Dorrance Dance and BIGLovely

Thursday: The Twin Cities have been blessed this fall with great opportunities to see tap dance, with the first Twin Cities Tap Festival and the return of the ever popular Rhythmic Circus. Now comes the crème de la crème, as Bessie Award winner and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Michelle Dorrance and her troupe of toe-tapping virtuosos present "The Blues Project," performed with folk and blues composer Toshi Reagon and the band BIGLovely. The show explores the depths and breadth of the blues tradition, all the while providing showstopping numbers performed by the whole cast as well as highlighting soloists Derick K. Grant, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and Dorrance herself. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Northrop, University of Minnesota, 84 SE. Church St., Mpls. $38-$58, 612-624-2345, northrop.umn.edu.)

TU Dance

Friday-Sunday: TU Dance founders Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands, who were recently announced as one of 37 USA fellows for dance by United States Artists, have an exciting new fall season in store, with two new works and a reprise of Sands' 2012 piece "January." TU has brought in Italian-Canadian choreographer Gioconda Barbuto, whose work "Footprint" was created in collaboration with the company and uses the music of London-based composer Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei Prokofiev). The concert also includes a new work by Sands, "Vibrations, Sight Glass San Francisco," set to the jazz music of Charles Mingus, which explores urban environments. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., the O'Shaughnessy, St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Av., St. Paul. $18-$31, 651-690-6700, oshag.stkate.edu.)

SHEILA REGAN