Dig out your swing skirt and dancing shoes from bottom of the closet, because Black Bear Lodge is getting jazzy.
This June, Rhythm Society Dance Orchestra (RSDO) are gracing the Black Bear stage with the sweet sounds of early 1900s swing dance.
The Brisbane ensemble’s performance will honour the world famous compositions of one of the eras most renowned musicians, Sy Oliver, who performed and wrote for the Jimmie Lunceford and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras throughout his career. "Sy Oliver is widely regarded as the most influential arranger and composer of that time period, in the early 1940s, when jazz was as close as it ever was to being the popular music in the US, and around the world," band leader and founder Cameron Meiklejohn says.
Cameron began the ensemble only a year ago to return this vibrant art form to the people of Brisbane and ever since, the RSDO have been showcasing the very best of the era. Though as the drive behind the Sy Oliver rebirth, Cameron says the music of their upcoming performance has a significant, unique connection with Brisbane’s arts culture. “During the [Second World War], the US Navy bands and the US Army big bands would play social dances in the main auditorium of Brisbane's City Hall, and they would get 2,000 people along every Sunday.
“The music of [Tommy Dorsey Orchestra] was regularly played by those bands… and having that connection between Sy Oliver and the music of the Dorsey is a strong point of connection,” Cameron says.
“[I think it’s] really important that Brisbane has a living culture of this music, and people have the opportunity to hear it in a live setting… It’s about taking this music to an audience that hasn't potentially seen it performed live before or heard it in the context it deserves to, and should, be played in.”
And in true Rhythm Society style, the Black Bear Lodge’s dancefloor will also be dazzling with their good friends Corner Pocket Swing and their elite troupe The Pocket Rockets showing off their best Lindy Hop and swing dance moves. Ticket holders will even have the opportunity to learn from the troupe with their free swing dance lesson prior to the show.It was this style of dance that made swing music incredible live, as society often needed a place of fun and joy during the years of the wars and the Great Depression. As Cameron says, the motto most commonly heard was “if the music doesn't make you want to tap your feet, then don't play it”.
“The music of this era – of the '20s, '30s and '40s – was music for dancing. People would go out to a dance hall, a ball or some social setting and it would be playing and they would be dancing,” Cameron says. “[Our performers] just make it a total spectacle. Obviously the music is enjoyable, and the music is something that invites you in and wants you to engage with it, but to see the dancers having their own relationship with the music just creates a really great visual display."
So with the dazzle of dancers and the exquisite sounds of RSDO’s live ensemble, which Cameron has expanded from a 10-piece to 13-piece especially for the performance, ’The Music Of Sy Oliver’ will certainly be a memorable night for all.
Rhythm Society Dance Orchestra perform at Black Bear Lodge 25 June.
