Dane Dances Features Local to International Performing Artists: The Magic on the Rooftop
Augie Olvera (l-r), Al Cooper and Lori Mattel, board members of Dane Dances are bringing top notch local, gerional and iknternational talent to the Monona Terrace Rooftop every Friday in August.
By Jonathan Gramling
It’s August and so on August 5th, the Magic will once again return to the Monona Terrace Rooftop as Dane Dances begins another summer of bringing people together for music, dancing and fun. As a community gathering that evolved from a 1990s mayoral taskforce on race relations, Dane Dances has met several community needs.
For Lori Mettel, it’s about the sense of community that she gets at Dane Dances that she doesn’t experience anywhere else.
Mattel worked in social services for most of her career. She was the head of Createability that provided vocational and residential services for adults with developmental disabilities. And through the years, Mettel has seen a lot of organizations talk about diversity, but few actually attain it.
“I’ve always been interested in how people get along or don’t get along,” Mattel said. “It strikes me that many people, certainly in social service agencies, but individuals and other kinds of organizations create ways to strengthen community connections and the environments that are welcoming to people from diverse backgrounds, but it doesn’t always work. We see people trying things. The degree to which those are successful in actually getting people to spend time together and perhaps interact are not as good as they should be. But when I went to Dane Dances, I really thought that they were doing it. Certainly we have a long ways to go. But it seems like that effort really draws in people from different walks of life, not only racial bounds, but also people with disabilities, and families. It’s a free event so there isn’t the income barrier. I was very struck by Al’s effort and the others who are involved. I feel like it actually works towards that end and that really interests me. I’m interested in how people really do come together at that event.”
Mettel enjoys the ambience of Dane Dances in a setting that “screams white Madison” according to Mettel, but is a space that is beautifully filled by Dane Dances.
“It is a great deal to volunteer and hear great music in a beautiful environment with a bunch of different kinds of people who I might not necessarily see on a Friday night otherwise,” Mettel emphasized.
People also come for the music. Augie Olvera has been around the Madison music scene for a long time as a DJ on WORT-FM for 27 years and occasionally helping to produce Centro Hispano’s Fiesta Hispana back in the day, working with Willie Ney to bring Latin music to the fiesta and the Memorial Union Terrace. And it is the music that drew Olvera to Dane Dances.
“I had been going to Dane Dances events for a few years and always enjoyed their music and the activity on the Rooftop. It’s a beautiful setting and a beautiful event to see the diversity of Madison all together having a good time. I happened to see Al. I knew him from working at the county. I said, ‘I write grants for the county and when I worked for the city and years before that when I was a city planner in Iowa and Illinois. If you need any help in writing grants for Dane Dances, let me know.’ He took me up on the offer and so that’s what I have been doing for them. I write them to the foundations and other funding sources in the area.”
Olvera has also been working to bring promising young musicians into the Dane Dances scene.
“We would like to bring in some new blood to eventually take over the organization, but also as part of our effort to try to work with the community and bring the diversity of the community together,” Olvera said. “We thought it would be interesting if we could give high school students the experience of playing with a soul, R&B band. I happen to know a gentleman, Kumar Guha. He’s originally from England. He’s of Indian ancestry and we play soccer together. We were having a drink one day and his son stopped by. I was talking with his son. He played in the jazz band at West. I asked him if he would be interested in playing with a salsa band. Salsa developed in Latin America whereas jazz developed in the United States. The Son sound developed in Cuba. They have a lot of similarities. I asked him if he would be interested and he said that he would be very interested because it would be a new cultural experience for him and a new style of music for him to learn to play. We hooked him up with Alfredo Rodriguez. He invited him to one of the rehearsals. Alfredo said, ‘This young man can play.’ Originally we asked the band to let him sit in for 2-3 songs. Alfredo said, ‘This guy is good. He can play all night.’”
This year, the student, Jackson Guha, helped identify two more students who could sit in and perform this summer.
And Dane Dances has also expanded its horizons by bringing in international salsa singer Luisito Rosario.
“He was a singer with Larry Harlow, a big name salsa orchestra that’s been around since the 1970s,” Olvera said. “They’ve travelled internationally and were part of what is called the Fania All-Stars. Fania was the major label for Latin music back in the 1970s-1990s. They were like the Motown of Latin music. We talked to him about coming here to perform with a local band. That way, he didn’t have to bring his whole orchestra or people with whom he has worked, which would be pretty expensive. We probably wouldn’t have been ab le to afford it. But if he sang with a local band, we could afford that. And so we are doing that this year.”
One of the most important continuities for Dane Dances has been Al Cooper who has headed the all-volunteer organization for seven years. And Al is committed to maintaining the high quality of the music, music that pulls people onto the dance floor.
“The first night, we have a new group, which is Latin Pride Orquesta,” Cooper said. “They are going to be playing with the Eddie Butts Band, which is a well-known group from Milwaukee. On the second week, we have BBI, which has been here before and the well-known, Madison’s favorite dance band, VO5. We try to put the nights together in a way that they flow from one week to the next. And they keep you entertained and excited for the next week.”
August 19th is Latin week with Orquesta Salsoul along with Luisito Rosario’s performance. And August 26th wraps up the magic with something new.
“Sister of Element is a set of twins who are great vocalists and have a good stage presence and performers,” Cooper said. “And they are also going to be performing with guest singer T.L. Williams who has his own group. He also produces a lot of artist and bands in the Midwest. We have a special treat that is a special bonus to that night as well as being an asset to that group to enhance their performances. And they have the Storm Chaser Orchestra. That’s going to be a night that will appeal more to the younger people as well as the older people. But to have young people be able to see people of their age group up there is something that we are trying to incorporate in what we do to be able to appeal to all sectors of the community.”