[music playing] Coming up on "Keystone Stories," "Polka."

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Information at explorealtoona.com-- Tom and Sarah Songer of the Torron Group in State College, a proud supporter of programming on WPSU.

More information at torrongroup.com-- and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

WILL PRICE: Welcome to "Keystone Stories."

Polka originated in the 19th Century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic.

When immigrants brought it to the US in the 1840s, polka took off.

And now, nearly 200 years later, this music and dance is a way of life for a lot of folks in Pennsylvania.

[music playing] Polka music is a happy music.

It's a happy style of music.

It's just a lot of fun, good exercise.

It's something that does bring people together like friends and family.

If you look out on the dance floor, you see all sorts of people out there enjoying themselves and having a really good time.

It makes you move.

And you're dancing.

And you're smiling.

And everybody is happy around you.

So it's great.

There's no judgment.

There's nothing like that.

If you don't know how to polka, you can get out there and dance all you want to.

And it doesn't matter.

People just want you to have a good time.

It's a happy sound.

You put a polka on, it don't matter what language or what culture you are, what you come from, most kids will just start bouncing.

It's just a good time.

I love to polka.

And you got happy people.

Polka people are happy people.

They might be a little intoxicated sometimes, but they're happy.

Thank you.

very much.

WILL PRICE: Whether you love it or hate it, polka is alive.

This music and dancing finds its roots in the 1800s.

But the word polka has an interesting origin.

The word polka came from Czechoslovakia.

So on the border of Czechoslovakia and Poland, there was a lady who would practice her accordion.

And she could see across the border that there were girls that were dancing while they were hanging the clothes on the lines around the trees.

And so polka in Polish means pretty dancing girls.

So that's what the word polka means.

WILL PRICE: Slovenian polka is what's on display today in Punxsutawney.

Monica Pearce helps the Punxsutawney Groundhog Polka Club keep a hop in their step.

We've been polka dancing for-- gosh-- since the '80s.

And then John Syrian started the Punxsutawney Groundhog Polka Club in 1992.

I took over two years ago.

I have two daughters here today.

And I have two granddaughters here.

And they love to polka.

Nana's been passionate about polka as long as I've known her, my whole life, obviously.

And she's Italian and Swedish.

But she likes to think she's Polish, which is super fun.

And like Caitlin told me earlier, everyone's Polish on Sunday.

That's what Nana says all the time.

And so there's some truth to that, for sure.

And we definitely feel that when we come to polka.

And it's a blast.

WILL PRICE: Polka in Punxsutawney is a blast for both the young and the young at heart.

I love it.

I've been dancing since I've been five.

I was born to dance the polka.

And I'm now 95.

It's a happy place to be.

There's nobody that argues, that fights, or is mad at anybody.

We're happy.

And the music is happy.

You can't help but move it.

I know I can't keep still.

[laughs] WILL PRICE: The Punxsutawney Groundhog Polka Club features different artists at their events.

Today, the stage is occupied by the Garrett Tatano Band from Pittsburgh.

So today, we are at the Sunday dance for the Punxsutawney Polka Club.

They have dances all throughout the year.

They've been doing these dances since way before I was even born.

My grandparents actually were original members of the Punxsutawney Polka Club.

And I remember coming here before I could even walk.

I could dance, but I couldn't walk.

I would come listen to the music.

And it's pretty great to be able to have my own group and be able to be here and play for the folks that I've been with for a lot of years.

WILL PRICE: Garrett has been a poker fan for most of his life.

And when he was 15, he started playing accordion in other people's bands.

But when he was in college, Garrett and a couple of friends decided to start a band of their own.

So they came over to my house, the bass player and drummer.

And we just jammed.

We knew we were all musicians.

But we had never really played, the three of us together.

And we kind of-- after the first couple songs, we were looking at each other like this is actually-- this could actually work.

So we found a sax player.

We found a guitar/banjo player.

And we took off from there.

So that was in 2021.

And our first appearance as a full five-piece band was actually at a competition hosted by the Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame.

WILL PRICE: And at their first official gig as the Garrett Tatano Band, they were awarded the prize of Best Young Band.

It's possible to continue to inspire other young musicians to come into this genre.

And I think that's a big part that we can play in, you know, today's environment.

Oh, how we hate to play this one, but puff, shishkin, and gee, shy, it's all over today for another edition of your Sunday Morning Polka Party with-- who loves ya, baby?

The Big Moose.

