- [Jim] In 1937, a small orchestra was formed, bringing together a blend of musical talent and cultural traditions.

(upbeat music) Over the decades, the ensemble grew both in size and spirit, always expanding with new cultures to share, touring the country and the world, and truly being good neighbors along the way.

(upbeat music) Their mission is to preserve and celebrate the vibrant heritage of the past.

And they've shared this mission, through countless performances.

(audience applauding) These dedicated full-time college students from the Pittsburgh area travel the country each year, (upbeat music) sharing their passion on stage, and leaving an impact on audiences wherever they go.

(crowd cheering) (upbeat music) Join the Tamburitzans for an unforgettable journey around the world, through music, (group singing in a foreign language) song (group singing in a foreign language) and dance.

(feet stomping) (upbeat music) An experience that brings cultures to life.

(audience applauding) (gentle music) (singer singing in a foreign language) In their 87th season, the Tamburitzans.

(group singing in a foreign language) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (group singing in a foreign language) (feet stomping) (audience applauding) (singer singing in a foreign language) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) - I think it's important to not limit yourself to only the cultures you represent.

- It's important to broaden your musical palette.

You have to put yourself in the shoes of an Armenian musician and try to absorb as much of the traditions and style and technique of that music genre as you can.

- My mom started putting me in Mexican dance.

I did Chinese dancing, Irish dancing, Latin American dancing, - And I would first start playing Kolo on piano, and then I saved up some money and I got my first accordion.

- I've been playing percussion since about third grade, so I took lessons for about 10 years.

- By incorporating different techniques and what you've learned throughout the years from different cultures can make you feel more confident in what you're doing.

- I've become more adaptable to learn different styles, technique that I already know will help, 'cause Armenian music isn't crazy with these staccato notes and all that.

It's, you have to feel it more.

It's not just a straight rhythm, there's a little bit of variation in it the whole time.

- It's a lot of emotions.

They have their own scales, their own sort of traditions involved in music heavily.

(upbeat music) - Armenian dancing, the women are very fluid with their movement.

Their arms are as if they're an extension of them.

Their feet are usually dancing to the beat of the drum, while their head is following their hand.

- The drum is called a dhol that is a main percussion instrument from Armenian folk music.

Not like the main beat, it's almost like it's its own melodic instrument in a way.

- [Anna] Although our heritage isn't Armenian, we embrace and reflect our culture through beautiful, distinctive melodies and delicate yet powerful dances.

(flute music) (heavy drum music) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (heavy drum music) (audience applauding) - Welcome and we are so glad to be with you as we are watching this amazing show, this high energy, all of this dancing and music and beautiful costuming.

How amazing was that first segment?

- And we apologize for interrupting, but this is the way this works.

And I'm Rick Sebak from WQED.

This is my colleague and good friend Liz Kostandinu.

And we're here to encourage you to support WQED by giving a call to the number on the screen and to show your support for this incredible organization called the Tamburitzans and the wonderful work that they've been doing, I think for 87 years now.

- They have been quite long running in sharing the culture and the history of all of these ethnic groups that make up, quite frankly the city of Pittsburgh.

And we are coming to you from the Nationality and Heritage Rooms, right here at the University of Pittsburgh.

And these rooms were donated to the city by the ethnic communities that helped to build the city.

- These rooms here at the Cathedral of Learning are just astounding and there are incredible artifacts in each one of these rooms that the various cultures have provided.

And it's all part of this preserve the old culture and it's a wonderful thing in Pittsburgh.

- It tells the story, the details.

It's beautiful.

- We're that city of immigrants and there's so many things to see here, like the ceiling.

And we have a special guest, a Tamburitzan in himself, a long time ago, Frank Caloiero.

- Thank you Liz.

And thank you Rick.

I am Frank Caloiero, the producer of this show, and I'm also an alumni of the ensemble.

I was in the group in the late '80s, and I can tell you firsthand how hard each of these performers works to put a show like this on the stage.

