Community Connections



For over 30 years Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater has garnered critical acclaim for its compelling and poignant performance work, and commitment to education and community inclusive programs. The company’s programs give voice to those populations who typically do not have an opportunity to see their lives as the focal point for arts exploration. SPDT has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts for “Best Practices” in the field of Arts and Healthcare and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a “national model” for community programs and ability to be inclusive of a wide range of cultural groups.

Caring For The Caregiver™ 

The Company’s signature program of workshops and performance work is designed to help healthcare professionals find expression for the complex emotional issues and unacknowledged stress associated with their work.  First introduced in 1992 at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, Caring for the Caregiver™ has been brought to hundreds of healthcare facilities throughout the United States, Canada, Russia and Israel.  SPDT has provided this program to a broad cross-section of the healthcare community including physicians, nurses, medical students, hospice staff, social workers, therapists, counselors, administrative personnel and, most recently, patients and their families.  Caring for the Caregiver™ is available to any healthcare facility interested in providing an arts and healing experience for its staff, patients or families.

Meaning in Movement:

A Workshop for Stroke Survivors and their Partners

This ground breaking program was first introduced in 2004 at North Memorial Hospital's Stroke Center.  The workshop is designed to support stroke survivors and their care partners in rediscovering the creative mind-body connection through movement.  Participants are invited to share their life stories and experiences as stroke survivors.  These stories are translated into movement to help find expression for the complex feelings and unacknowledged stress associated with a stroke.  
Meaning in Movement is available to all stroke centers, support groups and healthcare facilities interested in providing this unique experience to stroke survivors and their care partners.

Family Albums

Is a two-week residency designed for 4th –6th graders that focuses on family stories, histories and ancestries through music, movement and spoken word. SPDT teaching artists meet with students daily to create a performance work to be performed for their school and families at the end of the residency.

Snapshot

snapshots

The SNAPSHOT residency is a glimpse into the company's work and the ways in which they engage students in the creative process. This half-day residency focuses on SPDT's unique creative process drawing from the company's current repertory. SNAPSHOT consists of a 50 minute Lecture/Demonstration followed by the company teaching artists presenting workshops for students.

  • Cast from the Water's Edge (2011) situated the artists of SPDT in Ely, Minnesota a tourist community located on the American-Canadian border. A particular geographical attraction in Ely is the Boundary Waters, a protected area containing hundreds of miles of remote lakes and portages. SPDT in collaboration with Ely residents created a film and performance work that mused on the historic and contemporary tensions that exist between native residents and visitors.

  • Undercovers (2007) was a collaboration between SPDT performers and a Twin Cities cast of persons with life threatening illnesses. This work explored the poetics of sleep and the tender place of having one’s “eyes closed”.Undercovers, commissioned by Pathways, was broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television where it continues to be seen.

  • Moving Inquiries (2002) commissioned by Pathways and the The Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and presented on site in conjunction with the national exhibit Hospice: A Photographic Inquiry. The cast included fifteen community members from a variety of professions, ranging from business to counseling to teaching.

  • Out of This World/The Life After Life Project, (1997-2001) was originally commissioned by the University of Arizona. This project was one of the only six national projects supported by major funding from The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Arts Partners Program in 1998. OOTW was recreated in cities across the U.S. such as Pittsburg, PA, Gainesville, FL, Columbus, OH and the Twin Cities in January, 2001 for casts of 30-50 local artists and caregivers. The community outreach component of OOTW included workshops at hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, veteran’s homes, retirement villages, Native American reservations, AIDS support groups, local public schools, universities and other community locales.

  • Rest/Stop (1994) was commissioned with support from the American Dance Touring Initiative and the University of Florida. Over a three- month residency, SPDT created a traveling performance work that transported audiences on school buses to five different outdoor locations including, a 1950’s art-deco motel and swimming pool, a retirement home housed on a former plantation, a nature center, and a public parking lot transformed into a beach. Each location was selected because of its unique historical or cultural significance for the City of Gainesville. The cast included 35 community performers, ages 10-85 years old.