Celebrate the resilience of a community in struggle through personal storytelling, history, and swing music and dance!
Discover what it was like to be a young person in camp, explore how jazz and big band music impacted the youth in America’s concentration camps, and learn how to swing dance in this two-part program.
Please note that tickets to each part of the event are sold and priced separately. Contact publicprograms@janm.org with any questions regarding ticketing.
Schedule
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
A Conversation with WWII Concentration Camp Survivors
Join for a conversation with dance preservationist Rusty Frank who will explore what it was like to be a young person making the best of a difficult situation through conversation with survivors June Aochi Berk and Takayo Tsubochi Fischer. Berk and Fischer are both artists and performers who met in Rohwer, Arkansas at 10 years old and have continued a friendship through these years. This conversation will be grounded in the swing music and dance of the 1940s.
Included in price of museum admission (General $16, Students/Seniors $9, Members FREE)
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
All Camps Swing Dance with The Fabulous Esquires Big Band
Join for a social swing dance with live music from The Fabulous Esquires Big Band and opportunities for all to be a part of the experience. Rusty Frank will lead a beginner swing dance lesson, followed by an afternoon of popular tunes from the 1940s and a chance for all generations to connect through immersive history.
$10 General, $5 Members
Images: School dance at Rohwer concentration camp, courtesy of John M. Flaherty Collection of Japanese Internment Records, San Jose State University Department of Special Collections and Archives; Couples dancing at a school dance at Rohwer concentration camp. Japanese American National Museum, Gift of Mabel Rose Jamison (Jamie) Vogel; The Fabulous Esquires Big Band, courtesy of The Fabulous Esquires Big Band
