Tamburitzans Presents Symbols

(energetic string music) - Welcome to the show.

- We are the longest running variety act in the United States.

- Our group started in 1937- - As a humble orchestra.

(energetic string music continues) (vocalists sing in foreign language) - Over the years, we've entertained- - Audiences around the world.

(boisterous music) - During the week we are all college students in the Pittsburgh area.

- But on weekends we wear costumes from cultures that we adore.

(boisterous music continues) (vocalists sing in foreign language) - Our show has changed over time.

- But the cultures we celebrate are all the same.

- Full of diversity- - And charm.

(boisterous music) - Beauty and texture.

(boisterous music continues) - We take the stage together- - To preserve our immigrant past.

(boisterous music) - Stay tuned for a trip around the world.

- Through music.

- Song.

- And dance.

- We are... - We are... (energetic string music) - We are the Tamburitzans.

(audience cheers and applauds) (performer speaks foreign language) (boisterous music) (audience cheers) (audience claps in unison) (boisterous music continues) (boisterous music) (audience cheers) (boisterous music continues) (audience cheers and applauds) (gentle somber choral music) (choir harmonizes in foreign language) (somber choral harmonies continue) (boisterous music) (audience cheers) (choir sings in foreign language) (boisterous music continues) (choir singing harmonies) (audience applauds) (boisterous music continues) (swords clacking rhythmically) (performers shouting in foreign language) (energetic jovial music) (jovial music continues) (performers sing in foreign language) (performers sing in foreign language) (performers sing in foreign language) (jovial energetic music continues) (jovial music continues) (performers shout in unison) (performers shout in unison) (audience claps and cheers) (jovial music continues) (performers shout in unison) (audience claps and cheers) (somber string music) (somber string music continues) (audience claps) (boisterous music) (audience claps) (percussive music) (swords clanging) (percussive music continues) (swords clanging) (boisterous music) (swords clanging) (audience claps) (boisterous music continues) (boisterous music continues) (boisterous music continues) (boisterous music continues) (audience claps) (audience claps) (drum pounding) (swords clanging) (drum pounding) (boisterous music) (swords clanging) (boisterous music) (swords clanging) (boisterous music) (swords clanging) (boisterous music) (swords clanging) (boisterous music) (drums rolling) (audience cheers and claps) (energetic string music) (energetic string music continues) (feet stomp) (audience claps) (cheery string music) (audience claps) (string music continues) (audience claps) (string music continues) (audience claps and cheers) (boisterous string music) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic boisterous music) (boisterous music) (performers clap) (audience claps) (boisterous music continues) (audience claps) (energetic jaunty music) (audience laughs) (audience laughs) (jaunty music continues) (boisterous music) (audience laughs) (jaunty music) (audience laughs) (boisterous music) (audience exclaims) (boisterous music) (energetic boisterous music) (audience exclaims) (audience exclaims) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic jaunty music) (audience claps) (jovial music) (audience claps) (energetic jovial music) (energetic jovial music continues) (audience claps) (somber string music) (somber string music continues) (audience claps) (boisterous string music) (boisterous string music continues) (boisterous string music continues) (boisterous string music continues) (boisterous string music continues) (audience claps and cheers) - Five, six, seven, eight.

And one, two, three.

- [Student] There's a lot of moving pieces going on.

We're having dance rehearsals and music rehearsals.

(boisterous music) (performers sing in foreign language) - Camp in one word would probably be- - Stressful.

- Chaos.

- Hectic.

- Exhausting.

- Fun.

- An adventure.

- Can I curse?

(group laughs) (choral group singing) - We are at Bethany College, which is the location for our annual summer training camp.

The Tamburitzan machine can't function without starting at our training camp, which is where the students learn the show that they'll then do for the next academic year.

We need to get them into this kind of enclosed environment for 21 days where they learn two hours worth of songs, dance and music.

(energetic music) - We're always just go, go, go.

