Dead Raised In Westville

In a candlelit back room, dancers whirled and stomped and invoked the spirits of Mozart, Joan of Arc, and Amelia Earheart.

A belly dancer cradled her scimitar. An aerialist suspended herself in mid-air with streaming blue fabric.

Amidst it all, a Steadi-Cam operator roved, collecting footage for the first music video from the gypsy swing band Caravan of Thieves.

The group took over the theater at Lyric Hall in Westville Tuesday night, transforming the former vaudeville venue into the scene of a party from another era. It might have been an absinthe-fueled romp in a bohemian Paris cabaret of more than a century ago.

“We always have this sort of 19th century thing going on,” said Fuzz, the band’s frontman, in between takes. The band plays a particular band of gypsy-inspired music incorporating elements of swing and folk.

Tuesday’s number, piped in through in iPod for proper music-video lip-syncing, was ​“Raise the Dead.”

“It’s a celebration song,” Fuzz said. He said the band often closes with the tune, bringing their instruments down off the stage to play among the audience. The song pays tribute to now deceased greats of yesteryear, and summons them to a party with the living.

“Raise The Dead” is taken from Caravan of Thieves’ forthcoming album ​“The Funhouse,” due out in March. The band is based in Bridgeport, with the exception of Westville violinist Ben Dean.