Texans love their dance halls – and one San Antonio TV station is exploring that love, and its history, through a new five-part documentary series, hosted by a local actor and filmmaker.
PBS affiliate KLRN premiered its first episode of “Texas Dance Halls: Still Swingin'” on March 23 and will drop its third episode on Thursday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m.
The host is Jay Pennington, who was born and raised in San Antonio. According to his IMDB page, he has appeared in a number of productions, including a recent episode of Magnum PI.
The show takes a deep dive into “iconic” venues like Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, the Twin Sisters Dance Hall in Blanco, and the Devil’s Backbone Tavern in Fischer. The upcoming episode will feature stories on Anhalt Hall, near Bulverde, and the Quihi Gun Clun in Medina County.
It also takes viewers on a journey into how the communities that surround the historic dance halls have sustained them through the years.
You’ll hear it all in the new show – from how Texas pioneers and immigrants founded many of the entertainment venues in the 1800s to the dance halls becoming a stomping ground during the early days of several successful Texas music acts.
In Episode 2, which is available to stream, Pennington visits Gruene Hall, which was founded in 1878, and has since been featured in movies, documentaries and even a Super Bowl commercial.
It’s a long way to go from what started out as, as he references at the start of Episode 1 as a “Saturday night in the 1800s.”
KLRN developed the show, and Director of News and Production for the station, Shari St. Clair, tells MySA the station has wanted to shine a spotlight on the venues as an institution for some time.
“The history of these Hill Country dance halls is unique,” St. Clair said. “What I think is so special is they went from being community gathering places-I mean, these people were out in the middle of nowhere – and they were able to build these places as places everybody could gather to discuss issues, and then they would dance.”
The series will spotlight a total of 10 dance halls in the Lone Star State, with future episodes to include features from John T. Floore’s Country Store and Luckenbach Dance Hall near Fredericksburg.
This article originally published at New TV series dives into the heart of Texas dance hall culture.
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