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Coming Summer 2010: We're taking dance to the streets!
We’re working with the Ordway, the Saint Paul Public Library, Landmark Center and other partners to produce a FREE, Outdoor Summer Dance Series with support from Saint Paul Cultural STAR and the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Legacy Fund. Each week features a different dance theme with Thursday night demonstration and instruction in Landmark Plaza Park, on 5th and St. Peter Streets in Downtown Saint Paul, followed by live music and public dances. The next night we'll screen a free outdoor movie at the Library on the same theme. Outdoor movies start at dusk (approximately 9:30 p.m.).
Each week a different dance theme: |
Thursday Evenings: Friday Evenings: |
June 17 Salsa
Instruction with Manuel and Carmen Rubio, Arthur Murray Dance Studio
Band: Salsa del Soul
June 18 “Dance with Me”
Vanessa Williams stars in this 1998 film as an instructor in a small dance studio in Houston. While preparing for the World Open Dance Championships, she encounters Rafael, who is searching for the father he’s never known – and who happens to be a great dancer.
June 24 Swing
Instruction with Arthur Murray Dance Studio
Band: The Senders, who play 40’s Jump Blues
June 25 “Top Hat”
It’s a case of love at first sight for Jerry Travers, a musical revue star, and the object of his affections, Dale Tremont, leads him on a merry chase from London to Italy. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers shine in this 1935 film about mistaken identities, true love and lots of dancing.
July 8 Tango
Instruction with Cinema Ballroom
Band: Mandragora Tango
July 9 “Take the Lead”
Based on a true story, the movie tells of the struggle of a dance teacher, Pierre Dulain, to give to a group of problem kids a second chance by exploring their dance skills. Antonio Banderas stars in the 2006 film as a former professional dancer who volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system. While his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance.
July 15 Disco/70’s
Instruction with Arthur Murray Dance Studio
Band: Boogie Wonderland
July 16 “That’s the Way I Like It”
There's strange fever sweeping across the island of Singapore: Forever Fever. Its only symptoms: a sudden urge to put on spandex and go disco dancing! And a humble but hapless grocery clerk named Hock is hopelessly infected with it. Set in 1977, "That's the Way I Like It" follows Hock (Adrian Pang), a Bruce Lee fan, as he discovers the joys of disco when he's dragged unwillingly to "Saturday Night Fever."
July 22 Two-Step (Country and Cajun)
Instruction with Flory Katz and Rick Ernst
Band: Kevin Anthony and the Twin City Playboys - SPECIAL 8:00 START TIME
July 23 “Urban Cowboy”
John Travolta and Debra Winger star in this 1980 drama about a young man from the country who learns about life and love in a honky-tonk Houston bar. Also starring Scott Glen as an ex-convict in his breakout role. This film has a fun soundtrack and don't miss Winger's hot, slow, mechanical bull-riding scene.
July 29 Rock ‘n Roll
Instruction with Arthur Murray Dance Studio
Band: The Rockin’ Hollywoods
July 30 “Footloose”
When teenager Ren and his family move from Chicago to a small town in the West, he's shocked to be living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. With the senior prom around the corner, only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople.
August 5 Ballroom
Instruction with Cinema Ballroom
Band: The Jerry O’Hagan Orchestra
August 6 “Mad Hot Ballroom”
In this compelling 2005 documentary, the students of several New York City elementary schools learn ballroom dancing and compete in a city wide dance competition. Mad Hot Ballroom celebrates the intricate lives of these students and reminds audiences of their own childhoods when anything was possible. Filled with emotion and triumph, it captures the essence of growing up in America.
August 12 Reggae/Worldbeat
Instruction with Kenna Sarge
Band: The New Primitives
August 13 “Sabar”
An African-American, California-born hip-hop girl resists the ancestral call of the Senegalese dance, “Sabar.” When she finally gives in, she discovers more than a dance - she finds herself.
Set against the backdrop of the African dance movement in the United States, "Sabar" is a dramatic feature film about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It examines how we constantly negotiate and choreograph our way through the bigger and sometimes arrhythmic dance called LIFE. NOTE: This is the area premier of this new film. Join us for a pre-screening discussion with the director, Chike C. Nwoffiah. Details coming soon.
Dancing, demonstrations and lessons are at Landmark Plaza Park, on 5th and St. Peter. Dance movies are in the Kellogg Blvd. courtyard of Central Library, 90 W. 4th Street, Saint Paul.
Program Partners:
Ordway,
Landmark Center,
Pazzaluna,
The Saint Paul Hotel,
The Saint Paul Public Library,
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library,
Saint Paul Cultural STAR,
Minnesota Arts & Cultural Legacy Fund.
In case of inclement weather, dancing will move inside the Ordway. In the event of rain, movies will be cancelled.
Theater Discussion
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and Park Square Theatre present an evening with the director and actors from the upcoming production of:
Tuesday, June 15, 7 p.m.
St. Anthony Park Branch Library,
2245 Como Avenue, Saint Paul
Join director David Mann and actors Steve Hendrickson*, Virginia Burke* and Craig Johnson for a discussion about Park Square Theatre’s area premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily.
