(THE PICKET) – Dancers from Duquesne University took a Shepherd University audience Saturday through a tour of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
On Saturday, Feb, 20. dancers performed 16 numbers from Croatia, the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and the Ukraine.
“It was wonderful,” said Rachel Meads, the head of Shepherd’s program board. “We had a full house and a great crowd, but more than that I learned new things and so did everyone else I think that came to the show. It was a great opportunity.”
The performances were enhanced with videos describing the cultures of the countries represented.
“Yes it was a wonderful show, the audience was wonderful. We really enjoy to perform and I hope that we will come back here next year, as well.” said Milos Damnjanovic, 26, Serbia. “I like to travel a lot because there is always an opportunity to meet people and enjoy it.”
Members of the community, people of all ages, and even students came out for the show.
David Donohue, a fifth year student majoring in communications said, “I really liked it, it showed a lot of diversity and I thought the dancers worked their a** off, honestly. It was just really awesome to see the amount of culture that they covered in just one show.”
The Tamburitzans are an ensemble from Duquesne University, who begun in the early 1930’s at St. Thomas College in St. Paul Minnesota; moving to St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas in 1934, and settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1937. Their cultural diversity sparked the interest of Dr. Pierce of Duquesne University, so he assumed the position of advisor. In 1940 the group’s name went from being the “Slavonic Tamburitza Orchestra” to the “Duquesne University Tamburitzans.” They are now in their seventy-ninth season.
To learn more about the Tamburitzans, or to find a location to see the show in case you missed it, visit http://www.thetamburitzans.org/ .