Roxane Butterfly rocks out at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. Background, left-to-right: Graham Haynes, Sinan and Arturo Martinez (Photographer: Rowshan!)Not for nothing did the great Jimmy Slyde give French tapper Roxane Butterfly her unusual last name. Typically dressed in something colorful and funky that sets off her slim, wiry frame, she appears to skim the earth, touching down frequently but briefly, lightly and musically. Tap has always been quite diverse in styles, and hers is one of the styles I dearly love. Her dancing is virtually calligraphic. She has ease in the knees, an ability to make fleet, precise sounds, not just bash and pound away. It takes refined control to express this much joie de vivre.
Butterfly brought her troupe–now called Roxane Butterfly’s Worldbeats–to the Josie Robertson Plaza for an early evening gig at Lincoln Center Out-of Doors. The current lineup includes two effervescent tapdancing sidekicks, Claudia Rahardjanoto and Ali Bradley, the latter a real powerhouse who grooves deep into the music without losing accuracy. Sol, a flamenco dancer from Buenos Aires, solos as well as occasionally weaving among the tappers. This juxtaposition could look contrived but never does.
Butterfly’s band, with the fantastic jazz cornetist Graham Haynes, her longtime collaborator, leading the charge, reflects her rich cross-cultural background and taste: Venezuelan percussionist Tony De Vivo, jazz bassist Damon Banks, flamenco guitarist Arturo Martinez (“Espiritu Gitano”) and guest oud player, Sinan. American jazz and the heady rhythms of Spain, North Africa and the Middle East sound pretty good to me. I like them separate or together. I just plain like them.
“You know, in jazz we have ‘1 and 2 and you know what to do.’” Butterfly said. “I decided I didn’t want to know what I was doing for a change!” And so she gives us a kind of Mediterranean tap fusion–featuring excerpts from works-in-progress–with fresh rhythms and fresh takes on the familiar. In keeping with this approach, the show ended with a Worldbeats-style revisioning of the Shim Sham Shimmy--the beloved dance routine that every tapper must know–here dubbed the Shim Sham Gypsy and powered by Turkish rhythms.
What a world-class party!
© 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa