Tickets are sold out, so come early for rush tickets. Follow the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and see how she became the political and feminist icon she is today—plus, learn about the moments that just made her, her. Director Betsy West will be attending, and tickets include admission to the Opening Night Party at Jefe: Urban Hacienda.

“Black Kite,” April 14, 15, 18. When the Taliban outlaws flying kites, Arian can’t stand the thought of his daughter’s freedoms being stripped away and vows to fly a kite with her in this film shot over two weeks while the production crew evaded the real Taliban. Director Tarique Qayumi will be attending.

“Wajib,” April 14, 18, 25. The dynamics of leaving or staying in Palestine creep into this dramedy by the “preeminent female filmmaker in the Arab world” about a father, teacher and visiting son as they hand deliver the latter’s wedding invitations.

“What Will People Say,” April 15, 19, 21. After high school student Nisha’s parents discover the Western lifestyle she lives outside of their traditional Pakistani household, they send her to live with her aunt in Pakistan.

“The Workers Cup,” April 15, 20, 28. Adam Sobel’s documentary shows the exploitation and endurance of Qatar’s migrant workers as they work to construct the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium while holding their own football tournament.

“The Cakemaker,” April 15 and 24. When Thomas learns his lover Oren died in a car accident, he leaves his home in Berlin to travel to Jerusalem to meet Oren’s wife and son who never knew about him and ends up working as the widow’s pastry chef.

“Of Father and Sons,” April 20, 23, 28. Documentary filmmaker Talal Derki pretended to be a jihadist sympathizer and provides singular access to the household of Osama, an Al-Nusra Front member, where he reveals a family that experiences love, darkness and radicalization.

“Western,” April 19, 25, 28. A German construction team clash with the Bulgarian villagers they now share the land with in order to build a hydroelectric plant, and one man walks the middle.

“Crime + Punishment,” April 27 and 28. This documentary peers into an abyss full of corruption and systemic racism in the New York City Police Department through one group of officers’ frank conversations and hidden recordings.

“Minding the Gap,“ April 27 and 28. A documentary captured from a skateboard—Bing Liu records the lives of himself and two of his friends as they find themselves on the edge of being men in the Rust Belt. Director Bing Liu will be attending.

Bonus: “Chasms and Bridges II, April 17.“ One of three Spotlight short compilations, “Chasms & Bridges II” shows five stories, including a 21-minute documentary on undocumented workers in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, a 5-minute animation depicting the meeting of a Chinese mother and her British-born daughter, and a 22-minute story on the transformation of an Israeli commissioned officer as he transports a prisoner.

Minneapolis St. Paul Film Society

With Bon Jovi, Shania Twain, Harry Styles, Charlie Puth, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars coming to the Xcel Energy Center this year and Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Jay-Z and Beyonce (iconic, right?) coming to U.S. Bank Stadium, it’s pretty safe to say we’re not lacking in the concert department here in the Twin Cities. But what about the smaller venues and the up-and-coming artists? If you’re anything like me, my music/concert funds only allow me to spend breath-taking amounts of money on tickets maybe once a year. But the good news is that with our thriving music scene here in the Twin Cities, plenty of talented musicians come this way for more intimate concerts at venues such as First Avenue and 7th St. Entry, Varsity Theater, Cedar Cultural Center and Palace Theater—and the tickets to see them up close won’t cost you half your paycheck. Here are just 14 concerts (out of many) coming up in the next two months that you won’t want to miss.

Courtney Marie Andrews (with Molly Parden)

WHERE: 7th St. Entry
WHEN: April 2
COST: $12
SONGS: “Kindness of Strangers” by Courtney Marie Andrews, “Who Did You Leave for Me?” by Molly Parden

Phillip Phillips (with The Ballroom Thieves)

WHERE: First Avenue
WHEN: April 3
COST: $25
SONGS: “Gone, Gone, Gone” and “Miles” by Phillip Phillips, “Can’t Cheat Death” by The Ballroom Thieves

Robert Earl Keen

WHRE: Varsity Theater
WHEN: April 12
COST: $35
SONGS: “Feelin’ Good Again” and “Corpus Christi Bay”

Echosmith (with The Score and Jena Rose)

