These look to be dark days for dance in the Twin Cities.

While every branch of the performing arts is struggling to get back on its feet post-COVID, dance is experiencing more of a crisis than most. One study said that balance sheets and audiences are down 75% from 2019 for American dance companies, so perhaps this winter’s news should have been unsurprising.

In January, it was announced that the art form’s local capitol, the Cowles Center, would close the area’s foremost performance space devoted to dance, the Goodale Theater, at the end of March. Then the dean of Twin Cities dance troupes – the 62-year-old Minnesota Dance Theatre founded by the legendary Loyce Houlton – said that it would “pause” from performing in May to concentrate exclusively on its educational offerings.

So it’s best not to think of the Minnesota Dance Theatre presentation currently gracing the stage of the West Bank’s grand old Southern Theater as a goodbye to a storied local arts institution that’s older than the Guthrie. Instead, head to the Southern and celebrate what terrific talent we have in our midst.

That’s the overarching impression left with me by Friday’s opening night performance. Featuring three world premieres and the local debut of a 2021 piece, it was an evening full of imaginative art, the modern dance works served with ample dashes of classical ballet’s graceful movement vocabulary. Executed with maximum expressiveness by 10 dancers, it felt less like a sad farewell than an inspiring reminder of what this art form can do for your soul.

Such epiphanies may arise while experiencing choreographer Zachary Tuazon’s “Animi de Gaia,” a five-part piece set to solo piano works by Frederic Chopin. Opening with the blaze of “Ignis (Fire),” which found nine dancers swirling about the stage, and closing with the solemn quartet, “Mors (Death),” the work was most breathtakingly beautiful in Sasha Hayden Zitofsky and Ken Shiozawa’s pas de deux, “Aqua (Water).”

But no piece captured the emotions of the moment more eloquently than “Premonition of this Present Moment,” a piece by Javan Mngrezzo that expressed struggle, liberation and several steps between them. Beginning with six dancers seemingly pushing on the expansive brick wall at the back of the Southern stage, it was a ballet/modern dance mix with a sense of ancient ritual driven in part by the music of Rey & Kjavik and yMusic.

The company’s interim artistic director, Elayna Waxse, collaborated with the dancers to create “Don’t Forget You Are Precious.” Perhaps it was Emily Pitts’ arresting solo in a pseudo-nightgown that lent the impression that we were in something of a dream scene, the other dancers products of her subconscious. Zitofsky emerged as the messenger of unbounded exultation, the other five dancers embracing that spirit to a concluding rocker by Duluth-based band Low. And kudos to Jesse Cogswell’s very inventive lighting design.

Nia-Amina Minor’s “And yet here we are” was at its best when at its most unfettered, the dancers matching the high-energy feel of Makaya McCraven’s jazz. It underlined the evening’s overriding impression that there’s nothing quite like being in a room with an extraordinarily talented group of dancers expressing themselves through the prism of a gifted choreographer’s vision.

Minnesota Dance Theatre

When: 2 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. next Sunday

Where: Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis

Tickets: $32-$20, available at southerntheater.org

Capsule: An inspiring reminder of what dance can do.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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St. Paul Chamber Orchestra musicians, including principal violinist Kyu-Young Kim, at right, perform in June 2021 at Bravo! Vail in Colorado. Instead of employing a conductor, as is traditional at many other orchestras, SPCO is led by playing musicians. (Photo courtesy Tomas Cohen / SPCO)

Kyu-Young Kim, the well-respected artistic director and principal violin of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, is stepping down as the group’s musical leader, effective when the current season ends in early June. He’ll remain principal violinist.

Kim had held the role since 2016.

“We appreciate his remarkable contributions over the years as Artistic Director and we are grateful he has chosen to remain with the Orchestra,” an SPCO spokesperson said via email. During Kim’s tenure, the SPCO has hired 16 new musicians and nine artistic partners, earned a Grammy Award, performed around the country and commissioned many original orchestral works through its Sandbox Residency.

The musicians’ union, however, painted the decision as less-than-mutual, saying in a statement that Kim’s resignation as artistic director was “the culmination of years of harmful and non-collaborative decisions” by SPCO management.

Specifically, the musicians criticized a move earlier this year to reduce the orchestra’s number of overall concerts performed and eliminate three venues — in Arden Hills, Stillwater and Wayzata — from its Neighborhood Series around the Twin Cities metro area. This will bring the orchestra’s 2024-25 schedule down from over 130 concerts per season to 82.

These decisions “have damaged the legacy and promise of a world-class chamber orchestra,” the musicians’ group wrote.

Kyu-Young Kim holds his violin. Kim took over as artistic director in 2016. (Photo: Courtesy of the SPCO)

Kim could not be reached for comment Saturday. An SPCO spokesperson declined to address the musicians’ specific criticisms as relating to Kim’s departure.

When orchestra leaders announced the schedule reduction in February, the goal was “ensure that the SPCO remains financially healthy and able to provide our community with a world-class orchestra for years to come,” leaders wrote on the orchestra’s website at the time.

As of last year, SPCO ticket revenue was about 30 percent lower than it had been before the pandemic, but the organization continues to be financially viable: The SPCO ended its 2022-23 fiscal year with an operating surplus of about $77,000 and $4.54 million in its “rainy day fund,” making it the 28th out of the past 30 years with a balanced budget.

