Complexions Contemporary Ballet graced the stage this past week for the stunning conclusion to Des Moines Performing Arts’ 2025-2026 Dance Series. The program was a celebration of artistry and skill, featuring dancers of varying heights, ethnicities and cultures as well as music of differing eras and genres.
Des Moines Performing Arts
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Iowa Stage Theatre Company, no stranger to ‘A Christmas Carol,’ incorporates songs, humor and a message from the Present
A Christmas Carol is a familiar tale. Familiar not just to the average English speaker, it is a tale that should be especially familiar to audiences of the Iowa Stage Theater Company (ISTC). Over the years, ISTC has made an annual production of A Christmas Carol a tradition, often repeating actors and crew year to […]
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Review: Dance company BODYTRAFFIC pays homage to Buddy Holly, Peggy Lee and James Brown in Des Moines
Des Moines Performing Arts launched their 2025-2026 Dance Series with a powerful performance by BODYTRAFFIC. Based in Los Angeles, the renowned dance company celebrates diversity and innovation through performance and education initiatives, sharing their passion for dance with audiences across the world.
Posted inCentral Iowa
Nature photographer Anand Varma brings bees, birds, bats and parasites into focus for National Geographic
Honeybee populations have been declining for more than a decade. To keep one of nature’s most prolific pollinators alive and busy, the USDA has been mixing mite-resistant bees and bees kept by commercial beekeepers. “To say it like that makes it sound like we’re manipulating and exploiting bees, and the truth is we’ve been doing […]
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Christ on a bike! ‘Dixie’s Tupperware Party’ comes to Des Moines for all your storage and entertainment needs
Since 2004, Dixie Longate has been taking her Tupperware party to stages across the country, beginning off-Broadway. Until Oct. 2, you can catch Longate and her many plastic bowls at the Temple Theater in Des Moines. But if you haven’t yet been acquainted with Longate’s presentation, allow me to fill you in. The fast-talking, larger-than-life […]
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Andrea Brook “turns the Civic Center into an instrument” this weekend
Installation artist and musician Andrea Brook has never been to Iowa before. But as she stands on top of the Civic Center with a 360-view of night-time Des Moines to install her traveling show, Sonic Butterfly, she says that she likes it a lot. Sonic Butterfly is a 200-foot long harp made up of brass […]
Posted inCentral Iowa Arts & Entertainment
DMPA premieres August Wilson poetry set to dance and jazz with ‘Pieces of My Heart’
Editors’ Pick When playwright August Wilson died in 2005, he left behind more than just a powerful and unparalleled body of work examining the consciousness of Black America. Wilson, who started his writing career as a poet, also gifted the world a selection of unpublished love poems. Pieces of My Heart sets them as a […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
DMPA announces their 2022-23 season Willis Broadway Series and #Ham4Ham
Des Moines Performing Arts (DMPA) announced their 2022-23 season Willis Broadway Series yesterday. This series will be bringing six productions from Broadway to Des Moines, including returning favorites Fiddler on the Roof and Disney’s The Lion King. DMPA also just announced today the #Ham4Ham digital lottery, for $10 tickets to upcoming performances of Hamilton. Patrons […]
