VALLEY WEEKEND : FRIDAY : STRICTLY BALLROOM

Wanna cut a rug, jitterbug?

Well, you’ll have your chance Friday night to do just that.

Pierce College will have a Big Band Benefit Dance at the Warner Center Marriott featuring the Bill Tole Orchestra and Vocalworks quartet.

Tole and his 17-piece ensemble perform the music of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Les Brown, Duke Ellington and others. The Vocalworks sing in the style made popular by the Modernaires, the Pied Pipers and other jazz vocal groups of the 1930s and ‘40s.

Chuck Cecil, host of the syndicated radio program, “Swingin’ Years,” will be master of ceremonies.

Mac McDonald, Pierce College’s sports publicist and event coordinator, has been promoting these dance fund-raisers for the school’s athletic programs about every three months for seven years.

The events usually draw between 450 and 600 people. Dressing up is a definite part of the experience for these crowds, many of whom were not even born when some of this music was first popular.

“The younger part of the audience is growing,” McDonald says. “These dances have become a real community event.”

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Big Band Benefit Dance with the Bill Tole Orchestra and Vocalworks quartet from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel, 21850 Oxnard St., Woodland Hills. Tickets are $15. Dress to impress. Call (818) 704-9725.