And I also can tell you firsthand how hard everybody at WQED works to provide content and events that we bring into your neighborhood.

If you would consider calling the number on your screen and becoming a member of WQED right now, it does let QED know that you like this type of programming.

It's the type of programming that produces cultural programming and things that highlights the cultures and traditions of not only our regions, but of all ethnicities.

With your $75 contribution, we're gonna thank you with a ticket to a special event.

We're calling it An Evening with the Tamburitzans, Presented by WQED.

It's gonna be held Friday, February 28th, 2025.

It's gonna be at the Tamburitzans Cultural Center.

That's their new home base where they practice every week to keep the show in tip top shape.

I know Liz is gonna be there.

Rick is gonna be our masters of ceremony.

And if you've ever been to an event where Rick Sebak is the host or the emcee, you know there's gonna be a lot of Pittsburgh trivia questions.

You're not gonna wanna miss it.

And there's gonna be ethnic cuisine.

And instead of just watching the Tammies dance, they're gonna teach you like little dance steps.

And so you'll be able to dance alongside with them.

But overall, the most important thing is you'll get access to PBS Passport as a WQED member benefit.

It allows you to stream QED content and PBS content.

We see Ken Burns' "Civil War" and all this stuff.

You can see his "Brooklyn Bridge Documentary" from 1981.

I'm gonna do a little behind the scenes TV magic and we're gonna toss to Rick Sebak in five, four, three, two.

Take it away, Rick.

- Thank you Frank, thanks for that countdown.

And I just wanna say that I'm looking forward to the February 28th event and it is something that you can get tonight by calling the number on the screen that's a $75 one time gift to get a ticket to that event.

It supports WQED and obviously helps the Tamburitzans as well.

And I just wanna say again, if you're liking this program, you do want to call tonight.

It's a great program, as all these Tamburitzans things are.

And they now, I love this online, you can find them called the longest regularly performing group in America.

They've been doing this for about 80 some years and they were the Duquesne University Tamburitzans for a while.

Now they're an independent group with participants from all the colleges in the Pittsburgh area.

And it really is a celebration of Pittsburgh's, cultural heritage and trying to preserve it in little bits.

But I also, I mean, we saw Croatia and Armenia, but in the middle there, there was the little talks with some of the Tamburitzans themselves and you see backstage.

And I love that stuff and I love seeing the rehearsal clothes.

I think they should do a whole show in just rehearsal clothes because it's different and it makes you realize the spectacle that's there.

But when you watch, you concentrate on weird things and I don't want to stress too much, how much I seem to notice people's shoes, (feet stomping) and the women are dancing in heels.

Of course I think of Ginger Rogers and she had to do everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards in heels.

But there are so many things to love about this show and if you do that, please give us a call at the number on the screen and Liz is gonna tell you a little bit, about some of the other things that you can get with a gift.

- Thanks, Rick.

I love it when we watch shows together, because we always focus in on different things.

Rick was talking about the shoes and what I loved about those dances were the colors and the details.

(gentle music) I don't know if you noticed the colors in the background match the colors of the costumes and it just creates this entire immersive experience in the culture that we are visiting in those segments.

I just, I love everything about the Tamburitzans and the performances and it's such a privilege to be able to share that with you.

And we wanted to invite you to that special event that we are having and we understand, maybe you won't be able to make it that night, but you still wanna support the station.

And so much of what we do is dependent on you.

If you can call the number on your screen below and make a gift of just $5 a month or a one time gift of $60, not only are you supporting productions, like the Tamburitzans that we are bringing to you and all of the other programming that you see on WQED, but we'll also thank you with the nesting dolls gift.

I'm sure all of us have seen those.

A lot of times we see them and think of them as a children's toy.

They can come in all different designs, but they're the dolls that sit inside one another.

They go from bigger to smaller.

And again, for that one time gift of $60 or just at $5 a month we'll thank you with that gift and the additional benefit of passport, that is a benefit to all of our members and supporters.

