![Sierra Hermansen, 12 and her mother Holly Hermansen, both of Minneapolis, watched dancers perform during Morgan Thorson's "Still Life" as part of the "Local Time" exhibition at The Frederick R Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis Minn. on Friday August 14, 2015. ] RACHEL WOOLF · rachel.woolf@startribune.com "Still Life" is co-sponsored by The New England Foundation for the Arts and the National Performance Network. The performance is in five-hour marathons with folding chairs surrounding the d](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/AKN72Q4RNMOC2UFRJ2GDIFJOTE.jpg?&w=1080)
Choreography in ruins
A gallery at the Weisman Art Museum was transformed into a dance venue a couple of summers ago when dancer Morgan Thorson staged "Still Life." An act of startling endurance, each performance unfolded over the course of five hours, with a rotating cast performing the show multiple times per week. The choreography itself employed patterns and repetition — with the occasional touch of spontaneity and improvisation — as a metaphor for decay. And now Thorson has adapted the piece for a new setting. "Still Life for the Cowles Center" envisions the Hennepin Avenue venue as a ruin, as an abandoned proscenium theater. Audience members are seated onstage while dancers freely move about the house for this intimate 90-minute experience. (7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $25, 612-206-3636, thecowlescenter.org.)
Sheila Regan
