Added Performance of Broadway Songbook: Gershwin!

Due to popular demand, we have added a Broadway Songbook: Gershwin performance!

This added performance will be on Wednesday, January 8 at 10:30am. Tickets are just $5 and bus reimbursement is available for all schools! Call 651.282.3115 to reserve your seats or for more information on this performance!

The Broadway Songbook Series gives your students a window into the world of musical theater through the works of some of the most famous songwriters of all time! Each 90-minute performance will be a mix of the composers’ life stories, a glimpse into what made their work extraordinary and a sampling of their work through live vocal performances. Broadway Songbook performances take place in the Ordway’s Musical theater Stage with the audience sitting on stage!

George Gershwin
January 7 & 8, 2014 | Recommended Grades 6-12
$5 Tickets | 90 Minute Performance
George Gershwin is one of the most celebrated writers in the history of Broadway. In his short lifetime, he composed luscious scores filled with timeless songs that are still popular today—The Man I Love, Someone To Watch Over Me, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Swanee, I Got Rhythm, Summertime, and it’s impossible to overlook his orchestral masterpiece, Rhapsody In Blue.

Performance Availability for George Gershwin
Tue, Jan 7, 2014 10:30AM – 3 Seats Available

Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 10:30AM – 105 Seats Available

Call 651.282.3115 to reserve your seats or for more information on this performance!

Spotlight on Ordway Education Alumna: Traci Shannon

Traci Shannon worked in Ordway Education as our Education Sales Assistant during the Fall of 2012. She has since returned to her first passion, performing. Last spring, Traci was offered and accepted the opportunity to be a member of the acting company at the Children’s Theatre Company.

We couldn’t be prouder of our old Education Sales Assistant and friend, Traci! Here are a couple of great articles on her and her work at CTC:

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/231940381.html

http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_24506551/cinderella-story-newest-member-ctcs-acting-group-is

You can see Traci perform as the title character in Cinderella playing now at CTC until January 5. For more information, visit http://www.childrenstheatre.org

Way to go, Traci!!

Register for an Exclusive Dance Class with a Cast Member from The Wizard of Oz!

Join the Ordway for this unique opportunity to learn choreography from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s touring production of Wizard of Oz!

Taught by Wizard of Oz cast member, Alana Randall, the dance class will run 90 minutes. Participants will learn dance combinations from the show, while building their dance repertoire. Alana Randall is a musical theater professional who has starred in several productions such as Hairspray, Hair, Footloose, Cabaret, High School Musical, and The Pajama Game in theaters across the country.

Beginners Class: Thursday, December 12th from 4:00pm-5:30pm              
Ages 12 and up

*Must have basic experience in learning choreography or dance combinations

Advanced Class: Saturday, December 14th from 10am-11:30am         
Ages 12 and up

*Must have experience in advanced dance technique or have experience with advanced or professional musical theater choreography

Participants will need jazz shoes.

$15 to participate

To Register, Call 651.224.4222

Space is limited to 30 dancers in each workshop 

Classes will take place in Roy Wilkins Studios in Downtown Saint Paul. 

Yemen Blues at North High School

Thanks to funding from Best Buy, sponsor of the SLAM program (Student Leaders in Arts and Media), 3M and other Ordway Education sponsors, 175 students and teachers at North High School in Minneapolis engaged with Yemen Blues founder Ravid Kahalani in a lecture demonstration and music workshop.  Yemen Blues was presented through the Ordway’s Target World Music and Dance program which reaches thousands each year through concerts and school and community-based programming.  

North High School also posted information about the visit on their website.

http://north.mpls.k12.mn.us/yemen_blues_visits_north.html

Ordway Education Receives Pro Lingua Award

Erin Matteson and Kristie Gaalswyk of Ordway Education
pictured here with Kay Edberg, MCTLC Awards Chair

On Friday, October 18, 2013, Ordway Education attended the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures 2013 Fall Conference to accept the Pro Lingua Award.

This award is given in recognition of outstanding service to and support of education in world languages and cultures by a person or Minnesota organization/business that is not a world-languages educator.

From the ushers to the production team, this award truly belongs to everyone at the Ordway whose efforts contribute to the success of the school performances and Children’s Festival each year.

Thank you MCTLC for this honor!

October is National Arts & Humanities Month!

Americans for the Arts describes National Arts & Humanities Month as a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, it has become the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to banners and newspaper articles, communities across the United States join together to recognize the cultural gems surrounding them.

Every individual can celebrate National Arts & Humanities Month, whether you are a school teacher, a doctor, a fourth-grader, or a grandmother. You can see a play, attend a local art gallery's open house, write your member of Congress asking for more arts funding, or participate in a poetry open mic night.

If you'd like to celebrate National Arts & Humanities Month with the Ordway, tickets are still available for Lizz Wright & Raul Midόn and Yemen Blues. 

We hope you have a wonderful National Arts & Humanities Month! :) 

Tickets Still Available for Lizz Wright & Raul Midón, Yemen Blues!

This fall, you will find the Ordway Education’s music performances a great launching pad for you and your students’ exploration of culture and music in accordance with the Minnesota academic standards for the arts. The Ordway’s study guides provide educators with a framework to connect live music performances with classroom curriculum and many standards, including:

-        Identify the characteristics of a variety of genres and musical styles; (4-5)

-          Describe how music communicates meaning; (4-5)

-          Analyze how the elements of music and related concepts such as articulation and major/ minor and fugue are used in the performance, creation or response to music (6-8)

-          Analyze how the characteristics of a variety of genres and styles contribute to the creation of, performance of, or response to music. (9-12)

-          Analyze how the elements of music including melody, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, tone color, texture, form and their related concepts are combined to communicate meaning in the creation of, performance of, or response to music. (9-12)

Tickets are just $3.50 and we offer Bus Reimbursement for ALL schools!! If you are interested in ordering or have any questions, feel free to call the Education Hotline at 651.282.3115.

Lizz Wright & Raul Midón

October 24, 2013 | Recommended Grade 4-12

$3.50 Tickets | 60 Minute Performance

Singer-songwriters Lizz Wright and Raul Midón join forces to present an awe-inspiring collection of music that spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, and gospel. Midón combines phenomenal guitar chops, deftly executed vocal mouth trumpet and an impassioned voice likened to that of Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Wright’s luminous, smoky and perfectly pitched gospel-trained contralto voice emerges as an irresistible force of clarity and emotion. Backed by a full band, these two masters of song will share their effortless magnetic stage presence and music with educators and students.

Performance Availability for Lizz Wright & Raul Midón

Thu, Oct 24, 2013, 10:30 AM – 335 Tickets available

Raul Midón

October 24, 2013 | Recommended Grade 4-12

$3.50 Tickets | 60 Minute Performance

Raul Midón is a one-man band who offers a fresh fusion of old-school soul, Latin jazz and folk-pop. The singer-songwriter began his solo career after touring and recording with contemporary pop stars Shakira and Enrique Iglesias. As a soloist, he combines phenomenal guitar chops, deftly executed vocal mouth trumpet and an impassioned voice likened to that of Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Blind since infancy, Midón is a rare musical force who reminds us how strong the connection between man and music can be.

Performance Availability for Raul Midón

Thu Oct 24, 2013, 12:30 PM – 500+ Tickets available

Yemen Blues

October 28 & 29, 2013 | Recommended Grade 6-12

$3.50 Tickets | 60 Minute Performance

Join international music sensation Yemen Blues as they bring their fusion of multinational music to the Ordway’s Music Theater. Featuring the oud, gimbri, viola, cello, flute, trumpet, trombone, percussion, voice and bass, they merge West African rhythms and ancient Jewish Yemeni melodies with mambo, blues and funk. Yemen Blues seamlessly blends and improvises across musical genres and languages, flowing from Yemeni Arabic to Creole, Hebrew and Moroccan Arabic, all led by Yemeni-born Israeli singer Ravid Kahalani. The band’s multinational members from Israel, Finland, Uruguay and the U.S, embody their mission of bridging peoples differences, whether they stem from nationality, religion or other barometers.

Performance Availability for Yemen Blues

Tue, Oct 29, 2013, 10:30 AM – 500+ Tickets available

Tue, Oct 29, 2013, 12:30 PM – 500+ Tickets available

Tickets are just $3.50 and we offer bus reimbursement for ALL schools!!