Ever been excited about going to the local dance? Frocking up. Suiting up. Partners at the ready… phew, I’m exhausted just writing this!
How would you like to take the easy option? Dancing while sitting down is so much more relaxing. Well, mark Saturday night, 29 November at the Williamstown Town Hall in your diary. That’s when the Inner West Symphony Orchestra will present a spectacular night of toe-tapping, shoulder-swinging orchestral dance for our final concert of 2025.
SYMPHONIC DANCES will feature a selection of great works by Dvorák, Brahms and Bernstein, showcasing the ever-popular orchestral dance genre.
We will present six of Antonin Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances, all original melodies by the Czech master that highlight the syncopated rhythmic splendour of traditional Czech dance.
Also on the program will be Hungarian Dances Nos 5 and 11 by Johannes Brahms, who based his dances on traditional Hungarian folk melodies, full of passion and characterised by trademark sudden changes of tempo.
The cornerstone of the program will be the epic Symphonic Dances from West Side Story by the great Leonard Bernstein. An orchestral tour de force, Bernstein’s score evokes just about every emotional variant of the human condition. A whopping nine dances, all woven into a single and seamless movement.
Rounding out the program with regal splendour will be Edward Elgar’s spirited Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4, a march that somehow fits in perfectly among all the dances.
We will be joined on the night by special guest speaker, Karen Kyriakou, whose experience as an educator, facilitator, violinist and author will provide a wonderful insight into our program.
There is something for everyone in SYMPHONIC DANCES. Even those who, when it comes to dancing, have two left feet (or maybe just prefer a more regimented ‘one foot after the other’).
Saturday, 29 November at 7pm, Williamstown Town Hall. Book your spot on the armchair dance floor now!
By Andrew Derrett