WHERE: First Avenue
WHEN: April 13
COST: $24
SONGS: “Over My Head” by Echosmith, “Legend” by The Score and “Reasons” by Jena Rose

Margo Price (with Blackfoot Gypsies)

WHERE: First Avenue
WHEN: April 15
COST: $30
SONGS: “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” and “A Little Pain” by Margo Price and “Coming Through the Pines” by Blackfoot Gypsies

Current Swell (with Trevor Devine and The Immaculate Beings)

WHERE: 7th St. Entry
WHEN: April 16
COST: $10
SONGS: “Young and Able” and “When to Talk and When to Listen” by Current Swell, “Teach Me How to Love Again” by Trevor Devine and The Immaculate Beings

Robbie Fulks (with Buffalo Gospel)

WHERE: Cedar Cultural Center
WHEN: April 20
COST: $20
SONGS: “Long I Ride” and “Alabama At Night” by Robbie Fulks and “Hard Labor Side of Gettin On” by Buffalo Gospel

Lord Huron

WHERE: Palace Theater
WHEN: April 22
COST: $33.50
SONGS: “Wait by the River” and “The Night We Met”

FRENSHIP (with Yoke Lore)

WHERE: 7th St. Entry
WHEN: April 27
COST: $15
SONGS: “Capsize” and “LOVE Somebody” by FRENSHIP and “Fake You” and “Goodpain” by Yoke Lore

Mary Bridget Davies and Mia Dyson

WHERE: Cedar Cultural Center
WHEN: April 28, 2018
COST: $22
SONGS: “Take It to the Limit” by Mary Bridget Davies and “Fool” by Mia Dyson

George Ezra (with Noah Kahan)

WHERE: First Avenue
WHEN: April 30
COST: $35
SONGS: “Paradise” and “Hold My Girl” by George Ezra and “Hurt Somebody (with Julia Michaels)” by Noah Kahan

Sofi Tukker

WHERE: Fine Line Music Café
WHEN: May 4
COST: $16
SONGS: “Best Friend” and “Baby I’m A Queen”

Randy Houser

WHERE: Varsity Theater
WHEN: May 12
COST: $35
SONGS: “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” and “How Country Feels”

Marian Hill (with Michl)

WHERE: Palace Theater
WHEN: May 16
COST: $31.50
SONGS: “Down” and “Differently” by Marian Hill and “Die Trying” and “Better With You” by Michl

I first learned about swing dance as a sophomore at the University of St. Thomas when I attended a student performing arts show on campus. One of the very last dances was an upbeat swing number with about 10 couples twirling, spinning and flipping in the air. As a dancer myself, I was delighted. I had danced my whole life (well, since I was three), but I had never focused on social dance before—the energy and joy that exuded from the dancers’ faces made me want to learn.

An opportunity came when a friend of mine, Thomas, invited me to a university swing dance event. It was a Friday night, and 40-plus people showed up to dance in the lower level of the student center. Girls were wearing sundresses with converse, and a couple of the guys had dressed up with some colorful bow ties and socks. After a quick sound system malfunction, the music started and students flooded the floor. I was timid at first, but Thomas had a lot of swing dancing experience and I happily walked away from the event with a basic idea of how to swing dance (although there was no flipping in the air for me that night!).

We all know the Twin Cities are not lacking in the music and theater departments, and swing dance is no different. Whether you’re a seasoned swing dancer looking to hit the local dance floor or a visitor wanting to try something new while in the cities, here are a few dance club and studio options located in the Twin Cities.

TC Swing

Run by Cindy and Terry Gardner, TC Swing is one of the most popular swing dancing locations. TC Swing offers weekly classes for East Coast Swing (the easiest form of swing dance) followed by Lindy Hop (the original swing dance form) later in the evening. On Thursday nights, dancers can come to its Late Night Swing with a $6 admission ($5 with a student I.D.), and if they want to get a little fancier, on the first Saturday of the month is First Saturday Swing with a live band and open bar.

