When Kim Martinez saw the dance musical “Illinoise” on Broadway in 2024, she heard critics and promoters praise it as innovative; as the first time dance had taken center stage in mainstream theater.

She loved the show but had to laugh at that line, she said — because she’s been creating dance theater in St. Paul for 25 years as artistic director and co-founder of Out on a Limb Dance Theater Company.

The company’s spring show is an adaptation of the “The Snow Queen,”  the Hans Christian Andersen story that loosely inspired Disney’s “Frozen.” The show runs March 5, 6 and 7 at the Luminary Arts Center in Minneapolis; 700 N 1st St. Tickets ($30 for general admission, $25 for students) are available online at https://my.luminaryartscenter.com/2864.

“I think dance is a medium, unlike a lot of theatrical art forms, that it doesn’t tell you what to think. It invite you to feel,” Martinez said. “We’re in a world right now where we’re constantly being told what to think. But isn’t it kind of nice to not have that; to have an opportunity to experience your own emotions?”

The show, as many of Out On A Limb’s productions do, features music from Minnesota bands The Suburbs and Soul Asylum, among others. But the company in recent years has also formed a close working relationship with Suburbs frontman Chan Poling, who now works more as an orchestral composer. “The Snow Queen” features six of Poling’s compositions, including a piece he wrote specifically for this show.

Of course, Martinez said, dance forms like ballet have long been used as storytelling, and Broadway musicals are choreographed. But what makes dance theater unique as a genre, she said, is using a variety of styles of movement as the main narrative tool. Just as a musical uses songs to communicate plot and emotional moments, dance theater pulls in ballet and jazz and hip-hop and tap and acrobatics all as different narrative tools.

“Every scene has a different emotional arc to it, and you can utilize those genres (of movement) just like you would music,” she said. “In some ways, it’s easier to understand than dialogue, because movement is a language.”

Martinez has been dancing her whole life and started teaching when she was 9 years old at her mother’s dance school, she said. And in over six decades in the dance world, she has seen a trend away from professional artistic dance companies and toward competitive dance teams.

This change, from her perspective, makes it nearly impossible for the dancers themselves to earn a sustainable living through dance itself. So besides just telling stories through movement, part of Martinez and co-founder Marcey Mastbaum’s goal when they launched Out on a Limb was to develop audiences for dance theater to actually be able to support dancers’ careers, Martinez said.

“While I thought it’s great that somebody’s monetizing dance, it’s not going to the dancers,” she said. “You’re working your body as hard as any athlete but you’ve got nothing to show for it, and it breaks my heart. When you love it as I love it — I know what it does for kids; I know what it did for me as a kid, and how it kept me believing in myself — I just wanted to make space for that.”

And throughout the years, unexpectedly and unintentionally, Out On A Limb has bumped up against world news events that Martinez said only make the work feel even more poignant and timely.

The organization’s first day, for example, was Sept. 10, 2001.

And this spring’s show, “The Snow Queen,” was chosen before federal immigration agents swarmed the Twin Cities in January and February of this year. The show happens to tackle themes of family loss, grief and the power of caring for those around you, she said.

“When I decided to do ‘The Snow Queen,’ I had no idea how what an incredible reflection it would be on what’s happening in our community,” she said. “We’re in a time right now where so many people feel unsafe and frightened, and it makes the world seem ugly right now. … But even though things seem really ridiculously grim sometimes, if we remind ourselves just how deeply we’re loved and how deeply we love others, we can get back to beauty.”

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By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway is buying back shares for the first time in nearly two years, and new CEO Greg Abel said he has no immediate plans to sell off Kraft Heinz shares now that the packaged food giant has shelved its plan to split the company into two.

FILE – Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Greg Abel is seen at the CenturyLink Center, May 5, 2018, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Abel appeared on CNBC Thursday — less than a week after releasing his first letter to shareholders after taking over the top job at Berkshire from legendary investor Warren Buffett in January. Berkshire also took the unusual step of filing a formal notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had begun repurchasing its shares Wednesday for the first time since May 2024.

When Kraft first announced its plan to split the company in two last fall, Abel and Buffett expressed concerns about that because of the costs involved and the current struggles for some of the brands. So Abel said he agreed with new Kraft CEO Steve Cahillane’s decision to pause the split.

“For Steve to come in and say we’re pausing it, there’s opportunities within Kraft Heinz to fix things and get the business back on track and then he’ll evaluate things. We thought that was absolutely the right approach,” Abel said.

Berkshire has long been Kraft’s biggest shareholder with 325 million shares ever since Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital orchestrated the merger of Kraft and Heinz in 2015 because they already owned Heinz and believed in the power of their brands.

FILE – Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview with Liz Claman on Fox Business Network’s “Countdown to the Closing Bell,” May 7, 2018, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Over the years since Buffett had made comments about how Kraft’s competitive moat around its brands wasn’t as strong as he thought and Berkshire likely overpaid for the investment. Berkshire even took a $3.76 billion write-down on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer. But until January there had been no hint that Berkshire might sell off its Kraft shares.

Abel also told CNBC that he felt it was important for Berkshire to let shareholders know that its approach to buybacks hasn’t changed. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate will continue to use some of its $373.3 billion cash to repurchase shares whenever Abel and Buffett conclude that the stock is worth more than what it is selling for. It’s Class A shares gained more than 2% to sell for $745,451.75 apiece Thursday.

