Entertainment Briefs - Jan. 12

Country Swingers offer classes

The Country Swingers line dance group invite new members to attend beginning classes at noon Monday at the Eagles Lodge in Brainerd. The group consists of seniors who exercise, like to dance and have fun.

For more information call Sandy Chase at 828-0714.

Folk dancing event planned

International Folk Dance will be from 7-8:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in room 228 at the Franklin Arts Center in Brainerd.

Paul Wilson and Mary Abendroth will instruct participants in a sampler of dances from around the world. No partner required and no experience is necessary.

There is a suggested donation of $5.

Just For Kix dancers perform at Outback Bowl

Brainerd Just For Kix dancers performed in the pregame and halftime shows Jan. 2 at the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla. The game was between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Florida Gators.

Dancers performed before a crowd of 51,119 fans at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There were 664 performers ranging from second through 12th grade. The celebration themed pre-game show featured all of the performers in bright green, yellow, blue or orange t-shirts celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Outback Bowl. Dancers took up the entire field spanning from the 10 to 10 yard lines as they performed their two-minute routine. The performers remained on the field during the National Anthem and flyover. During the halftime show, dancers filled the center of the field from the 35 to the 35 yard lines with over 2,500 high school band students surrounding them and uniting as one mass band to provide live music for the halftime show. This year's Latin themed show featured such numbers as, "Get On Your Feet" and "Copa Cabana." Younger dancers, performed with the twirlers to "La Bamba." The performance came to a close with a patriotic finale to "Armed Forces Salute."

Cindy Clough, executive director of Just For Kix, was the choreographer with help from Ali Clough and Annie Lindberg.

In a news release, Cindy Clough stated, "We had an incredible group of dancers representing 18 states this year. We felt they came in more prepared than usual and worked very hard. All dancers learned the choreography from video links that were sent to them in late November and once they got to Florida the show was put together. Performers had 12 hours to work on formations and polish routines. Along, with the performers, we had 531 non-performers and 45 coaches/studio owners on the tour as well. Everyone had a great time, and were so easy to work with. It is something they will remember forever as there is nothing quite like this large scale performance.

"The most exciting thing for me personally is when the dancers get to watch their performance at the final awards ceremony ... The dancers had no idea what the big picture looked like until they saw it on screen. You would think they were watching fireworks. I feel this year's show was the best one we have put on to date. We used a variety of props including poms, fans, and latin skirts. The level of visual effect was higher than usual."

There were 24 busses going to and from all of the events. Just For Kix is responsible for the entire tour from chaperoning the performers at the hotel to the meals, the bussing and the excursions.

Singers wanted for St. Francis Community Chorale

LITTLE FALLS-St. Francis Community Chorale will begin rehearsals at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 in the St. Francis Hall at St. Francis Convent in Little Falls. The choir welcomes all adults who love to sing, there is no charge to participate. People do not have to take lessons at the music center to participate or be associated with the Franciscan Sisters.

Rehearsals are held every Thursday at 7 p.m.

The St. Francis Community Chorale is under the direction of Barb Stumpf. The chorale will present a spring chorale concert May 7. The concert will feature a mixture of styles of music.

For more information, go to www.sfmusiccenter.org or call the music center at 320-632-0637 or the directors Barb Stumpf at 320-632-8372 or Vicki Spofford at 320-632-2360.

Heartland Poets to meet

Heartland Poets will meet from 6-9 p.m. Friday in the large room of the Brainerd Public Library. People are asked to bring poems to share. Afterwards poets will discuss upcoming literary events and opportunities including the Blizzard Poetry Retreat held the last weekend in January in Good Thunder. Poems-in-progress will be shared and reviewed. People are asked to bring copies of their poems to share.

Heartland Poets is part of the League of Minnesota Poets. Go to www.mnpoet.org for more details about the league.

Author event in Pine River set

PINE RIVER-Pine River-Backus celebrates its ninth Annual Community Read at 1:15 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Pine River-Backus elementary and high school.

Author and Brainerd native Shelly Boyum-Breen will be the guest speaker.

This year's focus on the reading event was on athletics and perseverance, and students read a variety of sports themed books. Instead of offering one book choice, students in the middle and high school were given five titles to choose from. Kristin Lindholm, a high school English teacher, offers students a variety of reading levels and topics which allows students to find a book that suits them, and sets them up for success. One aspect of the Community Read is that each student has the opportunity to keep their book.