BIG MOOSE: Well, I got into polka from the day I think I was born.

My mother used to come home from church.

She'd push the kitchen table back, start Sunday dinner, and the Polka Party would go on.

And she taught me how to polka.

And I certainly fell in love with the music.

And then I had an uncle that brought me into the radio part of it.

And my first time in a radio studio, I was probably seven or eight years old, to visit the Polka Party.

And sort of, the rest is history after that, because I just fell in love with the radio side of things, along with the fact that it was polka to boot.

[music playing] WILL PRICE: Big Moose Rosana has been at the helm of the Polka Party since the mid 1'80s.

But he was not the first host of this weekly radio show.

Hopa!

Janga!

Good day.

Polka Party has been on since back in the '40s.

The original radio station and studios had large studios where they would bring in live polka bands along with other types of music bands.

And they would play live on the air in Dubois.

From there, of course, they started broadcasting using vinyl records and things like that.

There were a crew of guys that used to do it.

There were two or three of us at one point.

Then there were two.

And then there were one, because the general manager at the time, when the final one said that he was going to hang it up, he said it's all yours, Moose.

[music playing] WILL PRICE: When Big Moose is not in the studio, you might just find him on the dance floor.

BIG MOOSE: My mother taught me how to dance when we were listening to the show on Sunday morning way back when I was a kid.

Man, I just love to dance.

My wife, she was not a huge polka fan.

Once she learned to dance and knew I was doing the show-- she actually didn't care for the show when she was at home with her parents.

And they were listening.

And here she is, married to the guy that-- [laughs] that does it.

But she enjoys it as much as I do.

I mean, it's just happy music for happy people.

Have you ever seen someone at a wedding dancing the polka?

They may not know how, but they're sure having a good happy time about it.

Womenechka.

Womenechka.

Womenechka.

WILL PRICE: This happy music and happy dancing is on full display at the Johnstown PolkaFest.

This three-day festival has been held in Johnstown since 1998 and brings in fans from beyond Pennsylvania.

We're in sunny Johnstown, Pennsylvania at the polka capital this weekend in the United States.

Every polka dancer should be here this weekend.

We were in our 25th year of PolkaFest.

And we're at People's Natural Gas Park.

And we're getting ready for the 25th year of the best polka event anywhere.

It brings families out.

And that's where a lot of us all got into polka music, by coming out with our families years ago.

It makes us probably most unique is the fact that we do Polish and Slovenian bands on the same stage.

That doesn't usually happen.

Usually, you'll go to a Polish event or you go to a Slovenian event.

This is just a good time.

You see grandmothers and grandpas out there in their 80s and 90s dancing.

They're taking medication, and they're drinking.

[laughs] It's craziness.

You know, so when you see people like that at that age still functional, still having a good time, you're like, you know what?

That's got to be what life is.

I'm 60.

I hope I'm doing that when I'm 90, you know, like them.

It's kind of crazy.

This is a fantastic event for the city of Johnstown and I think all of Cambria County, brings people-- local people here.

Visitors from other states come here to watch this and participate in it.

I've been coming for years.

It's a wonderful, wonderful event.

We came here from Wisconsin purely for the festival.

It's great to be able to support the different bands.

They travel far and wide.

And so the fans travel far and wide as well.

It's actually diverse music that a lot of people can enjoy.

So that's why we come out for it.

I think it's very important that we keep that heritage going, especially in our area.

We are the melting pot.

Johnstown is one of the areas where the immigrants came.

I tell my family don't die, don't get married on Johnstown weekend because I won't be there.

[laughs] [non-english speech] WILL PRICE: History, heritage, happiness-- for nearly 200 years, polka has been a reflection of the people who love it.

It's been nothing but a great fun ride for me.

I'm blessed.

I'm blessed that I have the ability, the talent, enough talent, to be on the radio.

For me to be able to keep it going means the world to me.

[music playing] When you're here, it's fun.

Hang out.

Listen to music, real music played by actual instruments.

Whatever we're playing, that's what comes out of the speakers.

So to come out, enjoy that, enjoy friendship, the fellowship, have a bite to eat, maybe have something to drink, it's a great time.

That's why we're so happy, because we polka.

That's the truth.

Not quite in this order-- God, family, polka.

But maybe not-- maybe a few other things in there too.

But-- [laughs] We've been sharing this happy music for decades.

Our next segment is from a program produced in the early '90s called Polka Celebration.

[music playing] It's time for polka celebration.

