{"id":361,"date":"2022-05-09T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravelingyogi.com\/?p=361"},"modified":"2024-07-19T14:47:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T14:47:37","slug":"dance-finds-a-place-in-baseball-with-the-savannah-bananas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thetravelingyogi.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/09\/dance-finds-a-place-in-baseball-with-the-savannah-bananas\/","title":{"rendered":"Dance Finds a Place in Baseball With the Savannah Bananas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zachary Frongillo thought he had left dance behind. Then, one fateful day last summer, the owner of the Savannah Bananas, a Coastal Plain League baseball team, asked him to coach first base. Reluctantly, the former Erick Hawkins Dance Company member agreed, and, in addition to telling Bananas base runners when it was safe to steal second, he executed a series of pirouettes between pitches. The clip<\/a> of the ballet dancer in uniform went viral.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Your first base coach could never. pic.twitter.com\/dvrj0MFQhK<\/a><\/p>\n

— Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) September 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

As the director of entertainment for the Bananas, Frongillo is responsible for ensuring crowds don\u2019t just see a baseball game, but a variety show that includes every\u00adthing from a 65-and-up line-dance squad<\/a> (the Banana Nanas) to a batter walking up to the plate on stilts\u2014and, yes, dancing first-base coaches, which has become something of a tradition for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that\u2019s normal, we do the opposite\u201d is the Bana\u00adnas\u2019\u00ad mantra, Frongillo says. His viral moment was the result of him subbing in for Maceo Harrison<\/a>, a dancer whose resum\u00e9 includes music videos and who replaces the cryptic hand signals you\u2019d normally see from a first-base coach with freestyle hip hop<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Zachary Frongillo. Photo courtesy Savannah Bananas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s becoming this giant show because it\u2019s making baseball fun, and dancing is a big part of that.\u201d\u00a0 Zachary Frongillo\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Frongillo\u2019s \u201cWaltz of the Flowers\u201d clip was seen by Savannah Ballet Theatre artistic director Suzanna Braddy, who recruited him to join the company as a guest artist. Now, he\u2019s back to taking class three times a week, and planning to incorporate more dance into baseball games for the Bananas\u2019 2022 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The post Dance Finds a Place in Baseball With the Savannah Bananas<\/a> appeared first on Dance Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zachary Frongillo thought he had left dance behind. Then, one fateful day last summer, the owner of the Savannah Bananas, a Coastal<\/p>\n

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