But we have so much more show to get to.

We are gonna continue our journey around the world.

Our next stop is Serbia.

Please sit back and enjoy our trip to Serbia and see what strikes you in that next segment.

(upbeat music) (singer singing in a foreign language) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) - The part that we do on stage is the part that's the most fun.

However, there's also the part where we have to work really hard and everyone has their own designated job.

(singer singing in a foreign language) We have a wardrobe manager, we have a sound manager, a lighting manager.

I'm the stage manager and basically everyone has their own little slice of the pie that they are in charge of, that they have to take care of.

Hi everyone, welcome to Ligonier.

Okay, so we have a 3:00 PM show today.

Everyone get very excited.

- We get there four hours early every show.

The people that unload the bus take all the trunks off and then we carry them in and then we all start doing our jobs.

- Sometimes it takes a little longer, 'cause we have to adjust to different show sites.

Sometimes they're a lot smaller than others or sometimes they're even a lot bigger and that even takes some time.

(winch rumbling) - The thing that makes our setup a little bit different is that we don't have a stage crew traveling with us, so it falls on us and the very few staff members we do keep on the road with us to like put everything together before the show.

So, it's all spread out pretty evenly.

There's people on wardrobe, there's people on like stage setup, there's people on technology.

I tune all the instruments before the show.

- And that takes like maybe two hours to set up everything on stage.

And then rest of the time is ironing, steaming costumes.

- Steaming.

- And getting yourself ready, maybe stretching for the dancers or going for music for musician.

(gentle orchestral music) - I don't think people realize how much goes into a show.

We have to completely unload the bus, get the stage set.

We bring in all these trunks, all of our extras that includes extra props, all the different shoes we need.

Hair and makeup, iron costumes, the whole nine yards.

And in here we have the Slovak pleated skirt.

So, we have to roll them up in the tights.

That way the pleats stay nice and even and they don't get messed up.

(upbeat music) For our earrings and like our sashes and we had different necklaces, for example.

We keep those in, we call them dinky bags, so little blue bags.

And we keep those in our trunk.

So, it's up to us to keep track of all of them.

- And it's upside down and I'm late.

- All together the details come and just make the perfect show.

- We have our time on the bus where we fool around.

But sometimes when we show up to a show site, everyone is in their own zone, in the mode, quiet, focused on their task.

And that's exactly how we're trained to be.

- Once the show starts, there's really no turning back.

You kind of have to just correct whatever mistakes you've done make up for anything that you maybe didn't have time for during the pre-show.

You just have to make it work, because there's no going back and there's no swapping time.

(upbeat music) (gentle orchestral music) (group singing in a foreign language) - How fun was that?

Did you notice the bright yellow headscarves and the tassels and the intricate designs on the costumes of the dancers?

Oh, and I loved how they were slightly different.

The costuming on the girls.

It was slightly different, but we have to talk about it.

The probably the most fun thing were those hats that they were wearing.

We have so much more show for you to get to.

We are going to continue our journey around the world, but we wanted to just pause for a minute here to take a moment to ask you for your support.

Programs like this that are produced right here in Pittsburgh that showcase what makes Pittsburgh so amazing would not be possible without the support of people like you right there at home.

And we are so grateful for that.

Now, we do have something very special that we are offering tonight.

We've talked about some of the thank you gifts that are available to you if you call the number below and make that pledge of support.

We talked about the nesting dolls earlier and Frank mentioned the event that we are having in February.

But for tonight, we have a very special bundle offer that will be available if you call the number below.

And to tell you a little bit more about that special offer, I'm gonna toss it to my friends, Rick and Frank.

- Thank you Liz.

And I just wanna say that there are so many ways to show your appreciation for this and you're gonna call the number on the screen.

I like this idea of $120 gets you not only the nesting doll, but a ticket to the event.

- I mean, it's a great event.

You get the keepsake of the nesting doll, which is really cool.

You can keep that forever.

