Matthew Miller

mrmiller@lsj.com

There's dancing in Lansing this weekend. And a New York Times bestselling author. And the pop-rock band The Summer Set. And chemistry, to boot.

Blues dancing. And then swing.

Blues dancing can look like a less kinetic sort of swing. It can look like the swaying of a couple in love. It can look like an awkward high school slow dance.

But "an awkward slow dance made to look a lot more interesting and a lot prettier,” said Janea Schimmel, co-founder and vice president of Sugar House Dance, which has been holding blues dancing nights in Lansing for three years. "You’re not just swaying back and forth."

The style coalesced around blues music, though it works for other styles. For about a decade, it has been experiencing a revival.

Sugar House Dance holds blues dance nights on the first and third Fridays of each month at AA Creative Corridor in REO Town, with free lessons to boot. This Friday, it’s holding an All Soul Night, where turntables will be spinning soul and funk and maybe some disco.

On the third Saturday of each month, it holds a swing dancing night at the same locale and will do so this Saturday.

How to go: All Soul Night, Friday. Sugar House Swing, Saturday. Both events, a free lesson starts at 8 p.m. followed by open dancing from 9 p.m. to midnight. Cover for open dance is $5. AA Creative Corridor, 1133 S. Washington Ave. in Lansing. For information, go to https://www.facebook.com/SugarHouseBluesLansing/

Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot is best known for “The Princess Diaries,” the teen series whose main character and target audience have both made the jump to adulthood. She's coming to Schuler Books & Music in Eastwood Towne Center to talk about something else: her latest novel, “The Boy is Back.”

It’s the fourth book in her “Boy” series, the story of a budding romance between a professional golfer named Reed Stewart and a woman named Becky Flowers, who runs a senior citizen relocation business in the small Indiana town where Stewart grew up. It’s told entirely in text messages, emails, online chats and newspaper articles.

There are 90 tickets that guarantee a seat at the event, which are free with purchase of a copy of "The Boy Is Back." The remaining tickets are free and don't require a purchase, but are standing room only.

How to go: Meg Cabot, 7 p.m. Friday. Schuler Books & Music, 2820 Towne Center Blvd., Lansing. Tickets are free, though those that guarantee a seat require purchase of "The Boy is Back." Standing room tickets do not. For information, call 316-7495 or to go www.schulerbooks.com.

The Summer Set

"I’m a bit too pop for the punk kids,” Brian Dales, the lead vocalist of The Summer Set sings at the opening of “Figure Me Out.” “But I’m too punk for the pop kids.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone calling the Phoenix quintet too punk. “Stories for Monday,” the album they released in spring, is 11 songs full of sunshine.

But it’s also got sing-along anthems, synthesizers that evoke the '80s and youthful energy and youthful nostalgia to burn.

The Summer Set will play an all-ages show Friday at The Loft.

How to go: The Summer Set, with William Beckett and Hudson Thames, doors open 6:30 p.m. Friday, The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing. All ages. Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. For information, go to www.theloftlansing.com.

Chemistry Day

Saturday is Chemistry Day at Impression 5 Science Center. Michigan State University's Department of Chemistry department will be presenting hands-on activities meant to help kids understand just what chemistry is good for. It's part of National Chemistry Week, which is focusing this year on forensic science and other ways chemistry can be used to solve mysteries.

Admission to Impression 5 will be free that day thanks to a sponsorship from Emergent Biosolutions, though there will still be a $4.25 charge to get into the Hot Wheels Race To Win exhibit.

How to go: Chemistry Day, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Impression 5 Science Center, 200 Museum Dr. in Lansing. Admission is free. For information, go to www.impression5.org.

Polish Dance Party

Pulaski Days, the Federated Polish Home’s annual two-day celebration of polka, pierogies and Polish beer, won’t happen this year.

“Our dear, dear chairperson who has done it in the past could not do it this year,” said Connie Tuma, who sits on the board of the Polish Home. She hopes it will be back in 2017.

But there will, at least, be dancing.

The Polish National Alliance Lodge 1360 is throwing a Polish Dance Party at the Polish Home on Sunday afternoon. Happy Tymes, which has provided polkas for Pulaski Days, is playing. There will be Polish sausages. There will not be Polish beer or any other sort.

"We’re billing it as a fun, family event," Tuma said.

How to go: Polish Dance Party, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Federated Polish Home, 1030 W. Mt Hope Ave. in Lansing. Tickets cost $5 per person or $15 per family. For information, go to https://www.facebook.com/events/977940045662824/.