Wabasha Street Caves

Besides being a really cool historical destination (have you been on a tour yet?), Wabasha Street Caves offers a Thursday night swing dance with a cover charge of $8 cash (due to bad reception problems in the caves, credit cards aren’t accepted). Doors open at 6 p.m., and live jazz music is provided from 7 to 10 p.m. Some regular bands include The Moonlight Serenaders with vocalist Lee Engele, The Minnesota Jazz Orchestra with vocalists Gregg Marquardt and Debbie O’Keefe, and Beasley’s Big Band with vocalist Courtney Burton among many others.

Four Seasons Dance Studio

Located on Hennepin Avenue, Four Seasons Dance Studio focuses solely on social partner dance styles and offers East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing and Lindy Hop classes among a selection of more traditional ballroom dances. The studio also throws its own dance parties for dancers to practice their new moves. Check out the studio’s online schedule for rates, events and class options.

Uptown Swing

Named after its Minneapolis location where owner and founder Peter Strom grew up and as a tribute to Uptown, New York City-Harlem where the Lindy Hop was born, Uptown Swing offers two nights of classes with four different levels, bringing hundreds of dancers through its doors every week. Single lessons are $12 and a full four-lesson session is $40 (discounts are available with a student I.D.) On Saturday, March 24, join Uptown Swing for its first ever Uptown University with national instructors coming in to teach classes for intermediate and advanced levels. A dance will follow the lesson with a free beginner class taught at 8 p.m. and live music from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Lee’s Liquor Lounge

Wednesday night is swing dance night at Lee’s Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis. Lessons are taught by Bill and Shannon Butler at 8 p.m., and live music begins at 9 p.m. Check Lee’s Liquor Lounge online schedule for more music, dance and event information.

As you read the missions of many Twin Cities performing arts companies, a common thread emerges: They want to tell narratives that are overlooked; they want to give a voice to the underrepresented; and they want to show how art is not only a means for social justice and understanding, but a catalyst for it. By and large, these artists succeed, whether it’s through historical reflections or not-so-removed worlds.

In the month of February, two performing art groups will make this connection through their own personal stories. Starting Feb. 10 through March 4, Minnesota History Theatre is putting on the world premiere of “A Crack in the Sky,” a mosaic of memories and folk tales from author Ahmed Ismail Yusuf and playwright Harrison David Rivers of Yusuf’s journey from being a shepherd boy in Somalia to being an author in Minnesota.

Halfway through the show’s run, over on the west side of the Mississippi River, urban dance crew Kudeta will present “I’m From Vol. 2: Immigration and Identity,” also a world premiere, from Feb. 23-25. Both productions are based on personal stories but are executed in very different ways.

A Look in the Mirror

An old adage for creative writing is to “write what you know.” But even then, writing what you know and writing your story are two different things.

“It’s so scary putting yourself out there to people you may not know,” says Joëlle Fernandez, co-founder of Kudeta and co-director of “I’m From Vol. 2.” “But I think it’s even scarier to face it yourself because through the process of creating our individual pieces, we really have to think and be in our feelings a lot.”

Since Kudeta’s first installment of “I’m From” about a year and a half ago, “Vol. 2” is pared down. Instead of about 30 artists, including children, they are working with 13. While some of “Vol. 1”’s dances focused on swathes of exodus and historical movements, this time Fernandez and her partner, Kudeta co-founder and co-director Frankie Herbres, are asking the question on an individual level. It’s not about street addresses or passport stamps. It’s about, for instance, being from “soy sauce and vinegar lighting up the house when you get home,” says Fernandez.

For Fernandez, answering where she’s from requires not shying away from the sacrifices her parents made for her. “My parents came here to give me a head start, and I used that head start to do what, hip hop? It’s the question of if what I’m doing is good enough,” she says.

Fernandez’s individual piece will be influenced by the Filipino traditional dance “binasuan,” where she has to balance cups filled with water on her head and hands as she dances. Historically, binasuan is performed in times of celebration. As the binasuan dancers turn, spin and roll to upbeat music, people watch in awe at the seemingly effortless way they balance the cups, never letting them spill. However, it is that skill, that unspoken limitation the cups impose, that Fernandez uses to draw a parallel to how the guilt she has about pursuing her love of dance burdens and limits her life.

Unlike most dance performances where you might get an artist’s note about the dance’s significance, there will be more than a vague explanation from Fernandez. She’s going to tell you her story through spoken word, too, as will the other nine dancers of the night.