But then you also have the memories of the event that will last forever.

We did something like this last year and everybody that was there is like, "Are we gonna do this again?

"That was so much fun."

I mean, how can you not like it?

All this energy you're seeing in the show, you're gonna have that immersive environment where you can talk to the performers, you've been there, you know what it's like.

- I know I have been to one of these events and it's incredible.

And I wanna say that that chance to talk to some of the participants is excellent.

And I'm always looking at their shoes.

We had good shoes here during this last segment, moccasins like, and I always wonder- - Opanke, they call them.

- Opanke?

- That's close enough.

Opanke.

- Opanke?

- Yes.

- Okay and are are some of those left from your era?

- In fact, I have my, yes.

Like you, yes, you will pick up something and it'll have somebody's name on it from like the '50s or the '60s.

- Wow.

Yes, so yeah, it's a long tradition, obviously.

And this event is really fun and it's $120 one-time gift.

You're gonna call the number on the screen and I encourage you to come see this and to meet these people and to talk about it.

Yeah, I mean all the cultures that the performers do on stage, it's really similar to the Nationality Rooms, how there's all these different cultures, throughout the building.

- Exactly.

And the amount of energy and physical fitness is astounding too.

In fact, just looking at some of the stuff online, about the Tamburitzans, I think the New York Times said, "Incredible athleticism."

- [Frank] That is true.

- These people are, they have incredible memories of dance and they continue on and on.

- And the Tammies are from 1937.

The Cathedral of Learning was dedicated in 1937.

Let's see some of the Nationality Rooms.

- [Anna] The Nationality and Heritage Rooms are just a small example of how Pittsburghers cherish the past.

The Tamburitzans have been preserving culture since 1937 on stages around the world.

Now, you can experience the Tammies up close and personal.

(upbeat music) Join us for an evening with the Tamburitzans, presented by WQED at the Tamburitzans Cultural Center, Friday, February 28th, 2025 for an exhilarating evening filled with live music, song and dance, a question and answer period with the performers and a reception filled with cultural cuisine.

Become a member of WQED with an investment of $75.

And we will thank you with a ticket to experience the longest running stage show in America, right here in Pittsburgh.

We also have a special bundle offer, combine the nesting dolls and the event into a one-time gift of $120 and we'll thank you with the nesting dolls as a keepsake and an evening of lifetime memories.

Dine and dance with the Tammies as they teach you some steps from across the globe and show you an exclusive look at costumes and instruments.

And it's all hosted by Rick Sebak.

This is sure to be a night you won't want to miss.

Reserve your ticket now and you'll also receive WQED passport, a member benefit that allows you to stream your favorite WQED shows anytime, anywhere.

(audience applauding) - That event looks amazing and so much fun and we do hope that you can join us that evening, but if you can't, we still would like to thank you for your support with a memento from the show.

The nesting dolls are something that can remind you about the cultures that we have visited and the cultural immersion that we've had in this show.

So, for just $5 a month or $60 at that one time gift level, you can get those nesting dolls that will help you remember the magic that is the Tamburitzans and the gifts that you make to the station.

Not only support programming like this that we bring to you, locally produced and highlighting some of the great Pittsburgh institutions, but it also supports work that we do in the community.

We mentioned earlier that I am in the education department and we do a lot of community outreach and it would not be possible without the support of you all at home.

So, it's not just what you see on the screen, but it's what we are able to do out in the community.

And again, we would like you to call that number below, join us for the event, or maybe you wanna take advantage of that special bundle.

Maybe you want the nesting dolls and you're able to come to the event.

And we do hope that you can come that night and join us.

But here to tell us a little bit more is my friend Rick.

- Thank you Liz.

And I just want to emphasize again, you want to get to this event, $120 one-time gift, grab your credit card, go to the phone, pick up your phone, call the number on the screen, and become a member of WQED, but also show your support for these incredible Tamburitzans.

And they're concentrating this show, especially concentrates on Eastern and Central Europe, but they've been all over the world.

