Family Weekend Indoor Performances :: Flint Hills International Children's Festival presented by Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Inside the Ordway, performing artists from around the world take to the stage for two full days of shows for only $5 a person!

Cirque Zíva
June 1 & 2, 2013 | Music | All Ages
Ordway Music Theater
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Champion acrobats, contortionists and jugglers combine breathtaking skill and spell-binding beauty to transform 2,000 years of Chinese tradition into an awe-inspiring display of talent and grace. Hailing from Cangzhou, Hebie Province, in the People's Republic of China, Cirque Zíva will blend traditional Chinese folk dance with incredible acrobatic feats that will leave you spellbound in your seat!

Drums United Worldbeat Drum Class
Thursday, May 31
6:30 – 8pm
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Drake Room
345 Washington Street,
Downtown St. Paul 55102
Please enter through the Stage Door on 5th Street
Attendance is $10 or $5 with a ticket to a Drums United performance during the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival
Please RSVP to Amy Miller at (651)282-3017 or amiller@ordway.org

Learn new rhythms from the percussionists who make up Drums United. They hail from seven different countries, including Bangladesh, Senegal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Surinam, and Venezuela. Their exciting show, World of Rhythm, mixes African, Latin, Spanish, and Indian drum traditions with Western drumming and contemporary electronic sounds. During the drum class, they will teach rhythms from around the world, including Nyollewo from Senegal and others.

All levels welcome; please bring your own drum

Wind
June 1 & 2, 2013 | Theater | Ages 3 - 7
Lowry Lab Theater
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Through a delicate game of opening and closing, a man and a woman each look at the world through their own window. Outside the wind blows, stirs and whispers. As the wind falls away, windows open to reveal moments of humor and poetry. As the wind whips back up, the windows snap shut whirling us away on a surreal journey. With each opening and closing, the wind becomes stronger, interrupting the everyday lives of our two characters and carrying them towards the moment of change. What will happen when the wind dies down, and they find themselves face to face? With an extraordinary sound design and using few words, La Società della Civetta gradually reveals the story of two characters through a whirling game of chasing and snatched moments of calm all dictated by Wind.

RumbaTap
June 1 & 2, 2013 | Dance | Ages 5+
Lehr Theater
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Let’s get ready to rumba— tap, that is! Join in on the syncopation as Max Pollak introduces us to his original dance concept of RumbaTap, a melding of Afro-Cuban music and dance, American jazz, body percussion, and tap dance. The RumbaTap ensemble, a multi-talented international cast of two musicians and two dancers, evokes a powerful “Orquesta” capturing the deep grooves and charged electricity of Afro-Latin Soul.

The Star Keeper
June 1 & 2, 2013 | Puppetry | Ages 4+
Landmark Center - Weyerhaeuser
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As he is lighting up the evening sky, Pierrot accidentally dislodges a star from above. Luckily, an endearing worm named Pretzel comes to the fallen star’s rescue and together they set off on a series of fantastical adventures while trying to return the star to its home. On their journey, they must climb a spider’s thread, cross the dormitory of dreams, dive into the ocean depths in pursuit of a pearl fish and resist the bewitching charms of the bubble tamer. Combining puppetry, visual poetry, music, and fantasy Théâtre de l’OEil creates a unique, non-verbal, magical performance.

During the Family Weekend, downtown Saint Paul comes alive with family-friendly events! The parks around the Ordway fill with free arts activities, art exhibits and performances! The Ordway proudly presents a vast array of performances on the Festival’s two outdoor stages – the World Stage and Landmark Stage – and in the surrounding parks…all for free. Learn more >