“Begin the Beguine” Dance Evening at Civitan Hall, Friday, May 14, 7:30 pm

One of the most famous of swing era tunes, Artie Shaw’s “Begin the Beguine,” serves as the inspiration for a big band extravaganza taking place on Friday, May 14 at 7:30 pm at the Civitan Hall, 6787 County Road 43 in Perth. Lovers of both ballroom and swing dancing will have plenty of opportunities to kick up their heels on the dance floor.

Swing dance lessons, a silent auction, tasty treats and more will be featured as one of Ottawa Valley’s most popular musical attractions, the Almonte-based big band Standing Room Only, plays hours of vintage favourites from the likes of Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, the Gershwins, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.

The evening gets underway at 7:30 pm with an hour-long swing dance lesson taught by world-class instructors from the award-winning Swing Dynamite troupe (www.swingdynamite.com), who have been seen by thousands at such venues as The National Arts Centre, Casino du Lac Leamy, The Chateau Laurier, on MuchMusic, and at Canada Day Festivities on Parliament Hill.

Standing Room Only will then take the stage and perform for three hours such favourites as ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, ‘The Lady is a Tramp’, ‘Pennsylvania 65000’, ‘Moonlight in Vermont’, Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy’, ‘Route 66’, and many others.

Tickets are only $25 (which includes the swing dance lesson), with proceeds going to benefit both the Civitan Club of Perth and Ontario’s newest professional summer theatre company, Perth’s Classic Theatre Festival.

Standing Room Only is known for its very popular monthly tea dances held in the Almonte Old Town Hall, a magnet for the area’s ballroom and swing dancers for the past four years. The band plays for other public and private functions in Almonte as well, including the Almonte International Puppet Festival (aka Puppets Up!), the Young Awards Gala, the Mayor's Champagne Gala, and the Birdhouse Auction for the Mill of Kintail. The band also plays for functions in Ottawa and the surrounding area, including the Ottawa Swing Dance Society's Friday evening dances, Spencerville's A Country Christmas Remembered Swing Dance, and the monthly JazzWorks Jams (for which it has played the role of host band).

On May 14, Standing Room Only will be joined by vocalist Sandy Faux. Sandy moved to Ottawa about a year ago from Toronto, where she was a fixture on the local jazz scene. Since then, with her professional and personal approach to the standards, she has established herself as a fixture on the Ottawa jazz scene.

For Laurel Smith, Artistic Producer of the Classic Theatre Festival (www.classictheatre.ca), the big band evening is a natural fit, since her company produces hits from the golden age of Broadway and the London Stage, a time frame that mirrors the rise of modern jazz and swing music.

“Our summer shows, ‘Blithe Spirit’ and ‘The Voice of the Turtle’, are both products of the Second World War, so a lot of the timeless music you will hear on May 14 were big hits during the time when these plays were first staged,” she says. “The Classic Theatre Festival presents plays that have real staying power all these years later. So does the music of the era. You can see that in the smiles on people’s faces when they hear Standing Room Only. What’s great about the versatility of the band is the way they also handle more contemporary tunes like ‘Crazy’ and the great theme from The Pink Panther movies.”

Tickets for the benefit evening are available by phoning 1-877-283-1283 or in person at Tickets Please at Jo's Clothes, 39 Foster St. in Perth. A limited number of tickets are available!