Year after year, University of Minnesota dance students amaze audiences with their artistic acumen, ability to perform a diversity of dance styles, and seeming willingness to take on whatever theatrical or technical challenge is tossed their way. Attending one of their "Dance Revolutions" concerts is also an excellent way to suss out the Twin Cities’ next hot dance talents.

Dancer Eva Mohn (formerly with TU Dance and now with the New York-based Johannes Weiland); dancers Bryan Godbout, Eddie Oroyan, Leslie O’Neill (Zenon Dance Company, Black Label Movement); and choreographer/dancer Mathew Janczewski (Arena Dances) are just some of the U graduates who are currently shaping our dance community.

The student show is also an opportunity to see iconic and new works by the world’s most-notable choreographers. This year, the students perform the premiere of Sardono Kusomo’s "Rite of Fall," which begins in the building lobby and involves the dancers engaging with Rarig’s architecture (designed by Ralph Rapson). The other premiere is Max Pollak’s "Gusano Gozando," an Afro-Cuban jazz work.

The students are also restaging two works. One is José Limón’s modern-dance classic, "Missa Brevis." Choreographed in 1958 after Limón and his company had toured war-torn Europe, the hymn-like piece is a paean to optimism and the power of the human spirit, with lots of long, flowing movement. 

The other is "A Moment Before," by Shapiro & Smith Dance Company (a local company founded in New York by the late Danial Shapiro and his wife Joanie Smith, currently a U of M faculty artist). The S&S work is known for its wit, intense physicality and emotional poignancy.

"Dance Revolutions," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8; Rarig Center, 330 21^st Ave. S., West Bank, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; ($10-$17), 612-624-2345