FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2007
INTERNATIONAL DANCE
DIVA GRACES LOCAL STAGE!
State College, PA – Don’t miss the breathtaking and dynamic
Broadway Connection, a benefit concert featuring international tap
diva Roxane Butterfly, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 10th
at Mt. Nittany Middle School. See world-class dancers perform alongside
local students, aged 11 to 20, to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund!
Presented and hosted by PA Academy of the Arts, this year’s special
Broadway Connection guest artist is the incomparable Roxane
Butterfly. Ms. Butterfly hails from New York City, and graces both the
national and international stage regularly. As one of the pioneering
women on the international tap scene, she is recognized as being “a
rare female presence in the male-dominated world of tap… Ms. Butterfly
has it all: looks, charisma and talent'' (New York Times).
At home in the jazz and world-music scenes, she was baptized “Butterfly”
by her legendary tap-mentor Jimmy Slyde. Ms. Butterfly is a world-class
citizen who mixes both her Mediterranean background and her New York
reality in her performances. A member of Unesco's International Dance
Council, she also uses her art to speak loudly for worthwhile causes,
from handicapped children to domestic violence. Hailed as the “Impresario
of Tap” by The Village Voice, she has toured solo throughout the US
and Canada as well as in West Africa, Sri-Lanka, Korea, Israel, Russia,
Slovania, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, England,
Holland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Israel and The Reunion Island.
Selected as a Fellow choreographer by the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
in 2006, she is the only female tap-dancer to have won a Bessie Award
(Outstanding Creative Achievement in 1999) as well as a NYFA Fellow
Choreographer (2002), Arts International Recipient (2004), Manhattan
Creative Arts Fund Grantee (2004 & 2005) and Lower Manhattan Cultural
Council grantee (2005). She was featured as one of the "25 Best"
featured in Dance Magazine in 2002.
Also appearing alongside Ms. Butterfly will be local Sarah Mason
(originally from Chicago), a Broadway veteran and choreographer who has
appeared in concert with everyone from Gregory Hines to the Pointer
Sisters. She will appear as a soloist and will also be joined by the
members of Jade Dance Project, a blossoming young professional tap
ensemble in State College. Ms. Mason is the founding Artistic Director
of world-renowned Footprints Tap Ensemble and owns PA Academy of the
Arts with her husband, professional musician Chuck Mason, who
will also appear in the performance.
Last but definitely not least, the youth ensembles Crunch! Productions
and Lumière Studio Company will join the professionals on stage
in an effort to raise money for kids with cancer. Featuring dancers
between the ages of 11 and 20 from Bellefonte, Centre Hall , Port
Matilda and State College, both companies are in residence at PA Academy
of the Arts.
Tickets are now on sale at PA Academy of the Arts, presenter and host of
the annual Broadway Connection series, 200 Old Fort Road, Spring Mills.
At $15.00 a ticket ($12.00 for PSU students and kids under 13), this
show will sell out fast! Call (814) 364-2424.
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