Abel also disclosed Thursday that this week he used all $15.3 million of his take-home pay for 2026 to buy Berkshire stock, and he told CNBC that he plans to continue doing that as long as he remains CEO so that his interests will be aligned with shareholders.

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“As CEO, I absolutely obviously believe in Berkshire with — with the transition from Warren. And I inherited a company that has an incredible foundation. I believe in its — you know, future, the opportunities that exist there,” Abel said.

In his letter that was released last Saturday, Abel promised not to make any significant changes in the way Buffett has run Berkshire for the past six decades. The two men talk regularly because Buffett remains chairman and continues to come into the office every day to hunt for new investments.

Abel said that includes not paying a dividend because he and Buffett believe that they can generate better returns for shareholders by keeping Berkshire’s cash and reinvesting it instead or returning it in a dividend.

Berkshire owns dozens of companies, including major insurers like Geico, the BNSF railroad, well known brands like Dairy Queen, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing, retail and service businesses like fractional private jet company NetJets.

Yellowjackets and JazzMN Orchestra with Michael Mayo will headline the 28th annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival on June 19 and 20 in and around Mears Park in Lowertown St. Paul.

The free festival was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization with “a mission to keep the art form of jazz alive and well in our community.” It has since grown into one of the largest free civic jazz festivals in the Midwest.

While the full schedule will be released in April, organizers have announced a handful of acts. They include the following concerts at Mears Park:

Long-running jazz fusion band Yellowjackets; 8:30 p.m. June 19.
Composer and drummer Yogev Shetrit’s trio; 6 p.m. June 19.
Selby Avenue Brass Band with Thomasina Petrus; 4 p.m. June 19.
Jazz ensemble JazzMN Orchestra with vocalist Michael Mayo; 8:30 p.m. June 20.
Pianist Sullivan Fortner’s trio; 6 p.m. June 20.
Local favorites Zacc Harris Group; 4 p.m. June 20.
Saxophonist Lucia Sarmiento; 2 p.m. June 20.
Students from Walker West Music Academy and MacPhail Center for Music; noon June 20.

For further details, see twincitiesjazzfestival.com.

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There’s a watershed moment that still sticks with Wild general manager Bill Guerin however many years later. He was working for the Pittsburgh Penguins at the time. They were trying to bolster their roster ahead of the stretch run.

That sparked an internal debate about whether it was worth giving up a third-round pick at the trade deadline. The rebuttal from longtime Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was the stuff of legend.

“That third-round pick better be a pretty good (expletive) player,” he said.

Though it should be noted that Guerin didn’t specify the particulars of the move itself, the Penguins traded a third-round pick to the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 27, 2016 in exchange for defenseman Justin Schultz.

That successfully helped the Penguins shore up their blue line. They won the Stanley Cup a few months later.

That anecdote feels relevant when considering the sticker shock some people felt after the Wild traded a second-round pick to the Nashville Predators this week in exchange for center Michael McCarron.

The rhetoric in the immediate aftermath focused almost solely on what the Wild were giving up rather than what they were getting back. Not that Guerin seemed too concerned. He took a page out of his mentor’s book when asked about the cost of doing business, saying, “That second-round pick is not going to help us right now.”

It’s good to hear Guerin say that because that’s exactly how the Wild should be operating ahead of Friday afternoon’s NHL trade deadline. They shouldn’t be thinking about the future; not when they can accomplish so much in the present.

This is the first time in maybe forever that the Wild are legitimate contenders to win the Stanley Cup. The main objective for Guerin in the short term should be doing everything in his power to maximize the opportunity in front of him.

That logic should apply to any move — big or small — that could potentially help the Wild get over the hump.

Who cares that the Wild just traded a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft? It will be a small price to pay as long as the 6-foot-6, 230-pound McCarron can win some faceoffs and add some sandpaper to the bottom half of the lineup.

Those criticizing Guerin for what he gave up for McCarron probably couldn’t even name who the Wild selected with their second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The answer is winger Ryder Ritchie, who currently plays for Boston University and is still years away from contributing at the highest level.

That underscores a larger issue that spans all sports: an obsession with the future that often blinds fans from enjoying the present.

A good example of that came a few months ago when the Wild acquired superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. There were some people concerned at the time that Guerin had to part with young defenseman Zeev Buium to make it happen. Now that deal is proving to be the best trade in franchise history by a wide margin.

That doesn’t mean Guerin has been perfect. He made a blockbuster deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets a couple of years ago, for instance, that netted defenseman David Jiricek, the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft. He’s currently toiling away in the minors.

That didn’t stop Guerin from taking another big swing when he had the chance. That might be his best quality as a decision maker. He puts himself in position to hit home runs because he isn’t afraid to strike out.

The biggest reason the Wild finally seem to be good enough to win the Stanley Cup is because they have trio of superstars in Hughes, winger Kirill Kaprizov, and winger Matt Boldy leading the way.

The next step for the Wild (36-16-10, 82 points) is rounding out the rest of their lineup. That will be of the utmost importance ahead of a silly NHL playoff format that makes likely they’ll have to play Central Division rivals Dallas (38-14-9, 85 points) and Colorado (41-10-9, 91 points) before even reaching the Western Conference Finals.

The addition of McCarron by himself likely isn’t going to be the difference between the Wild winning and losing a Stanley Cup. The fact that Guerin was willing to pull the trigger without fear might be.

Especially if it allows the Wild reel in another big fish.

Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) plays during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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