Song and Dance

Once again, the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble will grace the Amaturo Theater stage at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, November 9th. The fall concert, titled “Song and Dance,” will feature symphonic dances of virtually every kind as well as some popular songs of all genres.

Several dance studios and vocal soloists will join the ensemble as they prove that there is nothing ordinary about South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble concerts. Highlights will include Louis Prima's “Sing, Sing, Sing” played by the jazz ensemble, complete with swing dancers; Symphonic Dances from “Fiddler on the Roof”; Russian Sailor's Dance, complete with Russian Sailors; tenor soloist James Perkowski singing “Vesti la Giubba” from Pagliacci; the hauntingly beautiful “Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy), and much, much more.

Dan Bassett, Artistic Director for the ensemble, said, “This will be by far the largest undertaking and I think the most exciting concert for us, entertaining from beginning to end. We are adding lots of visual elements and have two guest vocal soloists performing some very familiar pieces.”

Dan started with the band over twelve years ago playing the trumpet. When the artistic director position opened up, he interviewed and got the job. He is responsible for the total production of the concerts from start to finish including music selection, rehearsals, and the hiring of guest singers, dancers and musicians. He accomplishes all this with the extraordinary help of Assistant Artistic Director Chris Schlenker and Francis Lyn, his life partner and marketing director.

The South Florida Wind Ensemble is the concert band portion of the Flamingo Freedom Band. The image and name of the concert band was changed in order to more suitably identify the group as a semi-professional level concert band. It is a national trend amongst GLBT bands to have a more professional name for their concert band while keeping their more historic name for their marching band component. While the concert band and marching band portions are part of the same organization and share many of the same members, they are led by different directors and play different types of musical literature.

This December the wind ensemble will again join the Sunshine Cathedral, MCC for their Christmas Eve services. In the spring the jazz ensemble, marching band and wind ensemble will perform at several local pride events. On June 14th, 2009 the wind ensemble will be presenting “All That Jazz,” a concert exploring the roots of jazz and its influence on modern music.