Students in grades five and six are reading, "A Miracle on Ice" by Michael Burgan. Other books children are reading include "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown; "The Boys of Winter" by Wayne Coffey; "Squeeze Play" by Cal Ripken, Jr. and several of Boyum-Breen's books such as "Shelly Bean the Sports Queen Plays a Game of Catch," "Shelly Bean the Sports Queen Plays Basketball" and "Shelly Bean the Sports Queen Skates at the Hockey Rink."

Boyum-Breen has written primary age books with Shelly Bean as the main character. Boyum-Breen grew up with aspirations of playing professional sports. She spent countless hours on the basketball court, neighborhood hockey rinks and local golf courses. Boyum-Breen earned her bachelor's of art degree from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. She spent five years in the education field, coaching college and high school basketball and tennis.

Boyum-Breen then pursued a job with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx organization. She served with the organization for three years and later moved into a sales consulting role serving the Lynx.

Boyum-Breen is the founder and past-president of Foundation IX and the Let Me Play grants

supporting Minnesota girls' participation in sports and fitness.

For more information contact Tina Hanneken at thanneken@prbschools.org or 218-587-8325.

Author Lois Greiman comes to Wadena

Book Ends, the monthly meet-the-author event hosted by An Open Book, welcomes Lois Greiman, Minnesota award-winning author of women's fiction, romance and mystery novels. The event will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at The Uptown in Wadena.

Greiman was born on a North Dakota cattle ranch and after high school, moved to Minnesota where she raised and trained Arabian horses. Since then, she has been a fashion model, fitness instructor and veterinary assistant until she found her true calling-being an author.

She sold her first book to Avon in 1992 and followed that with 12 historical romance novels set in medieval Scotland. She switched to mystery and has published seven books featuring detective Chrissy McMullen, who Greiman plunges into exotic and terrifying straits. McMullen might be Greiman's alter ego.

At the meet-the-author event, Greiman will chat about what inspires her writing, the necessity of research and the similarities and differences between historical romance and mystery. She will read from her recent books and answer questions from the audience. The discussion wraps up with book sales, autographs and lunch at noon.

There is no charge for the event.

For more information, go to anopenbookmn.com or call Gillette Kempf at 218-632-2665.

Sprout announces its 2017 dates

LITTLE FALLS-Sprout announces the dates for all its 2017 markets and monthly cultural activities at the Sprout Growers and Makers Marketplace as it enters the next phase of its intentional creative placemaking strategy.

Visitors are invited to shop the market vendors selling local food and art on six Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 28, Feb. 25, March 25, Oct. 28, Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. At these markets, through visual and performing art performances, culinary demonstrations, educational events and more, Sprout will showcase the community's assets and talents found amongst the variety of cultures across the region, in which the public can participate or attend. These monthly events are funded through a grant awarded to the Region Five Development Commission by ArtPlace America's National Creative Placemaking Fund.

Arlene Jones, general manager of Sprout, stated in a news release, "The Artplace funds will offer the Sprout Growers and Makers Marketplace and our partners the support needed to host the expansion of economic opportunities, social cohesion and learning for local growers, artists, makers, producers and chefs. Through a collection of culturally specific activities, we will establish Sprout as a destination where food, art and culture meet."

These activities will also take place on market days as well as May through August.

Additionally, as part of its placemaking strategy, Sprout and partners will build out the Marketplace's physical space over the next three years using commissioned functional art from local artists. Artists interested in proposing functional artworks for sale to Sprout are encouraged to contact Dawn Espe at despe@regionfive.org .

The cultural activity kicks off Jan. 28 where youth under age 25 of all cultures will be featured and recognized as artists, musicians and growers and makers. Lunch will be served by Matt Annand of Prairie Bay. Sprout is inviting people under the age of 25 to demonstrate their craft, be a vendor to sell their food or art and attend the market to see what other people their age are up to.

The educational focus for January is "Growers" of all cultures. Sprout will host the Sustainable Farming Association (Central Chapter) "Wellness from the Ground Up: How to Market the Full Value of your Products" event, which will include a chef demonstration and panel discussion to teach farmers about marketing the true value of their products, such as explaining to consumers the important connection between soil health and nutrient density of the food produced in it, how to cook with whole foods, and the talk track consumers are hearing from nutritionists and health managers within our area healthcare facilities. Chef Tom Zimmerman from The Black & White restaurant in Little Falls will demonstrate how to store and cook whole foods in Minnesota winters to help farmers explain to consumers easy meal planning strategies that go hand in hand with cooking whole foods.

To learn more, visit www.SproutMN.com and follow the Sprout Food Hub and Sprout Growers and Makers Marketplace on Facebook.