Standard-Examiner staff?lbrady@standard.net?

G

otta dance? The Junction City Big Band can fulfill your dream today. ?

Or maybe you don’t gotta, but always at least wanted to dance? Now’s the time to try it out. Even dance lessons, offered by a professional instructor, will be gratis for the 18-piece big band’s first show of the 2009-2010 season. ?Band leader Earl Ericksen, a musician and retired director of Weber State University’s department of performing arts, wanted to offer this free session to attract new dancers as well as lure back former dancers — people who moved on when the group went on hiatus during the Shepherd Union Building’s lengthy remodel. ?”The university overhauled the ballroom for about three years, and by the time we got back in there, we had a hard time getting our clientèle back,” said Ericksen. “We had built quite a following, but they had moved on to other things in that amount of time, as people will.”?

The talent?

The members of the band are drawn from throughout the Ogden area and along the Wasatch Front. ?Said Ericksen: “We’ve got a great band — I can’t believe how well they can play. Most of the people I have in the group are professional musicians in one way or another. They just enjoy getting a chance to play this style of music together. That is why they are willing to play for nothing on this first job.”?Also appearing with the band is Ogden vocalist Ruth Stevenson. Ericksen said she had spent the better part of the last month in Memphis, Tenn., singing with a number of other big-band outfits.?Dancer Margene Anderson runs the preshow dance lessons. She is the proprietor of Dance Scene in Bountiful, a studio that teaches everything from two-step to tango.?”At the lessons, she introduces a few easy steps that go well with the pieces we play,” said Ericksen. “What she wants to do is have people come right on time, to get the basics, so she does not have to go back over what she has already taught. She has told me that she is anxious to get going with us again.”?

Band origins?

The band began back in 1987, when Ericksen, now 85, was still director of the department of performing arts. ?”We first started with former members from the college band — graduates at the time,” he said.?About a third of the band members are Ericksen’s former students.?”We decided to meet once or twice a month for the fun of playing big-band music,” he said. “Well, after a little while, they said, ‘Why don’t we do dances for live people?’ And that’s what we’ve been doing since then.” ?Ericksen’s own big-band professional experience started when he was in seventh grade, playing sax, clarinet and flute. ?”I later went to World War II with a band I organized, and they made us into a USO traveling band for 2 1/2 years, entertaining troops,” he said. He added that he got a chance to work with amazing entertainers during the war, even backing Judy Garland at one point. ?After his military service, Ericksen returned to Salt Lake City, where he played with the Ice Capades and other professional gigs. Later, he ventured into academia, teaching and supervising area music teachers as well as mentoring student musicians. Going into teaching was a decision Ericksen never regretted.?”There wasn’t one time during my many years I was there, some 30 years, that I didn’t get up early in the morning and want to hurry and get back there and teach. I really enjoyed that.”?

Kick up your heels?

You might think that in order to play complex swing tunes like Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” and Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” a band of this size would have to practice frequently. ?”You won’t believe this, but we have had only one practice since we started back in the college days, and that was about a month ago,” said Ericksen. “We had a couple of new people who came in, playing in the sax section, so we had a rehearsal a few weeks ago to get them up to speed. But that was it. We get the (sheet) music, pack it up and go out and play it.?”And we always get some people who can really dance. Some are really good –great waltzers, great cha-cha dancers — all kinds of music. And of course, the more people there are, the more we enjoy playing. Bring your friends and come down and try it out.”??

PREVIEW ?

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WHAT:

Junction City Big Band dance

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WHEN:

8:30 p.m. today (dance lesson at 7:15 p.m. sharp)?

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WHERE:

Shepherd Union Ballroom, Weber State University, 3848 Harrison Blvd., Ogden?

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ADMISSION:

Lesson and show are free for this session. Information, (801) 876-3009??

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