The City of Brotherly Love is deeply rooted in music and dance. Philadelphia-born singers like Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell paved the way for shows like American Bandstand, originally known as just Bandstand, to make their debut in our great city in the early 1950s.
The show epitomized many important aspects of ever-evolving American popular culture, like music and dance. First hosted by Philadelphia radio DJ Bob Horn, later to be replaced by Dick Clark, the show was shot live from Studio B at 46th and Market Streets. Throughout its Philadelphia years, the show was so popular that it transformed average local-area teens into national celebrities. On each broadcast day the line of teens hoping to appear on the show snaked around the block.
Although the show is no longer airing, young Philadelphian’s are still eager to keep our roots alive by staying involved in the national music and dance scene.
Take Virgil Gadson, a 27-year-old Philly native and frontrunner on Fox’s popular show So You Think You Can Dance, for example.
Originally from Mount Airy with family in South Philly and West Oak Lane, Gadson is a graduate of the University of the Arts and former dance student of Clyde Evans, Jr., owner of Chosen Dance Company, and an adjunct professor of hip-hop dance and performing arts at Drexel University. Prior to appearing on the hit TV-show, Gadson wasn’t just sitting and waiting for fame to come to him. He appeared on NFL commercials, tons of music videos on MTV and has been on Broadway. He was nominated for a Fred Astaire Award for After Midnight, which received 7 Tony nominations.
Gadson, is working hard become America’s favorite. You can tune in Monday, August 3 at 8:00 p.m. to see how he does!
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