Dancing Under the Stars: Get Your Groove On at the Port Chester Waterfront

The sounds of salsa and swing are coming to the Port Chester waterfront this August.

Residents are encouraged to bring their dancing shoes Wednesday evenings for Port Chester's summer concert series "Dancing Under the Stars."

The shows, which are set to commence August 11, will happen once a week downtown at the village's waterfront. Each installment will represent a different culture's style of music, working to bring the eclectic residency of the town together.

Angelo Rubino, who some may know as the leader of Angie Rubino Band, also serves as Chairman for the Entertainment Committee for Parks & Recreation. He said this summer series is something new the committee and village are trying, and thinks it will help to get the audience interactively involved with the music and each other.

Unlike ordinary concerts, at which listeners simply sit and watch from a distance, "Dancing Under the Stars" is meant to be substantially more interactive. Professional dancers have been hired to help encourage patrons to get up and start dancing to the great music and be more connected to the music.

The series will kick off with swing music, a style popularized during the Big Band era.

Rubino's band, which typically only performs with five or six members, will take the stage with a full eight-member line-up to propel dancers with a brassy, upbeat sound.

Led by Angie Rubino, lead singer and sax player, the octet also includes female vocalist Ann Rubino, as well as a drummer, a guitarist, a horn section featuring saxaphones, trombones and trumpets, and a keyboard player who also doubles as a bassist. Rubino and crew will turn the clock back to the 1940s and the days of bopping ballroom clubs.

Normally, the musical act's repertoire extends from the 1940s to the 90s, and it's not uncommon for them to launch into songs like Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." For Dancing Under the Stars, they'll stick to swing.

The theme of this "tuxedo junction," as Rubino describes it, will pay homage to longtime favorites such as "Fly Me to The Moon" by Frank Sinatra as well as the likes of American trombonist and trumpeter Tommy Dorsey.

In the 40 years since its conception, Angie's band has played at various weddings and venues such as country clubs including Westchester Country Club in Rye.

The second volume of the series is sure to delight the Italian-American residents of the village with soft Italian tunes from years past. This installment will feature the group I'LiGuri.

August 25 will be represented by Su Avalancha, for some salsa flavor. The series will close with musician Carlos Jimenez, who will engage the audience with Cumbia, a music style and folk dance originating in Colombia in addition to the popular dance, the meringue.