You never stop.

There's always something to be done, whether it's you're rehearsing music, learning words in a whole new language, or learning a new dance step.

(performers sing in foreign language) - From the top again.

- A student can come into training camp and be given about 400 sheets of music and be told in, you know, two, three weeks, you've gotta know this by heart to take it on the road and go do a show.

- 16, 16, 8th.

Da, da, da, da, da, da.

- Spending 21 days together nonstop feels so long, because there's just so much packed into one day.

As we're nearing the end of camp, it really just feels like the days start flying, because we start to think about how much stuff still needs to be done.

- We're out of rehearsal mode.

We're going into performance mode, and we'll do everything full on, okay?

(boisterous music) - Dress rehearsal day is always a lot of stress, because it is the first time we'll have run all the material in tandem.

- You're learning so much information so fast, but you don't really, it's hard to, like, keep track of all the dances and, like, all the steps.

It feels really good whenever you pull everything together and make a good show.

(bright energetic music) (jaunty energetic music) (jaunty energetic music continues) (jaunty energetic music continues) (jaunty energetic music continues) (jaunty energetic music continues) (audience cheers and claps) (jaunty energetic music) (audience claps and cheers) (whimsical music) (whimsical music continues) (wistful music) (audience claps) (energetic boisterous music) (performers sing in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (boisterous music continues) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (boisterous music continues) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (audience claps and cheers) (gentle bright music) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (boisterous energetic music) (performers shout) (performers clap) (performers shout) (boisterous music) (audience claps) (boisterous music) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic jovial music) (axes clanging) (jovial music) (axes clanging) (jovial music) (audience claps) (axes clanging) (jovial music) (audience claps) (audience claps and cheers) (jovial energetic music) (audience claps) (jovial music) (audience claps) (jovial music) (performers shout) (audience claps) (performers sing in foreign language) (energetic jovial music) (energetic jovial music continues) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic jovial music continues) (audience claps) (performers shout) (audience claps and cheers) (wistful rhythmic music) (performers harmonizing) (soloist singing in foreign language) (performers harmonizing in foreign language) (performers harmonizing in foreign language) (performers harmonizing in foreign language) (audience claps) (drum rolls) (audience claps) (bright energetic music) (performers shout) (bright energetic music) (audience claps) (jovial music) (percussive music) (performers shout) (bright jovial music) (performers shout) (performers shout) (jovial music) (gentle cheery music) (bright jovial music) (bright jovial music continues) (bright jovial music continues) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (performers shout) (audience claps) (bright jovial music) (performers shout) (performers shout) (tambourines jangle) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (audience cheers and claps) (tambourines jangle) (jovial music) (soloist sings in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (bright energetic music) (audience claps and cheers) (bright energetic music) (soloist sings in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (audience claps and cheers) - We do several different tours throughout the year.

Whether we're going down to Florida, California, it's always a great experience to travel and take the show on the road.

But Camp Tour is perhaps one of our most important, because we consider it almost an extension of camp.

- We are headed to Red Wing, Minnesota.

- Minnesota.

(bus horn blares) - [Instructor] About 15 hours.

Kids drive overnight, sleep on the bus.

(performers harmonizing in foreign language) - [Interviewer] The whole trip took how long?

- 12 1/2 hours driving.

We left Pittsburgh at 9: 00 PM.

12, about 14 hours total, including meal stops and rest stops.

- Yeah.

- This is seven.

(guitar strings tuning) - Camp Tour is six shows in seven days, but it's pretty packed with shows.

And again, the more opportunities we get to set up and perform, (instrument wailing) actually gives the artistic director an opportunity to reconfigure the show, to, you know, look at some things and say, "I might want to adjust this."

- One more time.

I couldn't hear you.

- This is the time where we work out a lot of technical issues, work out costume changes, and make some slight changes to the show.

We'll tighten the show up maybe by a few minutes here or there, but right now the run time is great, and it's just a great place to launch the show.

