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Dig out and go see some modern dance | Weekend 401: What’s happening in Rhode Island

Dancers Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser are two of the performers in the Motion State Dance Festival
Jonathan Hsu
Dancers Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser are two of the performers in the Motion State Dance Festival

Dance festival, musical storytelling, and dreams of a Midsummer Night in the depths of winter

Looking for some tips on what to do this weekend and beyond? If you can get yourself shoveled out, we’ve got you covered. Here are a few recommendations from Ocean State Media’s James Baumgartner.

Motion State Dance Festival

The annual event spans three nights at the Wilbury Theatre Group in Providence’s Valley neighborhood. Thursday: Small Moves, Big Picture: a combination of dance performances on a small stage and dance films on the big screen. Friday: This could be the end is a solo work investigating “vulnerability, power dynamics, physical and architectural boundaries, and the spectrum of humor to violence within [the dancer’s] own body.” Soft Rules for Moving Sideways is a “trio improvisation that seeks to unlock the power and counterpoint of shared resonance and individual actions.” Saturday: I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves is “a dance in triptych form, [that] explores ideas of self, impulse, and sharing.”

Where: Wilbury Theatre Group, Providence
When: Feb. 26, 27, 28, 7:30 PM
Details: https://motionstatearts.org/about-motion-state-dance-festival

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

On the shortest night of the year, the magical and mortal worlds collide. What could possibly go wrong? Shakespeare gives us a clue: “The course of true love never did run smooth.” This University of Rhode Island Theatre Department production, directed by URI faculty member Tracy Liz Miller, is set in the 1930s with the Jazz Age as the backdrop.

Where: Robert E. Will Theatre, URI Fine Arts Center, Kingston
When: Feb. 27 - Mar. 8
Details: https://www.uri.edu/news/2026/02/uri-theatres-a-midsummer-nights-dream-will-spread-joy-and-playfulness/

Portraits in Song

Rhode Island College Artist-in-Residence Judith Lynn Stillman joins forces with Grammy-winning baritone and Metropolitan Opera star Will Liverman and acclaimed soprano Kiera Duffy for an afternoon of glorious music spanning Mozart to Musical Theatre. The program features varied art songs and includes a world premiere composition by Stillman. The concert is free, but requires registration

Where: Sapinsley Hall, Nazarian Center for the Arts, RI College
When: Mar. 1, 4:00 PM
Details: https://www.ric.edu/visitors-arts-events/events/portraits-song-will-liverman-judith-lynn-stillman

Post-Journalism

A group exhibit by ARTISTIC EX-PRESS, former Providence Journal artists and photographers now exploring personal styles beyond journalism through diverse visual media, including photography, painting and mixed-media.

Where: Ritual Spaces Gallery, 719 Westminster Street, Providence
When: on view through Mar. 1
Details: https://angellstreetgalleries.com/ritual-spaces.shtml

Rhode Island College is a business supporter of Ocean State Media. Editorial decisions are made independently of business support.

James learned the basics of audio editing while studying music at Missouri State University. He went on to get a Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Art at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he created electronic music, video art and internet-based media art. While at RPI, James went on the air for the first time, hosting an electronic music show on Rensselaer's station, WRPI, but his love of radio came from staying up late so he could hear punk rock on KKFI, the community radio station in Kansas City, Missouri.
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