By Dayna Martinez, The Ordway

We’re finally experiencing some warmer weather in Minnesota and, for us here at the Ordway, warm weather means our Summer Dance series is almost here!  Summer Dance is a free, weekly social dance event, starting next Thursday, June 13, 2013 in downtown Saint Paul.  Each week is a different dance and music genre and the evening starts out with a dance lesson taught by professional dance instructors.  Then the live, local band takes the stage and folks can dance the night away showing off the skills they learned during the dance lesson.  This year, Summer Dance takes place right in the middle of Rice Park!  To check out the 2013 Summer Dance lineup, click here.

Next week’s music genre, Surf Rock, is one you might not recognize at first, but you will once you hear its distinctive sound.  Do you remember the music played during the dance competition scene in the movie Pulp Fiction?  That’s the sound!  The music, made popular in the early 60’s by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, has lately been revived once again.  And, it makes great dance music!

Our Surf Rock band, The Fractals, is coming to us all the way from Duluth, MN.  They have played many festivals and clubs in the Duluth/Superior area, and also at the Hexagon in Minneapolis for their Surf Rock night.  Click here to get to The Fractals’ Facebook page.  Dance instructors from Arthur Murray will teach us some Pulp Fiction moves, so we can all dance like Uma Thurman and John Travolta.  So, come on out on June 13th – it should be a great start to our Summer Dance season!

The Fractals in action! Photo courtesy of The Fractals

And, inside the Ordway nexxt week, we’re very excited to have the national tour of Buddy:  The Buddy Holly Story running from June 11-16. Great tickets are still available to this rockin’ show, which features more than 20 of Holly’s greatest hits.  To find out more about Buddy and to purchase tickets, click here.

To close out this week’s blog, here’s a photo that captures the joy of our 2013 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival, which the Ordway presented in and around the Ordway May 28-June 2, 2013.  We hope this inspires you to join us for the 2014 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival, May 27-June 1, 2014!

Happy Festival-Goers to the 2013 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival presented by Ordway CenterPhoto by Peter Myers