SHIFT~ performance salons

What are SHIFT~  performance salons?
SHIFT~ is an informal and intimate interdisciplinary experimental platform, curated by Sharon Mansur since 2016. SHIFT~ encourages Winona area creatives to collaborate, test out new ideas and engage each other and audience members in conversation. The salons also are an initiative to further the development and visibility of contemporary art practices in the Winona community.  
SHIFT~ prioritizes BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+,  and/or female identified artists.

SHIFT~  supports creativity, collaboration and innovation, and making those processes visible and accessible through public performance and engagement. Sharon Mansur instigated SHIFT~ in 2016, initially hosted at Infinity Yoga Studio, and has presented movement, visual, music, spoken word, and film artists/creatives.

What is a SALON?
"...the social alchemy of salons have a long and fascinating history of ushering in paradigm-shifting ideas..."

A salon is an intimate informal gathering, often in a private home for creative exchange of art and ideas. The salon's roots go back to ancient Greece and Rome, with the first ones recorded as starting in 15th century Italy, then flourishing throughout the 17th-19th century Europe particularly in France where women hosted them as the salonniere. 

The original intention was to bring diverse people together across social classes for open and equal engagement, and "promote a culture of creativity and collaboration.” 

In the early 20th century A’lelia Walker, Zora Neale Houston and others brought together
leading figures of the day in African-American politics, art and literature via their Harlem based salons. The mid-20th century found salons in NYC and Hollywood under scrutiny during the Red Scare.

And here we are today, where paradigm-shifting ideas are still very much needed.

​(sources:
https://thesalonhost.com/brief-history-of-salons/
older source no longer accessible at this link: www.publicspheresalons.com/whysalons)

shift~perceptions
shift~ imagination
shift~ possibilities
​shift~ happens

Click here for: Indigenous land acknowledgment,  information and resources​
2025 SHIFT~ Season
​
​SHIFT~ a performance salon
curated by Sharon Mansur

SHIFT~ happens! Due to weather conditions we rescheduled our LAND-scapes salon to tomorrow, Sunday, August 17 @2pm. mansurdance.com/shift There are a couple of spots available as of this morning August 16th & reservation requests can be made until 5pm today: [email protected]

LAND-scapes
with guest: Sadie Neuman
in partnership with Restoravore
Saturday, August 16, 2025 @2pm ->
**Rescheduled to:
Sunday August 17th**
Pleasant Valley, Winona, MN, Dakota land

A guided eco-art hike led by curiosity and wonder

Free admission
Reservations required by Friday, August 15th @5pm:
[email protected]

Sadie Neuman (she/her) is a local environmental professional who finds joy in asking big questions and building unlikely bridges. With a background in science, governance and communications, she’s committed to interdisciplinarity and inclusivity. After working across the Midwest with governments, nonprofits, schools and small businesses, she’s learned listening reveals “hidden” insights and compassion fuels lasting change. She believes when we connect more deeply - to ourselves, each other and the land - we take better care of all three. Now on the Restoravore team, she’s excited to help demonstrate regenerative models that unite ecology, agriculture and community at the local scale.
​
Photo description: 
​(Left) Sharon Mansur, an Arab American woman with short purple tinged hair, wearing a light grey shirt and green scarf standing outside in front of a lush green landscape.
(Right) Sadie Neuman a white woman with light brown hair pulled back with a headband and a dark shirt, in front of the same green outdoor background.
​​

Portrait of 2 (1 after another)
with guest: Pingping Zhang
July 12, 2025
Starseeds Rising, Winona, MN, Dakota land

A multi-disciplinary experiment infused with creativity, counting and confluence

Pingping Zhang (she/her) is a professor of mathematics education at Winona State University. Because of her strong interests in arts, she recently started pursuing a Studio Art degree with five minors, including dance, music, photography, sustainability, and TESOL. She serves on the WSU orchestra as a violinist and is a board member of the Bluff Country Co-op. When Pingping is not busy with schoolwork or hobbies, she loves to hang out with her husband, daughter, two dogs, a cat, three chickens, pet fish, shrimps, and snails.
​
2022 SHIFT~ Season
​In partnership with the
Winona Outdoor Collaborative

LAND/ings
with guest: Katwa Ngoma
August 13, 2022
East End Recreation Center

BLUE AWAKEN/ings
with guest: Mary Jo Klinker
​September 9, 2022
Levee Park

RETURN/ings
October 2, 2022 @ 1pm CST
Guest: Gloria Alatorre
Location: McNally Landing 
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, Prairie Island Road
​
2021 SHIFT~ Season
During 2021 SHIFT~ presented three outdoor and online events in Winona, MN:
​
August 2021
Erin Drummond + Mai'a Williams

September 2021
StuffStudio + Sydney Swanson

​October 2021
Sarah Johnson + Marcia Ratliff

mansurdance is honored to host this archive of SHIFT~ 2021 & 2022 salons:
2021 & 2022 SHIFT~ GUEST ARTIST QUOTES

I found SHIFT~ to be a safe space and container for our community. I also found SHIFT~ being a holistic and transformational place where paradigms of creativity are awakened and further explored. SHIFT~ happened to me.  -Gloria A. Alatorre
​
"Improvisational performance has the capacity for subtle and profound transformation, and Sharon Mansur curates and creates this space in such a tender, wonderful way."  ~Erin Drummond

“The more we play, the better we get at receiving challenging shifts as gifts that can broaden and transform us mere mortals into wholehearted, fully embodied, connected creatures of the universe.” ~Sarah Johnson

SHIFT~ offers an opportunity to bridge mediums and explore our relationship to community and public space through art.  -Mary Jo Klinker

As an artist, the SHIFT~ salon provided a broader platform for my personal development and growth in public performance, and the opportunity to share the gift of percussion instruments with my Winona community. And and provided an opportunity to address community concerns for public spaces like the East End Recreation Center.   -Katwa Ngoma

“To me, SHIFT~ is about moving outside of the worn-out grooves, jumping off the track, and listening to the creative pulse within the ordinary. It's also a space of connection for artists to find each other, for neighbors to notice each other, for community to weave a little tighter through shared art making.”  ~Marcia Ratliff
​
“My recipe for life is loaded with and’s. My recipe for life includes wide open spaces, a cacophony of options.” ~StuffStudio 

“SHIFT~ has expanded my ideas around art and art-making since its inception. I'm looking forward to experimenting and engaging while collaborating with StuffStudio.”  ~Sydney Swanson

“SHIFT~ is one of the rare spaces that allows for folks to play and experiment with art and creativity in a low stakes environment...”  ~Mai’a Williams
The 2025 SHIFT~ performance salons are made possible by generous support from The Waterers.

Sharon Mansur was a fiscal year 2021 and 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

​Additional support for SHIFT~ 2021 was provided by the Winona Main Street Program and Art of the Rural.  Additional support for SHIFT~ 2022 includes the Winona Parks & Recreation Department and the Winona Outdoor Collaborative.

shift~perceptions…      shift~imagination…      shift~possibilities…      shift~happens…