Lightsey Darst profiles mercurial dancer Nic Lincoln, soon to be on stage for YES, an evening of solos by five choreographers: Judith Howard, Megan Mayer, Penelope Freeh, Kristin Van Loon and Wynn Fricke.

The experience of Emily Johnson’s latest dance work, Niicugni, is like being immersed in the waking dream of a young woman who, with ancestors and friends, navigates the terrain of memory and art-making.

Contemporary life blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy—we’re accustomed, even numb to that fact. The MIA’s More Real? takes a direct dive into this murky territory, where such questions and conundrums abound.

Ballet, like many classical arts, begins with form, discipline, steps—not improvisational play and feeling. Authority comes later—so much later that most students (and many professionals) never get there. Not so with Young Dance.

After confessing his love of bikes, beer, and banjos, Jeremy Walker shares his optimism in the trappings of urban-twee: “There are, have been, and always will be authentic cultural things all around. The orchestras in town are two of them.”

With staff cuts at the Cowles Center, the Southern Theater, and the Walker, Lightsey Darst asks, “Are dance curators a luxury we can’t afford? Does it matter?”

A look at the illusions and play on perspective in the two shows up in the MIA’s MAEP Galleries: Brett Smith’s cinephilic Superimposter and David Bowen’s trippy simulation of Lake Superior waves.

Andy Warhol in Minneapolis prompts a look by Nathaniel Smith at artist foundations—and a visit to a medium to chat with the late Prince of Pop Art.

A dispatch from Ragamala’s world premiere 1001 Buddhas: Voyage of the Gods, bharatanatyam dance and taiko drumming exploring Buddhism’s spread through Asia.