- I'm really squeezing myself into this.

- I am getting into Bulgarian.

- [Crew] Excuse me, coming through.

(performer groans) - The show is still being, you know, learned in a lot of ways.

The great thing is that the students are always performers, so they're ready to take it out on the road.

But the little nuances of how to make a fast change or how to grab the right instrument from the side of stage, those are the little tweaks that really you don't learn until those curtains open, and the audience is sitting right there.

(boisterous music) (audience cheers) (energetic jovial music) (jovial music continues) (jovial music continues) (jovial music continues) (music resolves) (audience claps) (gentle wistful music) (wistful music continues) (gentle sanguine music) (sanguine music continues) (sanguine music continues) (audience claps and cheers) (bright rhythmic music) (soloist singing foreign language) (soloist singing foreign language) (performers singing in foreign language) (performers harmonizing in foreign language) (audience claps) (bright rhythmic music continues) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (audience claps and cheers) (percussive music) (sultry spirited music) (sultry spirited music continues) (sultry spirited music continues) (audience claps) (soloist sings in foreign language) (audience claps) (sultry spirited music continues) (performer claps) (music resolves) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic lively music) (audience cheers and claps) (energetic jovial music) (energetic jovial music continues) (audience claps) (jovial music) (energetic jovial music continues) (performers clap) (performers clap) (performers clap) (performers clap) (audience claps and cheers) (lively spirited music) (audience cheers) (lively spirited music) (performers shout) (performers clap) (performers clap) (performers clap) (performers clap) (performers cheer) (spirited music) (audience claps) (bright lively music) (bright lively music continues) (performers shout and cheer) (audience claps and cheers) (performers shout and clap) (audience claps) (drums rolling) (performer shouts in foreign language) (audience claps) (jovial music) (performers shout) (jovial music) (performers shout) (jovial music) (performers shout) (jovial music) (performers shout) (jovial music) (performers clap) (jovial music) (performers shout) (audience claps) (boisterous music) (performer whistles) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers sing in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers sing in foreign language) (soloist sings in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (performers shout) (audience claps and cheers) (gentle somber music) (bright rhythmic music) (bright rhythmic music continues) (bright rhythmic music continues) (audience cheers and claps) (bright rhythmic music continues) (bright rhythmic music continues) (audience claps and cheers) (lively uplifting music) (lively uplifting music continues) (lively uplifting music continues) (lively boisterous music) (performers cheer) (lively boisterous music) (performers cheer) (lively boisterous music continues) (performers cheer) (boisterous music) (performers cheer) (boisterous music) (performers cheer) (boisterous music) (lively boisterous music continues) (performers cheer) (boisterous music) (performers cheer) (audience claps and cheers) (rhythmic whimsical music) (performers shout) (rhythmic spirited music) (performers shout) (rhythmic spirited music) (performers shout) (rhythmic spirited music) (performers shout) (rhythmic spirited music) (audience claps) (performers shout) (rhythmic spirited music) (performers shout) (audience claps) (performers shout) (audience claps) (bright rhythmic music) (bright rhythmic music continues) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (performers shout) (audience claps) (bright rhythmic music continues) (performers cheer) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (performers harmonize in foreign language) (audience claps and cheers) (boisterous music) (bright rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (audience claps) (boisterous rhythmic music) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (audience claps and cheers) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (rhythmic music) (performers shout) (audience claps and cheers) (energetic jovial music) (drum beating) - In the beginning, she's gonna want all left hand first, and then all right hand.

(students chattering) - All right, that's fine.

That's Dee Dee material.

(performers singing in foreign language) - Thank God our bus stopped.

(wind whooshing) (student laughs) - I'm a stage gal, not a camera gal.

- Pretend like you're on stage.

All right, let's do it.

(student speaks gibberish) (students chattering) (singers harmonizing) (bright uplifting music)