Sounds Good to Me: Music in Minnesota exhibit recreates ballroom experience

Exhibit curator Benjamin Filene (left) and exhibit designer Patrick Grace at the entrance to the exhibit's ballroom scene, based on the Prom Ballrom of St. Paul. For almost 50 years, St. Paul's Prom Ballroom was a hot spot for live music and dancing. When it opened in 1941 on University Avenue near Lexington, the Prom mainly featured swing jazz and polka. Later, it added rock 'n' roll acts. Always, though, the Prom was a gathering place. There, against a backdrop of music and dance, people forged relationships that remained rich in their memories. The nature and influence of 50 years of ballroom music, dance and social life are among many subjects explored in Sounds Good to Me: Music in Minnesota.