Butterfly's still got the beat!

Tap artist Roxane Butterfly joyously announces the revival of her BeauteeZ'n The Beat dance ensemble--not seen for ten years!--for a concert at Nublu on New York's Avenue C.

November 9, 9pm

Roxane Butterfly

Brinae Ali

Ayodele Casel

and guests

Admission: $10

Nublu

62 Avenue C (between East 4th and 5th Streets), Manhattan

(map/directions)

This show should make you tappy!

Tap is an exuberant part of the New York City dance mix and, appropriately, you'll find it in all its glory at the 27th Performance Mix Festival. On Sunday, April 14th, join host and longtime tap wiz/producer/historian Jane Goldberg for an afternoon of RHYTHM´N SCHMOOZE.

Roxane Butterfly (photo by Leslie  Lyons)

The program features performances by dancers Michela Marino Lerman, Roxane Butterfly and Cheryl Johnson.

3pm

The Flea Theater
41 White Street (Tribeca)
(map/directions)

For programming and ticket information for Goldberg's RHYTHM 'N SCHMOOZE and all things Performance Mix, just click here.

Roxane Butterfly's journey with tap

Internationally-acclaimed tapdancer Roxane Butterfly--whose name, unfortunately, is incorrectly spelled and rendered on the video and on the program's Web site--is interviewed on The Women's Connection® by host Barrie-Louise Switzen. She talks about career and self-management, family, language, practice and "the discipline of being relaxed."  There are a couple of nice dance demos, too, in the final ten minutes. You'll be tapping in no time!

Shim Sham like a butterfly

Shim Sham -- Tonight! 7pm! Free!

Hosted by Roxane Butterfly
Featuring the Theo Hill Trio

Curated by Rashida Bumbray

This jam is open to tap dancers of all levels and concludes with the famous Shim Sham Shimmy, the hoofers’ international anthem. So come enjoy the show or bring your shoes and join the jam!

Roxane "Butterfly"

Based in New York and Barcelona, French-born tap dancer Roxane “Butterfly” was given
her name by the late legendary be-bop hoofer Jimmy Slyde. Known for her Worldbeats projects that merge a range of musical influences including flamenco, Central African, Indian, classical, and experimental jazz with tap dance, Butterfly hosts this free open jam session in which some of the finest of New York City’s rhythm tap community come together to share and showcase their moves.

Having started her 25 year career in France, Butterfly has shared the stage with generations of tap greats including Slyde, Gregory Hines, The Nicholas Brothers, Tamango, and Savion Glover. She is known for her collaborations with musicians working in a range of diverse musical forms.

The Kitchen -- 512 West 19th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues), Manhattan (directions)

Taps like a butterfly

Joe's Pub welcomes the world-renowned tapdancer Roxane Butterfly

Saturday, July 31, 9:30pm

Underground tap-icon Roxane Butterfly comes back to New York with a brand new collaboration featuring the music of pianist Frederique Trunk, to offer an evening of contemporary tap, ethno-jazz and spoken-word. The two French-American women will join their talent to reflect on their experiences as women, perpetual immigrants and lovers of life. This two years-old collaboration started as a co-production of Central Art Process, a multi-disciplinary artists collective based in Barcelona and has toured Italy and Spain. With Hilliard Greene on bass.

Joe's Pub

425 Lafayette Street (near Astor Place), Manhattan

(212) 539-8777

Information and reservations

In the spirit of Jimmy Slyde

Roxane Butterfly announces In The Spirit of Jimmy Slyde--an hommage to a master of tap, featuring Tamango and guests plus excerpts from the film Hoofalogies.

Music: Damon Banks (bass), Victor Jones (drums) and Mansur Scott (vocals)

See it at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space (95th Street and Broadway, Manhattan), April 16 (8:30pm) or April 17 (7pm and 9:30pm).

For complete details and tickets, click here or call 212-869-5400.

Indulge your mania

On Friday, June 13, Tribeca Performing Arts Center--located on the campus of the Borough of Manhattan Community College--welcomes Jazzmania Society: Jazz and Tap featuring Harvie S Trio with Phil Woods, Max Pollak, Roxane Butterfly, Tina Pratt and Jane Goldberg plus guests.

7pm--free Humanities Program panel discussion (moderator: Willard Jenkins)

8:30pm--concert with Harvie S (Musical Director). Dancers: Roxane Butterfly and Max Pollak. Guest appearances by Jane Goldberg and Tina Pratt. Performances by Harvie S Trio with special guest Phil Woods

Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street (near Greenwich Street; subways 1,2,3, A or C to Chambers)

Tapping the world

Roxane Butterfly (tap), Yoel ben Simhon (ud, vocals), Peter Basil (cajon), Damon Banks (bass). Women of The World series at Dance Sampler 2008

Zohar Fresco and Roxane Butterfly in Israel

Percussionist Zohar Fresco (frame drum) and tapdancer Roxane Butterfly mix it up at the Janana Rhythm Festival in Israel.

Feet don't fail: Tamango at Town Hall

Tamango's Urban Tap, a one-night show at Town Hall, was an argument for the revival of '60s values in the new age of the '00s. (Let's bring the people of the world together to share their musical licks and boogie down!) And the production's stage-spanning video projection by "Naj" Jean de Boysson--with live camerawork by Carlos Motta--created such a color-soaked acid trip that viewers should have checked their cough drops for signs of tampering.

Overall, the dancing was swell. Impressively lithe and jazzy, Tamango occupies a quirky galaxy all his own. When NASA finally finds life in outer space, they will probably send some jiveass former jet pilot instead of big-hearted Tamango who'd be the right man to make sense of things. Mistake.

Wing-footed Roxane Butterfly--who can be relied upon to cross refined footwork with funky fluidity--was in top form. Rennie Harris-- head of Philadelphia's PUREMOVEMENT)--made an astonishing surprise guest appearance, portraying a hulking b-boy remote-controlled by Tamango's increasingly challenging tapdancing. Some will remember Vado Diomande, the choreographer and drummer felled by inhaling anthrax from animal skins a few years ago. As Tamango's towering, squawking stiltwalker, he revved up the crowd with his acrobatic performance, drawing gasps, cheers and ululations. Another highlight was a too-brief solo by Colombian harpist Edmar Casteneda whose percussive approach turned the instrument of the angels into something quite devilish and sexy.

Unfortunately, the theater did not serve this show well. The sound was muddy, ruining the potential tastiness of the assembled multicultural band as well as the precision of dancers' tapwork. I had an odd seat--pretty close to the stage but at a diagonal, with heads and amps obscuring my line of vision--but I was probably far from alone in having difficulty seeing dancers' feet. Now, one might think that hearing tapdance would suffice but, for a true lover of the form, seeing precisely how those sounds are made is an integral part of the delight. Nevertheless, when I noticed what a good time Tamango was having throughout the show, I relaxed and felt happy for him and for his collaborators to whom he showed tremendous generosity.

Keep up with Tamango here. And if you haven't yet heard my Body and Soul interview with him, you'll find it here.

Roxane Butterfly’s Worldbeats at LC Out-of-Doors

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