Hey, how are you doing out there want to welcome everybody to the Polka Celebration.

[non-english speech] Thank you.

Good Times Polka with Freddy on the vocal.

As you've seen, there are several polka bands sharing their artistry throughout Pennsylvania.

Here are the backstories of two of those groups.

[music playing] It was a thing that we started with our family in California playing for friends, birthday parties, baptisms, stuff like that.

My dad would just throw our instruments in the back of the station wagon.

And none of us really wanted to play in front of other humans.

We just wanted to play music in the garage with him.

My father played in a local polka band in the Wilkes-Barre Scranton area called Polka Punch.

And since age four or five, I'd follow them around to the church picnics.

And he played clarinet and sax.

And by age, probably, five, six, I knew how to wire their whole PA system.

And they'd say, why don't you guys bring your instruments?

You're going to be at our wedding.

And you can play when the other band is taking a break.

And I was only, like, seven, eight, nine years old, maybe.

And we're like, OK.

So we play a couple songs, and people start throwing quarters.

And you're like, wow, all right, we can buy stuff with this.

[music playing] Let's fast forward to when I was 15 going on 16 walking to a local music store and there's an accordion.

I'm like, hmm, 200 bucks.

Well, you know, you call gram.

Called my gram.

Gram?

Yeah, what's up?

I said, what are you getting me for my birthday?

Well, I don't know.

What do you want?

He said, well, there's an accordion.

How much?

I said $200.

$200?

One more time.

They were having 125th anniversary of the Coal Miners Union in Northeast Pennsylvania.

We don't even have a band.

How are we going to play?

Just come down and play.

We'll call you-- call you The Family.

Family-- that's it.

My mom said, how about Polka Family?

And that's how the name came.

Fast forward to age 19, already out of high school, started my own polka band.

And I've been going ever since.

This is my 28th year.

Have you ever had the opportunity to dance to polka but you didn't know how?

Well, we're here to help.

With me is our friend, Carolyn Donaldson.

And she's going to teach us how to polka.

Hey, Will, I'm excited to help you.

Polka has been in my blood.

My dad had his own band and his own accordion.

And I grew up learning from my grandma and danced at every wedding and wake in between.

Polish is in my blood.

And the polka is one of the easiest dances to learn.

It's basically just a three step.

That's all you have to remember.

And I'll walk you through every step.

We're just going to shift the weight on our feet.

And that's it, three simple steps.

We're going to start with the weight on our right foot, and we're going to go to the left foot and then back.

So it's just like weight on the right.

We're going to go left, right, left.

And then we're going to come back.

Right, left, right.

But I'll say it this way.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3.

1 2 3.

Can you believe that's it?

Hey.

1 2 3, 1 2 3.

That's it.

That's pretty easy.

Let's try it with music.

5 6 7 8.

Left, right, left.

Right, left, right.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3.

That's it.

And you can all your body based on the weight and where it's moving.

OK. That's as easy as it gets.

But polka is a partner dance.

OK, here we go.

So I'm going to show you how to do it together.

And then you'll blow everybody apart out on the dance floor.

OK.

I'll be the lead.

But down the road, you get to be the lead.

I, as the lead, will place my right hand right on the shoulder blade of my partner.

And you're going to take your left hand and put it right at the small of my back.

The other hands were just going to join together.

And that will always be kind of where we're going, the direction of where your partner goes.

And as the lead, I'll lead you.

But for right now, we're just going to practice in place with those same steps.

So let's try that three step together as partners.

Perfect.

Here we go.

We'll go with 5 6 7 8.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3.

He's got this.

All right, let's try music on this.

OK.

Here we go.

[music playing] 5 6 7 8.

Left, right, left.

Right, left, right.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3 1 2 3.

That was awesome.

You are already a pro.

But there's one more thing that I want to show you that you can really woo on the dance floor.

Now that you know how to partner, I'll be the lead tonight.

But we're going to show you how to go all the way around the dance floor with your partner.

And you'll be able to do this in no time.

So once again, it's the same three step.

And just follow me.

We're going to start off with, again, always going in the direction where our hands are.

So let's try that.

5 6 7 8.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, that's it.

1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3.

You are-- you're already a pro.

That was a lot of fun.

Oh, Carolyn, thank you so much for teaching us how to polka.

And thank you for joining us on "Keystone Stories."

For America thrives on the work of this man who earns his pay in black dirt.

Though the rich men watch and their pencils meet, the coal miner digs his work.

The coal miner digs his work.