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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; For some avid dancers, the chance to rumba and waltz, cha-cha and swing to live music was well worth driving 70 miles from Pike County on a frosty Friday evening.</p><p>Or 80 miles from New Jersey.</p><p>Or 114 from upstate New York.</p><p>&#8220;There used to be places where you could dance like this all over, but now there are only a few,&#8221; Mary B. Hill, of Bloomsburg, said as she took a break from the dance floor at the Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center. &#8220;Monthly ballroom dances with live music are almost extinct.&#8221;</p><p>If members of the Big Band Society of NEPA have their way, such dances will continue well into the future, offering people a chance to dress up, have fun and get their hearts pumping &#8212; all at the same time.</p><p>&#8220;We like the music, we like the mindset, we like the people,&#8221; Ann-Marie Jones, of Milford, said after dancing a rumba with her friend, Peter Leahy, of Highland Mills, N.Y. &#8220;And, it&#8217;s great exercise.&#8221;</p><p>The society holds dances for its members on the first Friday of each month and, several times each year, opens the monthly dance to non-members. That was the case for the recent Valentine&#8217;s Dance, which found men in suits or sport coats and ties and women in evening wear &#8212; with quite a few ladies in red in honor of the upcoming holiday &#8212; filling two dance floors in a Genetti ballroom.</p><p>&#8220;Men and women are very different but this is something we can do together,&#8221; society president Art Sullivan said after finishing a dance with his wife, Noreen. &#8220;It just works well. It&#8217;s the language of romance.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;My parents were avid dancers when Lee Vincent had his band and I grew up with this kind of music,&#8221; said Hill, who is the society&#8217;s secretary.&#8221;If everyone danced the world would be a very happy place.&#8221;</p><p>Among the people who seemed to prove Hill&#8217;s point about happiness on Friday evening were Ute and Arnie Mrozinski, of Wilkes-Barre, who smiled broadly as they executed a swing dance to the tune of &#8220;Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,&#8221; which Ute was quietly singing in time with George Tarasek&#8217;s orchestra, Flash Drive.</p><p>The Mrozinskis met 54 years ago at a resort in the Poconos, where both the young woman from Germany and the young man from Wilkes-Barre were working.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been dancing ever since,&#8221; Ute Mrozinski said.</p><p>A generation younger than the Mrozinskis, Jennifer and John Ochman, of West Pittston, said they&#8217;ve enjoyed dancing with the Big Band Society since their college days, when the Rev. Donald Pantle from the University of Scranton fostered their interest.</p><p>&#8220;He thought it was a nice way to get young people together.&#8221; Jennifer Ochman said, recalling how the priest would bring a group of students to the dances.</p><p>Young adults, senior citizens, individuals and couples are all welcome at the Big Band Society dances, which Hill said can trace their origins to a time shortly after World War II when veterans and their dates socialized at American Legions and VFWs that &#8220;all had ballrooms and jukeboxes.&#8221;</p><p>The local group got its start around 1950, Hill said, when a young veteran named William &#8220;Red&#8221; Morrissey began to organize dances for 12 to 14 couples at the American Legion on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. By 1970 the group was formally chartered as the Glenn Miller Society Chapter No. 1 in the United States. One highlight in its history came after the flood of 1972, when it organized a benefit that featured the Glenn Miller Orchestra, attracted 800 guests and raised more than $3,000 for flood relief.</p><p>The non-profit group, which changed its name to the Big Band Society of NEPA in 1988, continues to encourage people to appreciate the music and dancing of the Big Band Era.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not professional dancers,&#8221; Hill said. &#8220;Just people who really enjoy dancing.&#8221;</p><p>You don&#8217;t have to be an expert dancer to enjoy yourself, Noreen Sullivan agreed. Beginners are welcome, as are people who simply want to listen to the music.</p><p><ins>Anyone interested in joining may contact Mary B. Hill at mbhill1020@gmail.com or 570-441-3900 to ask for a membership application. </ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Arnie and Ute Mrozinski, of Wilkes-Barre, have been dancing together since they met 54 years ago. They enjoy the dances sponsored by the Big Band Society of NEPA each month at Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL021019BigBand_3-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Arnie and Ute Mrozinski, of Wilkes-Barre, have been dancing together since they met 54 years ago. They enjoy the dances sponsored by the Big Band Society of NEPA each month at Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL021019BigBand_4-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Big Band Society President Art Sullivan and his wife, Noreen, of Sandyston, N.J., dance at the Big Band Society of NEPA&#8217;s montly dance.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL021019BigBand_4-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Big Band Society President Art Sullivan and his wife, Noreen, of Sandyston, N.J., dance at the Big Band Society of NEPA&#8217;s montly dance.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL021019BigBand_5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John Termako, of Luzerne, and Mary Ann Rubin, of Evans Falls, make their way around the crowded dance floor at the Big Band Society dance at Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL021019BigBand_5-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>John Termako, of Luzerne, and Mary Ann Rubin, of Evans Falls, make their way around the crowded dance floor at the Big Band Society dance at Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_society1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Members of George Tarasek&#8217;s orchestra, Flash Drive, provided music for dancing during the recent Big Band Society of NEPA February dance. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_society1-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Members of George Tarasek&#8217;s orchestra, Flash Drive, provided music for dancing during the recent Big Band Society of NEPA February dance. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_society2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Avid dancers Jennifer and John Ochman, of West Pittston, started to attend Big Band Society of NEPA events when they were University of Scranton students. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_society2-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Avid dancers Jennifer and John Ochman, of West Pittston, started to attend Big Band Society of NEPA events when they were University of Scranton students. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Big Band Society nurtures love of music, dancing</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>MEMBERSHIP INFO</strong></p><p><strong>Anyone interested</strong> in joining the Big Band Socity of NEPA may contact Mary B. Hill at mbhill1020@gmail.com or 570-441-3900 to ask for a membership application.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘It’s the language of romance’