They've done Italy and South America and every year it's a different show and it's always a wonderful celebration of all these cultures.

And I doing a little research about the group, before I came here, I ran across this quote from the artistic director, Butch Kresovich, who said, "It's folk with a fresh coat of paint."

And I really like that.

It's so bright and sunny and I think the makeup is a little old fashioned for some of the women, but it's interesting and you're fascinated the whole time and certainly all the costumes and I talked a lot about the shoes, but the cummerbunds, like I don't know if I've ever seen so many cummerbunds in my life.

And Butch also said it's kind of like a balancing act, which I really like, it's tradition and modernity and it's education and entertainment.

And of course there's more countries.

We're gonna go to Bulgaria and Ukraine and we're gonna learn a lot about accordions.

(gentle music) (group singing in a foreign language) (heavy drum music) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (gentle music) (audience applauding) (gentle music) - This is a woodwind instrument.

So, when we're talking about woodwinds doesn't only refer to a piece of wood like you see on a clarinet or a saxophone.

It also refers to anything that vibrates to create the sound.

I'm Cody McSherry.

I am a junior, junior in the Tammies.

I love to travel and I love to perform for people.

I started playing piano when I was four years old and my family's pretty involved in folk music.

My grandparents were both German dancers.

And so when I found out, my piano teacher at the time also played accordion, I started taking lessons from her when I was six.

(accordion music) I absolutely fell in love with it.

This has become such a center point of my life, ever since then, really.

So in an accordion, there's metal reeds on the inside, and so they're free reads because we're not using our mouth to clamp down on it or to stop it.

The reeds are free to vibrate.

So, what happens is when you press a key that takes a lever and opens it within here, that allows air to pass through into the reed and to vibrate.

So, the lungs of the instrument are our bellows, of course.

So, that's what pushes and pulls the air through the reeds to create the sound.

(accordion music) This particular instrument has four reads on the right hand and five reeds on the base.

So, rather than just having, (accordion music) that type of sound, I also have lower, (accordion music) I have slightly harsher.

And then by combining them, (accordion music) we can get completely different sounds.

(accordion music) The ability to take an instrument with you everywhere.

It's portable enough not, it's not like a flute, it's not a clarinet, but it's portable enough that you can actually take it places.

But it's functions so beautifully as a solo instrument, as the multiple voices.

It's absolutely stunning on its own, but works so well with other people.

It sort of does everything that I could possibly want.

(accordion music) I absolutely love the Ukrainian number.

The biggest thing with the Ukrainian number right now is how much it matters within the world right now.

There's a lot of pressure I feel, maybe I'm putting it on myself, I'm not sure, but to play it well, for a lot of people this might be their only interaction with Ukrainian culture, aside from knowing about the war.

So, there's a lot going on and a lot for me personally, at least riding on that.

(gentle accordion music) (audience applauding) (orchestral music) (audience applauding) - Wasn't that amazing?

I am fascinated by the accordion and the fact that we were able to take you behind the scenes and hear these amazingly talented young adults, talk about not only their craft and everything that goes into making that instrument work and the music that they are able to make, but then to give us a little bit of insight into why they do what they do.

The pride they have in the performance and the care with which in which they hold these traditions that they are representing from all of these different cultures around the world.

And these types of programs are only possible, because of the support from you all at home.

And this isn't just a performance that we're bringing you tonight.

This is a full experience and a full immersion into the world of the Tamburitzans.

We've been able to see shots of the dancer's feet as they're moving around.

We've been able to take some sneak peeks behind the scenes as they're off stage.

And it's just been such a wonderful experience and we are so glad that you are joining us.

But again, we need your support to bring more programming like this to you there at home.

And we really hope that you will call that number on your screen below and show us that support with a one-time gift of either $60 or you can do $5 a month.

And we'll send you the beautiful nesting dolls that can help you remember the Tamburitzans show that we are watching tonight.