During a small matter of blackmail and missing jewels, Watson pines for Lillie Langtry, Holmes chases the infernal Moriarty, and Oscar Wilde gets some of his best lines. The wit and wisdom of Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and even William Shakespeare combine to offer up a delightful escapade that includes seduction and secrets, lies and lilies, mistresses and mayhem.
- Call The Friends at 651-222-3242 to reserve a spot at the June 15 program and receive a special reservation code.
- Call Park Square Theatre at 651-291-7005 for half-price tickets** to Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily (for any performance June 16 through July 3, 2010).
- Meet the director and actors June 15 at St. Anthony Park Branch Library and pick up your tickets to the show.
- Attend a performance of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily at Park Square Theatre. All for just $18!
*Member Actors’ Equity Association **Not valid on Prime Seating
This program is free and open to the public. For more information on Park Square Theatre’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily or other plays, visit www.parksquaretheatre.org.
O’Shaughnessy Award-Winning Irish Poet, Theo Dorgan
Irish poet Theo Dorgan of Dublin will receive the fourteenth annual Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry of the University of St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies.
Theo Dorgan was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1953 and now lives in Dublin. His poetry collections are The Ordinary House of Love (Salmon, 1991); Rosa Mundi (Salmon, 1995); Sappho’s Daughter (Wave Train, 1998); What This Earth Cost Us (Dedalus, 2008); and Greek (Dedalus, 2010). He has had a lengthy career as a broadcaster of literary programs on both radio and television, as a presenter of “Poetry Now” on Irish radio, and as the host of the book program “Imprint” on the Irish national television station.
Writers in Conversation
Monday, April 19, 2010 — 7 p.m.
Hamline Midway Branch Library,
1558 West Minnehaha, Saint Paul
Dorgan and local poet, Sharon Chmielarz in conversation on the topic, “The Articulate Speech of the Heart: Poetry and Emotion.” Chmielarz, a past recipient of grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, is the author of four books of poetry: Different Arrangements (1982); But I Won’t Go Out in a Boat (1991); The Other Mozart (2001) and The Rhubarb King, (2006).
Poetry Reading
Friday, April 23, 2010 — 7:30 p.m.
O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium University of St. Thomas – Saint Paul campus
Dorgan will present a reading, free and open to the public, capping a week of events, classroom visits and public appearances. He will also participate in the Minnesota Book Awards gala on April 17.
Click here for a YouTube video of Theo Dorgan reading the poem "Visitors" from Greek.
For more information about the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry, contact Jim Rogers, Center for Irish Studies, (651) 962-5662, or email him at jrogers@stthomas.edu.
Author Readings
Club Book with JANE HAMILTON
Saturday, June 5, 2 p.m.
Highland Park Library
1974 Ford Parkway
Saint Paul
Free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Doors open 45 minutes prior to event. Books will be for sale and available for signing after the presentation. www.clubbook.org A program of Metropolitan Library Services Agency. Hosted by Saint Paul Public Library.
Jane Hamilton’s first novel, The Book of Ruth, won the PEN / Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel and was a selection of the Oprah Book Club. Her second novel, A Map of the World, was chosen as an Oprah Book Club book again and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and People. Her other critically-acclaimed books include The Short History of a Prince, Disobedience, When Madeline Was Young, and Laura Rider's Masterpiece. Learn more about the author at Random House.
This project, coordinated by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County, was funded in part or in whole with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008, which dedicated funding to preserve Minnesota’s art and cultural heritage.
Films
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and The Advocates for Human Rights present an ongoing series of films and discussions focusing on the global issue of women’s human rights.
 Each year, The Advocates and The Friends partner to present the Women's Human Rights Film Series. Six films focusing on global issues in women's human rights, screened from September through April at various Saint Paul Public Library branches. Each is followed by a discussion led by an Advocates staff member. Free and open to the public. All films begin at 7 p.m. and take place in St. Paul.
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Watch our website for information about next season's films in the Women's Human Rights Film Series, or sign up for periodic email updates here. For a list of films shown in previous years (some of which may now be available from the Saint Paul Public Library), please see our Annual Events page.
Music
Please check back soon.
Untold Stories
In celebration of labor history month each May, the Untold Stories series presents programs and talks on both local and national labor history topics. The series is coordinated by The Friends in association with a community committee. Click here for the complete schedule of our most recent series.
Find out more about these and other annual events:
Central
Library Noon Book Chats
Fireside
Reading Series
Untold
Stories: Labor History
Women's
Human Rights Film Series
Is There a Doctor in the Book?
Explore a UniVERSE of Poetry in Saint Paul!
For more detailed information on upcoming events at the Saint Paul Public Library, check out our program calendar, Events & Classes, jointly produced by The Friends and the Library. Events & Classes includes articles on upcoming programs and activities, highlights new services, and provides a complete monthly calendar of free programs for children and adults sponsored by the Library and The Friends. Copies of Events & Classes are available free at all Saint Paul Public Library branches, and are mailed to all Friends members. For a complimentary copy, please send a note with your address to friends@thefriends.org.