“Our artistic vision is to be raw, clear, upfront, explicit, and so even if I danced everything I wanted to dance, the audience will still walk away with their own interpretation,” Fernandez says. “In my piece with the cups, that could mean anything. But if I have spoken word incorporated with it, it helps make it even clearer.”

Sam Harper FusedXPhotography

Whose Story Is It?

While Fernandez’s story is unique to her, there is always a question of representation. If Fernandez is the only Filippino that someone knows, will they see her story as universal to every Filippino in a similar situation? Part of the power of telling personal stories is the realization that everyone’s stories aren’t as different or as foreign as they may seem, but that there is a fine balance between the individual and the collective.

To try to define that convergence, Kudeta’s approach is vulnerable honesty, which means a long, hard look at who each member is. Each solo piece has been created without input from Fernandez or Hebres, and because of that, it’s up to the dancer to dive into what makes them who they are, including what they don’t know about themselves.

With “A Crack in the Sky,” Yusuf and Rivers create a story that fully lives in the epicenter of the individual and the collective coming together. While the play incorporates much of Yusuf’s journey to the United States, Rivers thought to intertwine Somali folk tales into the narrative, and the pair had to pick which moments of Yusuf’s life to highlight and which timelines might have to change to fit the stage medium the best.

“I did a bit of research (on Somalia) just so that I could understand the broad strokes of Somali history and get a sense of the place Ahmed is from,” says Rivers, who has upcoming plays at Penumbra and Theater Latté Da as well. “But because we were telling Ahmed’s specific story, I relied on him to provide his perspective on the places and the people. … A different character or a different person with a similar story might remember different details, but I really wanted to adhere to Ahmed’s real story as possible.”

For months, Yusuf would write down his story for Harrison, who would ask what Yusuf describes as “illuminating” questions, and eventually those stories made up the script that balances Yusuf’s storytelling with Rivers’ masterful play creation.

Just as Kudeta’s dancers have to contend with the forces that have influenced them, Yusuf has to reflect on how he has become who he is. Before he came to the theater, he says he was not ready to tell it, but when he started, he says, “There was no second-guessing what to say or what to tell or why.” His story is infused with gratitude toward the communities that have made him who he is, and he has a large place in his heart for the teachers who have reached out to him and fundamentally changed how he viewed life.

Even though “A Crack in the Sky” is based on Yusuf’s journey, he doesn’t see it as a play about him. “It’s actually a shared story; it is a communal story,” he says. “I wanted a story that is not only about me but about humanity in general and about a world that I left behind that has stayed with me and the world that I live.”

Minnesota History Theatre

Coming Together

The performing arts, theater in particular, are an animal. At least according to Yusuf. “(Writing) is you and the page, but then you have to think of the audience, of the language of you’re using. You are thinking about the actors, the stage, a million other things that matter,” he says. “It is an animal, somehow or another, and you don’t seem to know where it leads.”

But then, as everyone who has been in theater knows, that can be the beauty of it. The shared story that Yusuf wanted to impart to his audience also soaks into the cast and crew who put the show on. The group numbers that Kudeta intermixes in between the solo pieces remind them they aren’t alone.

Like many shows that examine the world in all of its imperfections, “I’m From Vol. 2” ends on a hopeful note. Although I cannot confirm “A Crack in the Sky” does, my hunch is that it, too, will end with a sense of a new beginning.

Skipping past messy questions, unresolved issues and bittersweet memories and going straight to the positive feelings that smiling curtain calls can impart would certainly make for a lighter toll on the creators. However, whether you’re in the audience or on the stage, to not think about who you really are underneath your shield of skin and social media and personas is to live in a world without trying to see it or understand how you can fit in it. Likewise, ignoring the experiences of those around you is to fail to appreciate what makes up our personal stories—no matter how tangled and incomplete they are—and how those experiences can unite and define us.

“When I was a youth,” Fernandez says, “I went to UC Berkely for a youth leadership retreat, and something I learned was how to tell your own story because if we don’t know our own stories, and if we don’t speak on it, someone else will. Someone else will tell us who we are.”

Do you know who you are?