West Philadelphia Orchestra Concert Calls Students to Get Up and Dance

When the West Philadelphia Orchestra first arrived, the musicians stood in a circle, leaving a large empty space in front of them. They told us that this space is for dancing, and this music is meant to dance to. At first, people stood at the front of the stage, tapping their toes and unsure of what exactly to do. But as the night went on, the awkwardness melted away. One of the members of the orchestra taught a few members of the audience a dance, and they learned it quickly. The circle that they danced in grew and grew throughout the night, until at the end of the performance, the audience seats were empty, and the stage was crowded. Strangers held hands and became friends as they danced and danced in circles.

The West Philadelphia orchestra performed at Haverford’s Michael Jaharis Recital Hall on March 2 and ushered in spring with lively dancing and loud brass. The West Philadelphia Orchestra plays music that defies labels. The orchestra was made up of ten musicians—trumpets, trombones, baritones, drums, and woodwinds. They play a large variety of music, from traditional Balkan music to klezmer music to New Orleans-style jazz. Despite being a mix of widely different genres, spanning different continents and languages, their music sounds comforting and familiar. What really shone through their performance was their willingness to experiment, varying widely song to song in tempo and time signature but never losing their distinct musical identity.

The highlights in the performance were the pieces accompanied by vocalists, sung in Turkish and Serbian. The vocalists enhanced the performance, bringing life and energy to the songs, yet leaving room for the beauty of the brass to shine. The West Philadelphia Orchestra is, at its heart, a folk band, and beauty from folk music comes from its specificity. Those songs let the specificity of the tradition shine while still embracing the West Philadelphia Orchestra’s unique blend of sounds from all over.

In their final song, the orchestra asked the audience to sing along to the chorus. All of us joined in, clapping and dancing, while we sang along to the unfamiliar lyrics. In that moment, the joy of the music connected us all, forming a little tiny community right there in Jaharis Recital Hall. It was pure magic.