VISITING
AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE
OCTOBER
2009
PHILADELPHIA/TRENTON
DONAUSCHWABEN
DANCE
AT
GERMAN
HERITAGE NIGHT
PHILADELPHIA
PHILLIES
Forwarded
From Philadelphia and Trenton Donauschwaben
The Philadelphia Phillies organization decided to host a German Heritage
Day during one of its last regular season games - their first ever. Our
Philadelphia/Trenton Donauschwaben Dance Group was given the opportunity to
dance before a packed stadium of 46,000.
Dancing
in Front of the Biggest Crowd Ever!
So
when the World Series contending Philadelphia Phillies organization needed a
German dance group to perform during their very first German American Day
Celebration, upon whom did they call? That’s right, the
Philadelphia-Trenton Donauschwaben Dance Group!
Not surprisingly, our dancers jumped at the opportunity.
Not only would they be performing in front of 40,000+ baseball fans
at the stadium, it turns out they would be on “Fox Sports” national TV
for about 40 seconds too. WOW!
The
whole idea was hatched in less than a week’s time for one of the last
regular season home games for the National League Champs on October 3rd.
Given the occasion, anyone able to do so quickly cleared their
schedules for the Saturday afternoon performance.
The group of 16 dancers met before the game with Phillies’
organizers and their popular mascot, Philly Phanatic. Guided by the talented
family of Tanzgruppeleiter Fred Gauss, our dancers “coordinated” some
humorous dance moves with the furry Philadelphian.
An impromptu practice then followed in the unlikeliest of places, a
big bathroom inside one of the locker rooms!
Meanwhile,
parents and a number of other dance group supporters way up in the right
field seats, level three, could only wait nervously.
Suddenly the “Tanzgruppe” emerged from the third base side tunnel
as the fifth inning drew to a close. A
few minutes later the group’s smiling faces appeared on the “Jumbo Tron”
and they began marching onto the field to the announcer’s introduction.
The Donauschwaben had arrived!
The
familiar music of one
of the best known dances suddenly blared from the public address system as
the dancers and the Philly Phanatic began whirling and twirling in unison.
Those watching didn’t know whether to look at the giant screen
above or directly at the group far below.
Most of us tried to do a combination of the two, looking up and down
repeatedly and an almost dizzying fashion.
The dancers were marvelous! They
smiled, laughed and looked like they were having the time of our lives.
All the while, the Philly Phanatic masterfully injected himself into
and out of the performance in a manner all seemed to enjoy.
It went very well indeed and there was an appreciative round of
applause at the end.
Kudos to our dancers and to everyone involved in making this event happen,
including the Gauss family and Philly DS president Rose Matico.
Congratulations as well to our friend Bill Galgon, president of the
UGH, for performing with his band “Heimatklaenge” just before the first
pitch. We hear that the Phillies’
organization liked the whole thing so much they are considering more of the
same in the future. Perhaps then
another lucky German dance group will get the call to appear on field.
We know they’ll have the same home run of a good time ours did.
Submitted
by
Hans
Martini
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Hans Martini |
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