What is the Shawngrām Institute for performance & social justice?
THE Shawngrām Institute is our gathering place.
This is where we gather in joy and community, training together, developing our work, rehearsing for performances, facilitating workshops and community events, and teaching weekly classes and our Summer Intensive. Established in 2018, the Institute sits at the vibrant confluence of the Hamline-Midway, Rondo, and Frogtown neighborhoods. We share a building with a Black-owned day care and a Somali restaurant; Gordon Parks ALC High School and the charter High School for Recording Arts are across the street; the Lexington Avenue Green Line stop is just a block away. Once a used car salesroom, the building is now refurbished with floor to ceiling windows, a sprung floor dance studio, an access ramp, two ADA-compliant all-gender bathrooms, a kitchenette, and an office/meeting space. Works of visual art, donated by and created by community members, surround us as we dance.
Weekly Classes
workshops + events
Summer intensive
A view of the entry hall and a portion of the studio. The shelves of the entry hall are adorned with art created by our friends and collaborators.
The studio on a sunny winter day. Two walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, the longest of which faces a mirror wall.
The dancers' lounge. To left is our altar, with offerings from our artists and community members.
Our altar, bearing blessings from our artists and community members.
The Institute's kitchenette, equipped with a microwave, tea kettle, refrigerator, and communally available dishware.
The exterior of the Institute in the daytime. The studio's largest windowed wall faces out toward University Avenue.