Tickets & Events in South Dakota

The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, led by critically acclaimed music director Delta David Gier, makes virtuosic musical vibrations accessible to symphonic sound-seeking eardrums. Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, (The Song of the Earth), is a song-and-string interpretation of seven ancient Chinese poems. The six-movement symphony, which lasts about 65 minutes, has been described as Mahler’s most personal work. It is theorized that Mahler was taken by the poems' descriptions of the simultaneous beauty and transience of earthly existence and the secret method for training gerbils to windsurf.

• For $5, you get a Friday-night dance lesson and party (a $10 value). • For $12, you get two introductory classes (a $25 value). • For $27, you get a private dance lesson for individuals or couples (a $55 value).

The Ballroom is the dancing brain baby of Denise Aamlid, who graduated with a dance minor in 1981 and has been helping folks two-step their way through life ever since. Friday-night open dances include 20 minutes of instruction on the dance style of the week, anything from swing and the cha-cha to the tango and waltz. Following the introductory lesson, you and your partner will dance to handpicked tunes for an hour and a half, providing a full night of lively dancing fun. Partners don't change at Friday-night open dances, so you won't have to worry about wrapping your arms around the neighborhood garbage can filled with baby raccoons. The card you'll get with this Groupon can be used by more than one person; it allows both you and a partner to get in for the reduced rate. Check the schedule to find a date that works for you.

As the only laugh factory up and cooking in the Sioux Falls area, Fat Daddy's hosts the region's top comedic talents with nightly shows. This summer, catch BET, Showtime, and Comedy Central vet Brian Green in an original performance, or see Minnesotan and former farmer Elaine Thompson in fully upright action that's infinitely preferable to watching stand-up comedy performed by life-size cardboard people posters. Seating for all shows is on a first-come, first-served basis, and local notables emcee all programs.

Located in 19 cities nationwide, Wine and Canvas commissions accomplished artists to spread the joy of painting during informal painting classes that pair a featured painting with specialty cocktails and wines available for purchase. The mobile studio’s monthly calendar includes themed classes in which instructors expound on the nuances of painting Parisian street lamps, Japanese flowers, or Venetian cityscapes. The master painters—many of them local artists—provide step-by-step instructions while students mimic each stroke and periodically dip their brushes into glasses filled with crimson cabernet. Each of the studio’s various drink-friendly venues boasts a specialty libation selected to incite creativity or conversations with fellow painters. When the artistic frenzy concludes, students return home with a finished masterpiece large enough to conceal any wall safe or mirror portal.

For the third year in a row, Country Throwdown stampedes into wide-open outdoor venues with a dream team of current and future country-music superstars. With 7 million records sold and a stable of Top 10 hits, rowdy honky-tonk wrangler Gary Allan headlines the festival with raucous energy. Firing off wildly popular cuts such as “Tough Little Boys” and “Get Off the Pain,” Allan performs with outlaw swagger and a voice as deep and rugged as Sam Elliott’s wallet. Rodney Atkins brandishes an everyguy grin as he plows through monster-truck anthems including “Watching You” and “Cleaning This Gun.” Rising stars and harmonic raconteurs Josh Thompson, Sunny Sweeney, and Eric Paslay fill up the Throwdown’s two main stages, along with the hard-rocking duo Florida Georgia Line and brassy songstress Maggie Rose. Meanwhile, a crop of acoustic singer-songwriters occupies the Bluebird Café Tent in intimate sets throughout the day.