For 40 years, dancer/choreographer/writer Mary Easter headed the dance program at Carleton College in Northfield. Only rarely did the gregarious, statuesque Easter perform in the works she created. When she did, her movement was more akin to an invocation; her stories — told in her smooth, throaty voice — forays into history brought to life.

This Friday and Saturday (March 6-7), she premieres a solo work, "Skin: Solo in a Crowd," which is being described as an "encounter with latex sculptures" that were created by her husband, artist Joseph G. Brown.

Here's a rehearsal excerpt from Three-Minute Egg.

The work has a primal quality as Easter crawls out from beneath, cradles and manipulates the various skins, often while speaking, singing or howling. Her work speaks not only to her experience as an African-American woman and artist, but also to the universality of the human condition. The hour-long performance, directed by Ruth Weiner, includes music by Meredith Monk, Mary Ellen Childs and from 1950s radio.

"Skin," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (March 6-7), 2 p.m. Saturday; Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, ($19-$22); 612-436-1129.