By Mikayla van Loon
Prepare to don those dancing shoes and move to the beat with Lilydale Community House’s final two live music performances.
The rock and roll tunes of Uptown Catz will be heading to the House on Saturday 25 May and Mexican band Sin Frontera will put on a show on Saturday 22 June, both for free.
House coordinator Suyin Chan said the idea was to get people out and moving by dancing to various music genres.
“We’ve had very diverse bands to get people up and dancing,” she said.
Wanting to cater to different demographics, Ms Chan said the first event was a huge success with a bush dance theme, followed by Babaganoush, showcasing Gypsy/Balkan music.
“The gypsy balkan one was also really popular and a completely different group of people came to that. It was more of the European cohort so that was fabulous.
“Then we thought we would do a 50s and 60s rock and roll and then the Mexican one to see how they’d go.”
Uptown Catz has members hailing from the local area, including Stephen Pinzone who comes from Mount Evelyn, as well as Andrew McLeod, Joe Breitenfeld and Stephen Meilak.
Sin Frontera are a well known band, often performing in the inner city, showcasing the traditional sounds of Mexico, led by Alejandro Espino.
Both events are expected to be a lot of fun for families, as well as individuals or groups of friends.
Funded by the Urban Community Recovery Grants, Ms Chan said it makes the events completely free for people to attend.
“The recovery grants were about engaging with the local community and getting them out and about and the dances were to do just that, get them out and back into their community,” she said.
Encouraging people to not only engage with the dances and live music while they can, Ms Chan said she would like to “chat to those who come along about what our activities are during the week as well”.
Light refreshments will also be provided at each event.
Lilydale Community House can be found at 7 Hardy Street.
