LCCC Music Department presents, ‘Let’s Dance’

CHEYENNE, Wyoming – Laramie County Community College’s Music Department will have you tapping your toes as it presents a celebration of dance music, fittingly called “Let’s Dance,” on Tuesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Surbrugg/Prentice Auditorium.

The free concert will feature LCCC’s Brass Band, Jazz and Wind Ensembles and will feature a variety of classic, contemporary, ballroom and folk pieces written to inspire movement.

“There are so many dances. And music and dance go hand-in-hand,” said Dr. Frank Cook, LCCC music faculty. “I wanted to celebrate a wide variety of great dances from different times and cultures.”

The concert opens with the Cheyenne Brass Band, a comprised of students and community members, who will perform “Come Sweet Death” by Johan Sebastian Bach; “Divertimento” by Karel Husa, a suite of Czechoslovakian music; and will close with Michael Allen’s “Sing. Sing. Sing.”

LCCC’s Jazz Ensemble will perform “Absolutely Awesome” by Lenny Niehaus and "Sway" by Luis Demetrio and Pablo Beltrán Ruiz, with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel; featuring Cheyenne resident and LCCC student Karen Cotton.

The concert will close with the Wind Ensemble, performing “Street Tango” by Astor Piazzolla arranged by Robert Longfield; “Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo” by Malcolm Arnold arranged by John P. Paynter; and “The Clarinet Polka” arranged by Bruce R. Smith, featuring the clarinet section. The Wind Ensemble will close with a new piece, “Jitterbug!,” by Robert Buckley.

With the performance coming toward the end of the school year, these musical selections are designed to challenge the students and showcase what they have learned and focused on during the year. “Students do what they are comfortable with, and I want to give them opportunities to be challenged and grow,” said Cook. “I want to program music that is progressively out of the students’ reach.”

To learn more about LCCC’s Communications & Creative Arts Pathway and programs, visit lccc.wy.edu/Pathways or contact Dr. Frank Cook at 307-778-1306 or fcookFREELARAMIE.