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Gypsy Jazz Swing Dance
w John Jorgenson Quintet
Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 7:30 pm.
Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD, 20812 (Directions)
Tickets: $18 advance, $20 door.
$2 per ticket box office fee added to all purchases.
Advance ticketing ends at 1pm day-of show.
All tickets are general admission.

(Click for larger image)

Tonight Institute of Musical Traditions joins forces with Glen Echo Park to present the Grammy Award-winning John Jorgenson Quintet as they host a DANCE at the fabulous Spanish Ballroom! At 7.30pm the night begins with an hour-long dance workshop with Michael Rossi and Brianna Miller, and then at 8.30pm the DANCE BEGINS! (but don't worry, we'll have plenty of seating if you're still not quite ready to take the floor!)

A little more about the workshop from instructor Michael Rossi: "In our drop-in beginner lesson, we will teach the six-count basics with an eight-count Charleston to get dancers ready for the dance floor. We will start with basic six-count in closed position to get the students used to the structure of the dance. We will then add our first move, the underarm turn, which will end in open position. The basic six-count structure can continue here, but we'll make sure student know how to get back into closed. After, students will be introduced to side by side position; we will use a transition move to get them there. We can then move on to basic position in side by side, which is also known as the jockey. Charleston in side by side will be the last move. Students love to get kicking from day one."

John Jorgenson’s style has been called “Gypsy Jazz” after the dynamic string-driven swing created by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in 1930s Paris, but John Jorgenson’s compositions draw in elements from Latin, Romanian, Classical, Rock and Greek music, so “21st Century World Music” is perhaps a more apt description. 

The John Jorgenson Quintet is the only American act to ever headline the prestigious Django Reinhardt Memorial Festival in France, and has been featured at other “Djangofests” in the US, UK, Germany and Canada. For the films Gattaca and Head in the Clouds Jorgenson was tapped to recreate Django’s music, and in the latter he even appeared onscreen as Django with stars Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz. 

At performances of the John Jorgenson Quintet, audiences are awestruck by not only Jorgenson’s skillful guitar playing, but the solo clarinet and bouzouki as well. Djangobooks perfectly articulates, “If he comes around, don’t miss him. The show is golden. The music soars.” 

Visit John's website at www.johnjorgenson.com.

A hot rendition of John's Franco-American Swing with some great guitar/violin exchanges.