Musicians Tuning up again
Musicians tuning up again
By Barbara J. Isenberg
Step, cross, step, heel. Back the other way: step, cross, step, heel. “But this time you're going to add a jump,” dance instructor Lorraine Speziale said to the dozen dancers behind her. “So it's jump, over, jump, heel.”
The group followed expertly, quickly adding on a variety of turns, claps and line changes. The dancers, members of the Hulmeville Uptown String Band, practiced Sunday morning for the annual Show of Shows in Atlantic City on Feb. 18.
Not two months after the Mummers Parade up Broad Street in Philadelphia on New Year's Day, the Uptown String Band is back at it again, adding more music and choreography to its “Bum's the Word” routine. “We get to add three and a half minutes of routine for the Show of Shows,” band president Vince Sannelli said as he watched the dancers practice. “We've got a total of three weeks to get ready for the show and we already did the music. This is our first weekend to do the dancing.”
Is three weeks enough time to get ready for the eight-minute performance?
“Absolutely,” Sannelli said. “We'll be ready.”
Every winter, the Show of Shows features all 16 Mummers string bands performing an expanded version of their New Year's routines. For the Uptown String Band's “Bum's the Word” theme this year, dancers and musicians dress in elaborate, colorful “rags” decorated with glitter, gold trimmings and flower pots for hats.
Steve Rapone, a Yardley resident who's been involved with the group for four years as a banjo player, was learning choreography for the first time Sunday. “This is my first time dancing, but it's OK,” he said. “(Speziale) is keeping it pretty simple, so it's good.”
Outside, in the parking lot of the William Penn Fire Co. on Trenton Avenue, the musicians practiced “Happy Days Are Here Again” on banjos, accordions, saxophones, drums, bass fiddles and tambourines. Amanda Ettinger, who plays the bass drum and is also a dancer, is one of the first four women the string band has ever accepted. She got some ribbing from the guys on Sunday, but she took it all in stride. “They were a little thrown by having a girl in the mix,” she said of her first practice last fall. “But they're treating me like one of the guys, which I guess is a good thing.”
By Barbara J. Isenberg
Step, cross, step, heel. Back the other way: step, cross, step, heel. “But this time you're going to add a jump,” dance instructor Lorraine Speziale said to the dozen dancers behind her. “So it's jump, over, jump, heel.”
The group followed expertly, quickly adding on a variety of turns, claps and line changes. The dancers, members of the Hulmeville Uptown String Band, practiced Sunday morning for the annual Show of Shows in Atlantic City on Feb. 18.
Not two months after the Mummers Parade up Broad Street in Philadelphia on New Year's Day, the Uptown String Band is back at it again, adding more music and choreography to its “Bum's the Word” routine. “We get to add three and a half minutes of routine for the Show of Shows,” band president Vince Sannelli said as he watched the dancers practice. “We've got a total of three weeks to get ready for the show and we already did the music. This is our first weekend to do the dancing.”
Is three weeks enough time to get ready for the eight-minute performance?
“Absolutely,” Sannelli said. “We'll be ready.”
Every winter, the Show of Shows features all 16 Mummers string bands performing an expanded version of their New Year's routines. For the Uptown String Band's “Bum's the Word” theme this year, dancers and musicians dress in elaborate, colorful “rags” decorated with glitter, gold trimmings and flower pots for hats.
Steve Rapone, a Yardley resident who's been involved with the group for four years as a banjo player, was learning choreography for the first time Sunday. “This is my first time dancing, but it's OK,” he said. “(Speziale) is keeping it pretty simple, so it's good.”
Outside, in the parking lot of the William Penn Fire Co. on Trenton Avenue, the musicians practiced “Happy Days Are Here Again” on banjos, accordions, saxophones, drums, bass fiddles and tambourines. Amanda Ettinger, who plays the bass drum and is also a dancer, is one of the first four women the string band has ever accepted. She got some ribbing from the guys on Sunday, but she took it all in stride. “They were a little thrown by having a girl in the mix,” she said of her first practice last fall. “But they're treating me like one of the guys, which I guess is a good thing.”
posted by Diana Miller at 7:58 PM
<< Home