As for what comes next: “The SPCO will work across the organization to determine the next steps for artistic leadership while remaining committed to the SPCO’s distinctive musician-led artistic model,” the orchestra’s leaders said in a statement.

SPCO musicians’ collective bargaining contract is set to expire this summer.

Whereas many other orchestras are led by a conductor, the SPCO is fairly unique in being creatively driven by a playing member of the orchestra. The group frequently performs with either a guest conductor or none at all.

Kim, who took over as artistic director in January 2016, has been affiliated with the SPCO for several decades. From 2000 to 2005, he served as associate concertmaster; an early review in the Pioneer Press praised him as a “secure and elegant player.”

Then, after several years in New York City with the Daedalus Quartet, which he helped found, he returned to St. Paul as principal second violin in 2011. And in 2013, following the SPCO’s highly publicized six-month contract lockout, he ultimately reversed his acceptance of a role with the New York Philharmonic to stay in St. Paul.

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DENVER — Not only was Timberwolves coach Chris Finch in Denver for Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday, but he even did his first media availability of the week ahead of the contest.

Denver’s media setup includes a risen up table that requires two stairs to climb to get to.

So Finch — armed with his straight-leg brace stemming from the surgery Wednesday to repair his torn patellar tendon — climbed on up and sat down.

“That was easy,” he joked.

He said he feels good, all things considered. The coach also said his goal was to be in Denver for the start of the series all along. But he knew that wasn’t a guarantee.

“I was wide open on everything. They told me that they really wanted me to just rest. I’ve been trying to do that,” Finch said. “But I also wanted to be here, and if I could be here in any capacity, that was the most important thing for me. Just was literally going to take it day by day and see how I felt.”

He will start the series on the bench, though he noted the “game interaction” will largely fall on the shoulders of assistant coach Micah Nori.

“I’m not in a position to be able to get up, call timeouts, interact with the players and all that stuff,” Finch said. “But being right there with the coaches and with the players in the huddles, all that stuff will be the same.”

And it’s not unusual for Finch and Nori to be in constant communication throughout a contest, anyway.

“He has the pleasure of sitting next to me for the whole game now,” Finch quipped.

Royce Lewis has torn his anterior cruciate ligament twice. He has endured multiple lengthy rehab processes that have kept him off the field for a year at a time.

This time around, as he works his way back from a severe quadriceps strain, he says it’s his hardest rehab yet. It’s not because he’s in more pain, but rather it’s a much bigger mental challenge for him without a clearly laid out timeline.

“It’s a lot easier on you when you have a carrot dangling over your head like, ‘Hey, OK, I’m at nine months, I’ve only got three more months,’ or something,” Lewis said. “When you have no idea and you feel so good, it’s the most challenging rehab I’ve ever had.”

Lewis, who suffered the injury on Opening Day, has gotten to the point where he isn’t feeling pain. He’s taking 80 swings a day. He’s taking balls at third base.

He has started running, as well, doing so on the warning track. He has been told to go at 70 percent and constantly has to be reminded to slow down.

Last week, he had an ultrasound to see how he was healing. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey said the results of that revealed that Lewis is exactly where they expected him to be at this stage — no faster, no slower.

“I think they say it went just how they expected,” Lewis said. “But for me, I took it like I can’t play (so) it’s bad. You know what I mean? Unless they say I can play, it’s all bad news. So that’s where I’m at.”

Initially, the thought was that Lewis might miss around two months of the season. That timeline seems as if it might be accurate.

Lewis said he feels as if he could go play now, like he could go perform at a high level. And yet, he’s still a ways off from a return.

“I feel like they’re taking the best care of me. But from what I feel, that’s hard for me to understand,” Lewis said. “And that’s where the mental challenge comes in for the rehab. … It’s just a fact of like how I feel and emotionally, that hurts. I love this game. I want to play. I just miss the game.”

Stewart gets MRI

Brock Stewart first felt a pain in his shoulder on April 25, in the second day of back-to-back outings. He noted it and then advised the training staff when the team went to Anaheim, Calif.

At that point, they decided they would take it day by day and see how he was recovering. Stewart pitched two innings after that first initial pain and said he didn’t think about his shoulder at all on the mound.

But finally, on Friday, when he was playing catch before the game, it got to be too much.

The Twins placed him on the injured list with right shoulder tendinitis and sent him for magnetic resonance imaging on Saturday morning. Once they get the results, they will know more about how to proceed with one of their top relievers.

“Just got to think big picture and take care of now, if we can, and not let it get worse to a point where I just basically screw myself for the rest of the season,” Stewart said. “Just as much as my shoulder’s hurting, my brain and heart is hurting, too, just cause I’ve dealt with injuries before and having success that I have had last year and this year, I want to be that guy.”

Topa progressing

Justin Topa is well aware of the fact that his former team, the Seattle Mariners, is coming to town on Monday. It’s starting to seem possible that the first time Topa pitches in a Twins uniform, it will be against his old teammates.

Topa, on the injured list with patellar tendinitis, could be ready to return early next week. He has thrown in three rehab games for the Triple-A Saints, with another outing scheduled for Sunday.

His stuff, he said, is close to where he wants it to be. His velo is down a tick, but he chalked that up to something that comes along with building back up.

In the meantime, he has been enjoying watching his new bullpen mates show they’re among the best bunch in the league.

“Just to be able to, for myself, not really feel rushed back is, there’s guys doing their job and then some,” Topa said. “I was joking I might not even have a job based on how everybody is throwing. It’s been really fun to watch.”