Check out the November calendar and it's easy to see why Dance/USA chose Minneapolis as the site for its June 2014 national conference.

Describing the selection as a "no-brainer," Amy Fitterer, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said by phone that the Twin Cities are "considered one of the top dance hubs in the country," along with New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

Dance/USA seeks out locales with bustling dance scenes to inspire the annual convening of dance professionals, Fitterer said. Next year attendees will meet at the Cowles Center and the (by then) renovated Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota, both in Minneapolis, with additional places to be announced.

Fitterer is especially taken with the Cowles. "During a time when the country was coming out of a deep recession, Minneapolis opened a center for dance," she said.

Fitterer also praised the variety of dance here. This month alone audiences can see everything from modern to ballet, flamenco, Middle Eastern, movement theater and dance on film. Even Ira Glass of "This American Life" is getting in on the action with his live show "One Radio Host, Two Dancers."

Interested in the creative process? Join Mathew Janczewski and Arena Dances for a work-in-progress showing of "The Main St. Project." Venture into experimental territory with Karen Sherman's "One With Others" or Megan Mayer's "You're Soaking in It: Dances Saturated With Feeling." Zorongo Flamenco and Jawaahir Dance Company will bring to life an array of international sights and sounds. London's Royal Opera House Ballet's production of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" will be screened at local movie theaters.

TU Dance marks its 10th-anniversary season, while Zenon Dance Company plans a remount of jazz master Danny Buraczeski's divine "Ezekiel's Wheel." Shanghai Ballet will take flight with "The Butterfly Lovers." French innovator Jérôme Bel returns, this time in collaboration with Switzerland's Theater Hora (a troupe of actors with disabilities). Round out November with the sampler series Choreographers' Evening, curated by the wittiest movement duo around, Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs.

Whew. Take a breath, and then get ready for the holiday dance season.

Caroline Palmer writes about dance.