Or perhaps you can join us for the special event that we are holding on February 28th, which is going to be so much fun.

And again, every dollar that you pledge in support, helps us bring not only programming like this to you on the screen, but also out in the community.

And every member of WQED gets an additional benefit of PBS Passport on-demand programming, any time that you wanna watch it.

You wanna see Rick Sebak and it's not currently on broadcast, well you can go to Passport.

Masterpiece, all of those shows are available through Passport, which is only available as a benefit to our members.

And to tell you a little bit more, about some of the other fun things that we have available to you when you pledge your support, here's my friend Rick Sebak.

- Thank you Liz.

There is so much to love about all of this, but I'm emphasizing again, think about the bundle.

You're gonna get a ticket to the event in February and you're gonna get the nesting doll.

It's a $120 one-time gift.

Just call that number on the screen.

That's a great thing to do.

And I loved learning all that about accordions and I think this whole show is about how much human beings can do human abilities to memorize.

How do these people remember all those steps for all those dances and they create all the music, which I think is astounding.

And I sometimes think we forget to tell you that a tamburitza was a long necked string loot, which is kind of a predecessor to a guitar.

It has a sort of guitar look, but it's from that part of Europe as well.

They get their name from the tamburitza and it's all connected.

And they loved Pittsburgh, because of the variety of cultures that we have here.

Now, my name is Sebak, is a Slovak name.

I am Slovak and German and a lot Irish, but my name Sebak is Slovak.

And Pittsburgh was especially attractive to Slovak heritage.

And in 1918, at the end of World War I, Tomas Masaryk came to Pittsburgh.

He was on an American tour, he was a Czech diplomat.

He was emphasizing the fact that if the Czechs and the Slovaks stayed together, they could make a country that could last.

He created Czechoslovakia and became the first president of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935.

And the document they put together was called the Pittsburgh Agreement.

And Pittsburgh was always part of that.

He loved the fact that so many Slovaks and other Eastern Europeans had come here to work in the mills, to work in the mines.

And we still profit from all of that.

And the cultures that realized that they had a new culture, but they needed to preserve the old one as well as much as they could.

And that's what the Tamburitzans are still doing.

So we're gonna go on now, we're gonna see Slovak, (upbeat music) but before that, we're gonna one more time tell you some, about that special event.

(upbeat music) - [Anna] Join us for an evening with the Tamburitzans presented by WQED at the Tamburitzans Cultural Center, Friday, February 28th, 2025 for an exhilarating evening filled with live music, song and dance, a question and answer period with the performers and a reception filled with cultural cuisine.

(upbeat music) Become a member of WQED with an investment of $75 and we will thank you with a ticket to experience the longest running stage show in America, right here in Pittsburgh.

We also have a special bundle offer, combine the nesting dolls and the event into a one-time gift of $120.

And we'll thank you with the nesting dolls as a keepsake and an evening of lifetime memories.

Dine and dance with the Tammies as they teach you some steps from across the globe and show you an exclusive look at costumes and instruments.

And it's all hosted by Rick Sebak.

This is sure to be a night, you won't want to miss.

Reserve your ticket now and you'll also receive WQED Passport, a member benefit that allows you to stream your favorite WQED shows anytime, anywhere.

(upbeat music) (audience applauding) - That event is going to be amazing.

You'll get an opportunity to interact with all of the performers, learn some about the traditions.

I'm gonna be there.

More importantly, Rick is gonna be there.

Frank's gonna be there.

It's gonna be so much fun.

- More importantly, Frank's gonna be there, but okay.

Yeah, there's so many things to love about this show.

You can still have time to call that number on the screen.

Become a member of WQED, $120 is the best thing right now.

The event and the nesting doll.

You want to do all of that.

And Frank, I wanted to ask you, sometimes we see an audience.

Where's that audience?

- We're downtown at the Playhouse, Point Park.

It's a beautiful theater.

- No, and I think maybe, I know this is really weird, but one of my favorite shots in the show is the woman who is singing along with the group.

