From the first time she saw them on stage, Andrena Greavette knew she wanted to join The Vaudevillians.
The Ladner resident has been a part of B.C.’s number one seniors’ entertainment troupe for more than a decade and still loves every minute of it.
“If you would have asked me 11 years ago, I would have said I would never be in a troupe like this,” she recalled. “But a friend of mine joined and she talked me into coming and watching a few shows and I fell in love with it. That’s where I’ve been ever since.”
Greavette had been a part of a dance group that performed at area festivals, but nothing as professional as The Vaudevillians.
“The group that I was with many years ago was called the Hot Jazz Dancers,” she said. “As we got older, some took on other interests, others passed away, so the group just sort of faded away. But one of the things we did was hold fundraisers for students and I volunteered at a jazz camp for a few years and The Vaudevillians is big with that.”
The Vaudevillians perform 20 to 25 shows a year throughout the province at seniors’ centres, churches and recreation centres. The troupe is made up of 13 to 15 performers from throughout the Lower Mainland.
Their major fundraising show, in support of bursaries for performing arts students at Douglas College, is this weekend (Nov. 2 and 3) with 2 p.m. shows at the Surrey Arts Centre.
It is the 16th consecutive year for the fundraiser, which pays tribute to the ’40s and ’50s with the title song Young at Heart plus lively numbers like Rock Around the Clock, Sh-Boom and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The show is suitable for the whole family.
“Sadly I injured myself and I won’t be performing, but I’ll be behind the scenes helping with costume changes and in the audience helping with the 50/50 sales,” said Greavette.
Tickets for the show are $22 and are available at the Surrey Arts Centre box office, by phone at 604-501-5566 or online at: tickets.surrey.ca.