- Yes.

- It was really lovely.

- It's a Croatian number.

- Okay.

- And she's sitting there and she's singing the whole song along and when you see the show, there's everybody's doing that.

- That's excellent.

And we have to say a special thanks to Frank, just for producing this.

I mean, he does a long history of working with the Tamburitzans.

He was a Tamburitzans.

He's married to a Tamburitzans.

His two kids.

- [Frank] And my niece.

- And your niece too?

- Yes.

- And so Sam and Sofia, I love seeing them in these shows and incredibly talented.

And I just, I also read some things and I think it was Cody, the accordion player told somebody that sometimes they call themselves the Tammily - It's kind of one of those things, yeah.

Just every once in a while.

- Also, I think in his quote he called it the Tamms.

- Yeah, it's more of like a internal thing.

So, it seems like the public might refer to the Tamburitzans as the Tammies, but usually in like inner emails it's like, "Hey Tammily, there's a picnic coming up next week."

That kind of thing.

- We all have our lingo.

- But you guys are all part of the Tammily now.

- And we're so glad you've been able to join us tonight.

And I think, Rick you mentioned it when you were talking about the audience shots that we get to see, the thing that I love to see are not only on the performer faces, but the audience faces.

It's pure joy.

And Frank, I think there was a story that you wanted to share with us.

- Well, yeah, there is a lot of joy with all of this programming, but thank you Rick and Liz for being here tonight and thank you for watching the show.

We're coming up on a really high energy Slovak dance that you're gonna wanna stick around and see.

But there's a girl who, she's gonna be talking in a little bit, about a pretty unique job that she has where when she was doing it, she ran in to an old Tamburitzans alumna.

- I grew up doing Slovak dancing and I started when I was three years old.

I'm extremely excited to be bringing the Slovak set to the stage this year.

There's so much energy, it's very high energy dance.

It's very playful.

- Guys, two minutes until videos are rolling.

- Our Tammie jobs are very important to our Tammie career, but we are also individuals outside of the group as well.

And so obviously we are all full-time college students.

We go to school.

But in addition to that, a lot of us have jobs outside of the group, just to make a little extra money.

(ambulance engine roaring) I, for instance, work as a paramedic on the ambulance.

County 342 is en route.

And I work full-time, 40 hours a week, which is a big job, but I love it.

No, this makes me very excited to talk about it, because it was one of my favorite Tammie moments.

So, at around 2:30 in the morning I was working the night shift.

I was actually on a 24 hour shift and we get a call for a diabetic emergency and we show up to the house.

And the male, basically his blood sugar was extremely low and he was experiencing some medical complications, due to that.

So me and my partner, we were able to help there.

A lot of other people showed up as well.

And luckily we were able to correct the situation and he ended up not even having to go to the hospital, which was great.

And at the end of all that, in the midst of all the craziness, I noticed that his wife was wearing a Tammie shirt.

So, I asked her about it and of course she got super excited about it right away, as we all would.

And we found out we had a little special connection there.

And I told her that I was currently in the group and we shared a nice little moment and it was a very special thing I'll never forget.

(singer singing in a foreign language) It is truly a privilege to be able to travel, around the country and share such beautiful cultures with everyone.

And I feel extremely lucky this year that I get to share my culture being Slovak with everyone, because it's something that I know so well and I'm so happy to share that with other people, even if it touches one person in the audience and that they've learned something about Slovak culture.

It's keeping the culture alive, it's spreading it, it's perpetuating it and it's honestly growing it, because it can easily get lost.

And we're trying to keep it alive as much as possible.

And knowing that I'm able to share something that has been so special to me from such a young age is just something that I'm so thankful that I'm able to do.

I feel that I stand a little taller, my smile's a little brighter, I have a little bit more energy knowing that I'm doing something that my family would be very proud of.

(gentle orchestral music) (singer singing in a foreign language) (group singing in a foreign language) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (group singing in a foreign language) (audience applauding)